Sunday, January 10, 2010

Getting it All Wrong, Part 973


The absurdity of the ass-backwards approach to airport security was illustrated the other day at the Ottawa airport.

Read this story and try to explain why the geniuses would choose for a randon pat-down an 85-year old white woman who weighs 90 pounds.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

remember when the Federal Government ran all the airports.
Was it not better then?
This privatisation does not seem to work, not for the public anyway.

Anonymous said...

Why did this happen? It is the 'moron' factor. It was done because they could do it. The 'genius' that figured this search of an old woman was needed overstepped his job requirements. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who is the moron in this case.

Jeff Taylor said...

David, the point I'm about to make here, may at first seem strange and weird, but I hope everyone reading it takes a few moments to think about it.

Is it possible, in some cases, that some (and probably a a limited number ) of the security personal that choose to 'pat-down' an 85-year old, 90 pound grandmother might have 'other' motives ? What about another security guard that decides to 'pat-down' a beautiful, big-chested young lady ? Is it possible that with the fact that these security personal basically can do what they want to do with very little over-sight, that maybe the motivating factors in their decision(s) might be some-what sinister, if not just down-right slimy ? Just wondering.

Jeff Taylor said...

David, the point I'm about to make here, may at first seem strange and weird, but I hope everyone reading it takes a few moments to think about it.

Is it possible, in some cases, that some (and probably a a limited number ) of the security personal that choose to 'pat-down' an 85-year old, 90 pound grandmother might have 'other' motives ? What about another security guard that decides to 'pat-down' a beautiful, big-chested young lady ? Is it possible that with the fact that these security personal basically can do what they want to do with very little over-sight, that maybe the motivating factors in their decision(s) might be some-what sinister, if not just down-right slimy ? Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Back in the late 80s I was talking about the increased security at Canadian airports that occurred after the Air India bombing. The person I was speaking to had visited Israel recently. He told me that El Al security people had a nun bent over a table, and were physically searching under her skirts. "They don't mess around over there", he said. (No kidding, I thought.) I'm not sure that adopting Israeli-style security measures will prevent 85-year-old white ladies from being randomly patted down. I suspect it will happen more frequently.

Anonymous said...

This is nothing more than political correctiveness gone awry. We cannot be seen as targeting specific groups that seem to produce almost 100% of the terrorist scurge and suicide bombers so we overcorrect by demonstrating that we will also 'randomly' search a 85 year old granny because, you know, she may be a terrorist. Though I'm yet to ever hear of a 85 year old, bent over, grandmother with osteoporsis who has attempted (much less committed) an act of terrorism. This is absolutely unnecessary bullshit. Use behavioural profiling. It works. If it didn't why do we use it to capture other criminals in our society? It is FACT that the majority of suicide terrorists are of a particular race, creed and belief system. That grandmother does not fit the profile of that race, creed or belief system and therefore the humiliating search of her person was not only unnecessary but downright ignorant and hurtful. If others of that particular race, creed or belief system do not like that the scurge we are dealing with comes from their own, do something productive about changing that. However, do not complain to the rest of us about that fact and how we respond to it.

Anonymous said...

When I was living in London, England a few years back, the IRA were using grandmothers to plant bombs in baby stores on Oxford Street, precisely because people (men, mostly) think women, and especially older women, are completely benign. These elderly women were probably unfeeling bitches when they were younger. They're not going to turn into Mrs. Butterworth just because they reach a certain age. I say, pat 'em all down.

Anonymous said...

A female customs officer in San Francisco airport made me take off my belt and then she coldly pulled out my pants and stared down at my panties and crotch, in front of other passengers, etc. As a women, I was more upset that another woman did this, because another woman would know just how uncomfortable this is. It was too much like those times on dates gone wrong when men, against your will, try to put their hands down your pants even as you try to fight them off. It brought me to tears. It was in front of everyone, with no privacy. I am a skinny person too so it's not like there was some suspicious bulge in my pants. It ruined my magical holiday, which was my first trip with my new boyfriend. It was 5 years ago and I'm still upset about it.