Sex and the frequent flyer

A thoughtful, perceptive, insightful look at war, flying and x-ray machines.


Nov. 24, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
Sex and the frequent flyer
Commentary: Government will grope you — and kill you if needed

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The home front is in an uproar over the war on terror, and all it took was some dirty pictures.

On Wednesday, a massive protest is planned in the nation’s airports to call attention to the latest indignity: invasive full-body X-rays and intimate searches. Objecting to the newest scanning technology that produces a nearly nude digital image of air travelers, the protesters say they’ll try to shut down the system on one of the busiest travel days of the year by insisting on time-consuming physical pat-downs.

The anger has been quietly building for months, as more and more passengers were subjected to the new imaging machines, which some say amount to “porno searches.” Even worse, those who object to posing in the virtual nude for the Transportation Security Administration can choose to have a uniformed stranger feel their genitals to make sure they aren’t hiding a bomb in their underwear.

Suddenly, the war is news again. Remember the war? It’s the endless war, the one where Americans weren’t asked to pay more in taxes or to subject themselves or their children to the military draft. It was the one where the only sacrifice that average Americans were asked to make was to give up their liberty.

A small price to preserve freedom, they told us without the slightest sense of irony.

Since the war began, our country has lied, spied, kidnapped, tortured and killed in our name and in cause of the war on terror. Thousands of American soldiers lost their lives. Tens of thousands of Iraqi and Afghanis lost theirs. More than $1 trillion was spent. Some patriots protested the loss of freedom, the incompetent execution and the losing strategy, but nothing much changed.

The war on terror continues into its 10th year, with no end in sight. We still have troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the globe. The prison at Guantanamo Bay is still open. The torture and kidnappings continue, and we know innocents are also caught up in the dragnet along with the bad guys. The bombings and attacks by unmanned drones haven’t let up, and we know innocents are also killed along with the terrorists.

And we’ve come no closer to winning this war. How could we, when we are fighting an abstract enemy? When we create one enemy for each one we kill or capture?

Since the horrible events of September 2001, we’ve asked our leaders, our military and our intelligence services to keep us safe, and damn the expense!

It was exciting, at first. America was united, by golly, just like the Greatest Generation! We got to eat freedom fries, and we got to close our eyes as our leaders marched our army into the wrong country for the wrong cause. The government asserted its right to bug our phones and read our emails, and of course we went along with it because we have nothing to hide.

As time passed, for most of us, the war on terror retreated into the background. It was only when we traveled by air that the war came back home. It was only at the airport that we remembered the war was still on: Throw your coffee cup away at the security gate, take off your belt, empty your pockets, take off your shoes, segregate your liquids and gels, don’t crack a smile, don’t question authority, do as you are told. Don’t you know there’s a war on?

Looking at the line of passengers winding their way through the security lines and on board the planes and back off again at the destination, you’d think there had never been such a complacent people resigned to their fate. Flying has become a thoroughly degrading experience: mindless security rules, long lines, long waits, no real meals, crummy snacks, cramped seats… what’s not to love?

And then sex entered the picture.

The untested full-body X-ray machines may not be effective at preventing actual threats, and they may kill more passengers with cancer than they could ever save from terrorists. But we Americans are fine with that. We’re used to the government doing stupid or self-defeating things.

But tell us that the new machines will let strangers see what we look like without clothes, or that someone will grope you if you object to the porno search, and you’ve got the makings of a mass movement that should not be underestimated.

Don’t touch my junk, indeed! We are such prudes, and so vain too! Do we really think the TSA employees want to see us with our clothes off? Or touch our privates? Working for the TSA has officially become the worst job ever.

In response to all this, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act. Isn’t a little late for that?

The pornographic aspect of the TSA’s new machines certainly is creepy, but we should focus instead on the bigger picture.

Every American should know that, when national security is on the line, the government will lie to you even as it kills you. I had friends in Utah who died from the cancer the government gave them during above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s. Read more about the nuclear testing.

The same thing happened to the Sept. 11 rescue workers, who were exposed to deadly chemicals and carcinogens without adequate protection.

And now millions of Americans will receive doses of unnecessary and unwanted radiation each time they fly.

Which bothers you more? That the government will grope you, or that it will kill you?

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