Wednesday, December 28, 2011

One Of My Least Favorite Jobs: Defending Airport Security

I hate having to defend the TSA. But when I read articles like this one, I can't help but feel like I should say something. Sure, part of this article is dead on: there are some TSA practices which are goofy and seem absurd to me. But, to describe the whole process as insane and kvetch about how inconvenient it is seems to be missing the point.

Here, I'll let Louis C.K. explain (sorry about the foul language):

Comedy Central Stand-Up
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Take my last trip to Boston. In exchange for 10 minutes of waiting in line, the horror of removing my shoes and taking my laptop out of my bag, I was able to fly through the air in a metal tube (loaded with thousands of gallons of flammable liquid, no less) and land safely on the other side. Instead of a 10 hour car trip, I had 45 minutes of whizzing through the clouds. And people want to complain about waiting a few minutes in a security line? Or that a security guard might actually want to see what you're carrying?

To me, the miracle of flight isn't that heavy objects can fly. Nahhhh, that's just physics. The miracles is that we're able to take something so inherently complex and dangerous and make it something absolutely routine. I'd guess the most dangerous part of my trip is the car ride to the airport.

I'm glad there are people who push back on the TSA, no government agency deserves a blank check. Let's keep security experts on both sides fine tuning the process. But a little perspective sure would go a long way.

Via: Parent Hacks.

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