Our post 9/11 world with exploding shoes, underwear, and who knows what next, has made traveling, and in particular air travel, fraught with more hazards than ever before in our lifetimes.
Entering an airport security area now we routinely take off our shoes, and then we are wanded, scanned, and pressed and blocked before we penetrate the "ok, you're not a terrorist" zone. Full body scans are coming soon and those folks with hide a keys better find a new place to put them.
Even still, with all of these check points, my overriding paranoia keeps me suspicious of my fellow passengers, and I remain so until we have safely landed and deplaned. " Did you see the guy in seat 32B? He had a pencil out and looked to be talking into the eraser head, I think we need to alert the pilot..."
In addition, there's always a chance some evil doer has slipped through the security screening disguised as a ner do well innocent and we are all blown to smithereens by an IED hidden in their surgically enlarged nasal cavity.
Furthermore, if that ever did occur, everyone with a nose larger than a grape would have to withstand a nasal cavity pat down and blow into a hanky prior to entering the airport. I include myself in this worry since I come from a large nosed Greek family. Moreover, everyone in my family (including or especially grandma) has a mustache and they fit the Looney Tunes version of terrorists that most TSA folks keep in mind while screening the public. Now, I know the TSA folks state they don't profile however, I have heard that and this before; "We don't profile sir but please come with us".
Therefore, I am very concerned for myself and fellow passengers being caught up in a wave of patriotic frenzy by inspector as they gleefully subject me, and others, to unjustified nose humiliation. "Please blow into this hanky sir and keep your nose where we can see it".
In a related note, this story out of New Zealand proves my point on the hazards of travel (at least for reptiles) whereas my conclusion and solution is; folks buy a nice recliner, get a cable hook-up, turn on the Travel Channel, and then...lock your doors!
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A German reptile collector has been jailed for 14 weeks and must pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ($3,540) fine for plundering New Zealand's wild gecko and skink populations, a judge has ruled.
The collector was caught by wildlife officials at Christchurch International Airport on South Island in December, about to board an overseas flight with 44 geckos and skinks in a hand-sewn package concealed in his underwear.
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