Why I Hate the Government #911

Sometimes the government just does really stupid stuf with OUR tax dollars and nobody seems to really care. Case in point: Security at Airports.

On my way home this weekend the ticket agent looked at my ticket and circled it with a big read marker where it had a "S" under a title called "security". The next agent tells me that I will have to go through the extensive screening process where all my bags are "thoroughly" searched and a metal-detecting wand is scanned over me from head to toe. Being the good sport I am I submit to the screening with a smile and a good attitude all the time thinking that this is such a waste of time.

There is no way this does anything to prevent terrorism. All it does is inconveinence travellers and cost us all a lot of money. Think about it. I'm a terrorist and I want to hijack a plane. I buy my ticket and when it comes out I see that there is a big "S" on the ticket. What do I do? I turn around and go home. Or better yet I buy two tickets and if the first one has a "S" on it I go get the other one. Since the screening is done randomly the chances of me getting two tickets is small. Even if the second one also has a "S" on it I still can turn around and go home. Could you imagine if your boss at work announced that she knew someone was stealing money and that every employee's desk would be checked for the missing money. Now she isn't going to do it right then and there or check everyone but instead going to send an e-mail to those people she is going to check and then come by their desk a few hours later and see if she finds anything. Can anyone say Dilbert?

Back to the story. Now the ordinary citizen is going to either ignore the "S" or simply not care. So the ONLY people who the screeners are going to screen are innocent people. Yet this makes the lines at the airport much longer and inconveinences not only the person being screened but everyone else. Moreover, it is a complete invasion of privacy. It is one thing to get your bag x-rayed and then checked if they see something suspicious, quite another for them to go through my bags and see everything I have in there. I mean I have nothing to hide but that doesn't mean I want people going through my underwear? What if I had some embarassing items in my bag like a naughty gift for my girlfriend or something like that? And the kicker of it all, we pay for the privilege since it is our tax dollars funding the whole stupid thing.

The only thing I can think of is it makes travellers feel safer. Wake up people!