Do You Have a “Right” to Fly?

posted at 11:19 am on November 17, 2010 by Jazz Shaw
[ Culture ]   

The entire brouhaha over TSA screening, imaging and groping policies is one that I’ve been hesitant to jump into, mostly because it’s not nearly as clear cut as some pundits are trying to depict it. The debate pits two or three very different concerns against one another.

The most pressing one seems to be national security. It’s all well and good to talk about eliminating the TSA for being a waste of money or chuckling at that antics of the Don’t Touch My Junk guy. But it’s pretty obvious that if we’re not taking enough precautions and another plane blows up in mid-air, many of the same people who are complaining the loudest today will be first in line to pillory the Obama administration for not doing enough to fight terrorism.

And yes, there is a perfectly valid argument to be made that the government’s proper role in preventing these disasters involves stopping terrorists long before they make it to the Jet Blue check-in counter with a couple of pounds of C4 shoved up their nether regions. But we also must be honest enough to admit that in this sort of unconventional warfare, attacks can and do come in all shapes and sizes from every possible direction. Our intelligence agencies can’t settle for catching 99.7% of the bombers because the attackers only have to get it right once. And given that premise, don’t we want one last chance to stop them just before they board the plane?

This isn’t to say that I don’t have a high degree of sympathy for those concerned over their privacy. This was brought keenly into focus for me this week when my wife shared a group of letters from rape survivors who absolutely rejected the idea of screeners touching their private areas or looking at scans of their bodies. Stories of these supposedly private images being leaked on to the web certainly add to their understandable discomfort.

But not everyone is quite as alarmed. Personally, I’m in the camp of those not much put off by it. But then again, I’m a 50+ gray haired, arthritic curmudgeon who has long since traded in his six-pack of abs for a pony keg. If you really want a peek at this dream package, help yourself. And I’m clearly not alone in this, since a recent CBS poll found that an overwhelming four in five Americans favor the full body scanning equipment.

Perhaps the question we should be looking at is who has the ultimate responsibility for preventing people from blowing up your plane, particularly on domestic flights. Is it the government or the airline? Some seem to be suggesting more of a free market approach to the problem. Remove the TSA and let each airline handle security as they see fit. That way you can either choose to feel more secure after long lines, some nudie pictures and an airline flunky copping a feel, or you can choose to get there faster with Speedy Sam and Discount Dan’s Airlines! (200+ seats on every flight and no waiting! But please leave your weapons at home. We’re on the honor system here.)

Or just maybe, in the end, we should examine the protests over these search policies in terms of people “having their rights violated.” Do you really have a right to fly? Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to get on the plane. There is virtually no place on the surface of this planet that you can’t get to through a combination of boats, trains, buses, taxis and/or rental cars, providing you have the time to do so and plan ahead. Precisely what “right” of yours is being violated if the airlines (and/or the TSA) specifically warn you in advance that you will be subject to these specific search practices before you are allowed to board the aircraft? That seems to be the attitude taken by the agency recently when they said you are welcome to not fly if you won’t submit to their searches.

As I said in the beginning of this missive, I’m not claiming to have all the answers here. But I can at least pose some of the questions which demonstrate that it’s a far more complex issue than can reasonably stuffed into one sound bite or a few one liners on the late night talk shows. I like my privacy as much as the next person, but I also like the idea of landing at my destination in one piece.

Oh, and I also like the idea of the already long wait times not being extended on the day before Thanksgiving by people simply trying to prove a point. With that in mind, all of you clowns behind the National Opt-Out Day scheme can bite me.

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