Take your shoes off, take your belt off, take your jacket off, take your laptop out, take your watch off. So far I have seen all of that before and its annoying. But here they enforce all of it and more!
The next thing they asked is to take all charger and cables out of the laptop bag. Now this is too much. My laptop bag is full of such stuff. It contained 2 iPhones (one for use, one for development), so 3 chargers, USB cables, Ethernet cables, Emergency Boot CD's and USB Sticks, Electronic smart pen, ebanking key, car keys etc. A digital nomade travels with a bag full of electronics these days. So I got upset and to not waste precious time, I put my bag upside down and shaked everything out while already starting to get nasty. I don't think they have seen more that way than if the stuff would have remained in the bag.
And because I got mad at them, they of course had to punish me by doing a hand touch scan even though the body scanner did not beep.
Millions of people are passing through Airport Security every day. Millions get punished and harassed through the security checks. Just because some security guy wants to show off his power doesn't make flying more secure. full body scanners don't make flying more secure but it makes flying a lot more hassle for the millions who travel without bombs and just want to go home or on vacation. Is it really worth it?
Flying is always a risk. Driving to the airport however is the much higher risk. Do you have to do a full body scan before taking the train, riding a bicycle or boarding a cruise ship? Frankly airport security got out of its hands. The security check level compared to the benefit for the community of all the fliers is in heavy misbalance. But why does nobody do anything about it? Politics want to do something to prove they are not useless. So the reaction of a caught bomber is "more security more security". However the result is that normal people get punished, the public takes up the bill and the bad guys find easy ways around it. And the politicians think they did something good. Now think again.
We are used to live in free countries. A few years back, taking out the laptop wasn't necessary. A few years back they did not think of full body scanners. And carrying a swiss army knife or scissors for your fingernails where never a problem. Have you ever seen anyone being killed by fingernail scissors? If one can do that, you can kill with a pen too. You can kill with hands. So why not forbid hands on board?
This is just another episode showing how our freedom gets destroyed by politicians. Wake up voters and claim your freedom back. More laws is less freedom. Life is always a risk, laws don't make them go away. Use your brain wisely instead instead of letting idiotic politicians do what they think is good for them.
Enough for today...
