Post by rialvestro on Nov 4, 2010 5:20:41 GMT -5
OK I started this as a poll rather than a standard debate because I seriously want to know who would agree to use this thing.
I just read on Yahoo news that Air Ports were starting to get in full body scanners or better called, the strip search machine. These machines x-ray threw your cloths and take pictures of your naked body. Even if you don't care about the obvious privacy issues with this I've also read that the machines pose a serious health risk because of the radiation emissions. Granted the same could be said of the x-ray machines used in hospitals however it would seem these strip search machines aren't as regulated as the ones used by doctors. I suppose this means there's no technician to control how much radiation you're getting.
For the time being you still have an option to opt out of using this new machine and go threw the metal detector like people have been doing for I don't know how long. (I've only gone threw this for the first time last year.) However even that has changed. Even in Air Ports that do not yet have full body scans it seems they have changed the procedure for going threw the metal detector though no one at the air ports is admitting to anything being different.
Rather than calming taking off your shoes and emptying your pockets then gathering your stuff on the other side with little hassle there's now a required "pat down" which involves removing your belt if you have one and holding up your pants while getting felt up by some random person on security. I went threw this once at high school graduation though I'm still not sure why. It's a freaking graduation and everyone was searched on the way in.
Any other time however as long as you co-operate and empty your pockets (I always flip my pocket's inside out so it can be seen I have nothing on me.) you can avoid the pat down. I really don't like the pat down mainly because of the person doing the pat down playing grab ass while they're at it but I'd much rather have that little bit of discomfort over going threw the x-ray machine to have my nude picture taken and seen by who knows how many people and what kind of people.
The other thing that's changed in air ports that do have the full body scanners is what I would like to refer to as a "scare tatic" which is to say that even though they give you choice to opt out they treat an opt out as if you've just committed a crime. The reporter talked about a security guard yelling "opt out" at the air port in the same tone someone would normally reserve for something like "Snake!" and calling more security down to handle what use to be a normal routine situation.
In both cases when asked why the rules had changed the people were told "nothing has changed, it's always been this way."
That being known, again, I'd take the extra security team over the damn body scanner.
While not part of the actual report one of the readers commented to it saying "The terrorists have won." and I'm quoting this because he or she was right. If this is what we have resorted to because of 9/11 then they have won.
I'm already afraid to fly without this being added to my stress. As I said earlier I flew for the first time last year. I paid allot more than normal to fly to Idaho to visit my ex-girlfriend. I went because I needed the vacation, we are still friends, and I paid for the non refundable tickets while we were still dating. The reason I paid more than normal is because of being afraid to fly and it being my first time I bought her a round trip to fly out to California and meet me at the air port so I could fly back with her. I had a straight flight from California to Idaho, she had a round ticket from Idaho to California and back to Idaho in the same day. (And I believe they searched her because of the round trip in the same day thing but it was her idea to make it same day not mine, I wanted her to stay in California for at least a week before we flew to Idaho together.
)
Anyway... I planed on flying back to Idaho at the end of this year to move in with her but according to the news article by the end of the year the medal detectors won't be in use anymore at all and it'll be full body scan or don't fly at all so now I need to talk to her about pushing up the flight plans so I can get there before the full body scans become a requirement.
Getting to the question of the poll, I want to know how many people feel the terrorist have won?
The way I see it there are a few different options you can take right now.
1. Go along with it. If you feel your safety is more important than your privacy maybe you'd rather have a mandatory strip search than risk getting on a plane with a terrorist.
2. Boycot the strip search machine either on the grounds that it violates your right to privacy or is a hazard to your health, or both but put up with the extra security in the metal detector lines.
3. If your only grounds to boycot the strip search machine is because of the health risk would you consent to being taken to a room and stripped naked the old fashion way, and then having pictures taken of you during said strip search which is exactly what the machine does only without the radiation to x-ray threw your clothing.
4. Boycot air ports entirely. They won't use the machines if they start loosing money because of them and with the price of tickets even loosing one customer can cost them thousands of dollars per person. Hundreds for people who fly alone though I'm not sure how many ever fly alone. This will help to stop them early because if we simply opt out they'll still be making money and won't have sufficient reason to remove the machines.
5. Boycot air ports entirely. Even if you opt out of the strip search you will still get the pat down, even at air ports that do not yet have the machines. Maybe you're not comfortable being touched for whatever reasons and the pat down seems just as bad as a full strip search.
6. Wait till the machine becomes standard use they start a boycot. Maybe you don't think it'll ever get this far but on the off chance that it does you won't be willing to go threw a mandatory strip search to fly.
7. How many people here are not even effect by this. Not effected meaning you have never flown before and never plan to for simple fear of flying rather than to due with airport security.
The 1-7 options listed here coincide with the first 7 options in the poll. The last option is for your reply if you have a different opinion than the 7 options listed in my post. By the way I voted 2 but if they become mandatory before I can get a flight out of California I won't fly out at all even though right now flying out of state seems to be the only way I can afford to move to a new place where I might find work and gets me away from my so called friends and family. Yeah, out of all my friends and family the only people I can afford to stay with are my dad and my ex-girlfriend, AKA the only people who support me as an actor. (Theater is the worst paying and hardest job to get into. I got in once with a recommendation and got fired for complaining about my lack of credit in a show I was in and now it's getting harder to find work in my area so staying with dad doesn't help me much unless I can make partner on YouTube.)
Here's the original news article where I got all my information from if you'd like to read it before you vote. finance.yahoo.com/news/Opt-Out-of-a-Body-Scan-Then-nytimes-3016411705.html?x=0
There's been so many replies sense I first saw this that I can't find the person I quoted earlier in my post so I apologize for not crediting whoever that was.
I just read on Yahoo news that Air Ports were starting to get in full body scanners or better called, the strip search machine. These machines x-ray threw your cloths and take pictures of your naked body. Even if you don't care about the obvious privacy issues with this I've also read that the machines pose a serious health risk because of the radiation emissions. Granted the same could be said of the x-ray machines used in hospitals however it would seem these strip search machines aren't as regulated as the ones used by doctors. I suppose this means there's no technician to control how much radiation you're getting.
For the time being you still have an option to opt out of using this new machine and go threw the metal detector like people have been doing for I don't know how long. (I've only gone threw this for the first time last year.) However even that has changed. Even in Air Ports that do not yet have full body scans it seems they have changed the procedure for going threw the metal detector though no one at the air ports is admitting to anything being different.
Rather than calming taking off your shoes and emptying your pockets then gathering your stuff on the other side with little hassle there's now a required "pat down" which involves removing your belt if you have one and holding up your pants while getting felt up by some random person on security. I went threw this once at high school graduation though I'm still not sure why. It's a freaking graduation and everyone was searched on the way in.
Any other time however as long as you co-operate and empty your pockets (I always flip my pocket's inside out so it can be seen I have nothing on me.) you can avoid the pat down. I really don't like the pat down mainly because of the person doing the pat down playing grab ass while they're at it but I'd much rather have that little bit of discomfort over going threw the x-ray machine to have my nude picture taken and seen by who knows how many people and what kind of people.
The other thing that's changed in air ports that do have the full body scanners is what I would like to refer to as a "scare tatic" which is to say that even though they give you choice to opt out they treat an opt out as if you've just committed a crime. The reporter talked about a security guard yelling "opt out" at the air port in the same tone someone would normally reserve for something like "Snake!" and calling more security down to handle what use to be a normal routine situation.
In both cases when asked why the rules had changed the people were told "nothing has changed, it's always been this way."
That being known, again, I'd take the extra security team over the damn body scanner.
While not part of the actual report one of the readers commented to it saying "The terrorists have won." and I'm quoting this because he or she was right. If this is what we have resorted to because of 9/11 then they have won.
I'm already afraid to fly without this being added to my stress. As I said earlier I flew for the first time last year. I paid allot more than normal to fly to Idaho to visit my ex-girlfriend. I went because I needed the vacation, we are still friends, and I paid for the non refundable tickets while we were still dating. The reason I paid more than normal is because of being afraid to fly and it being my first time I bought her a round trip to fly out to California and meet me at the air port so I could fly back with her. I had a straight flight from California to Idaho, she had a round ticket from Idaho to California and back to Idaho in the same day. (And I believe they searched her because of the round trip in the same day thing but it was her idea to make it same day not mine, I wanted her to stay in California for at least a week before we flew to Idaho together.
)Anyway... I planed on flying back to Idaho at the end of this year to move in with her but according to the news article by the end of the year the medal detectors won't be in use anymore at all and it'll be full body scan or don't fly at all so now I need to talk to her about pushing up the flight plans so I can get there before the full body scans become a requirement.
Getting to the question of the poll, I want to know how many people feel the terrorist have won?
The way I see it there are a few different options you can take right now.
1. Go along with it. If you feel your safety is more important than your privacy maybe you'd rather have a mandatory strip search than risk getting on a plane with a terrorist.
2. Boycot the strip search machine either on the grounds that it violates your right to privacy or is a hazard to your health, or both but put up with the extra security in the metal detector lines.
3. If your only grounds to boycot the strip search machine is because of the health risk would you consent to being taken to a room and stripped naked the old fashion way, and then having pictures taken of you during said strip search which is exactly what the machine does only without the radiation to x-ray threw your clothing.
4. Boycot air ports entirely. They won't use the machines if they start loosing money because of them and with the price of tickets even loosing one customer can cost them thousands of dollars per person. Hundreds for people who fly alone though I'm not sure how many ever fly alone. This will help to stop them early because if we simply opt out they'll still be making money and won't have sufficient reason to remove the machines.
5. Boycot air ports entirely. Even if you opt out of the strip search you will still get the pat down, even at air ports that do not yet have the machines. Maybe you're not comfortable being touched for whatever reasons and the pat down seems just as bad as a full strip search.
6. Wait till the machine becomes standard use they start a boycot. Maybe you don't think it'll ever get this far but on the off chance that it does you won't be willing to go threw a mandatory strip search to fly.
7. How many people here are not even effect by this. Not effected meaning you have never flown before and never plan to for simple fear of flying rather than to due with airport security.
The 1-7 options listed here coincide with the first 7 options in the poll. The last option is for your reply if you have a different opinion than the 7 options listed in my post. By the way I voted 2 but if they become mandatory before I can get a flight out of California I won't fly out at all even though right now flying out of state seems to be the only way I can afford to move to a new place where I might find work and gets me away from my so called friends and family. Yeah, out of all my friends and family the only people I can afford to stay with are my dad and my ex-girlfriend, AKA the only people who support me as an actor. (Theater is the worst paying and hardest job to get into. I got in once with a recommendation and got fired for complaining about my lack of credit in a show I was in and now it's getting harder to find work in my area so staying with dad doesn't help me much unless I can make partner on YouTube.)
Here's the original news article where I got all my information from if you'd like to read it before you vote. finance.yahoo.com/news/Opt-Out-of-a-Body-Scan-Then-nytimes-3016411705.html?x=0
There's been so many replies sense I first saw this that I can't find the person I quoted earlier in my post so I apologize for not crediting whoever that was.