The new airport-security procedures – a big deal or not?
Women who've been diagnosed with breast cancer get mauled by mammogram machines. They endure everything from biopsies to remove a few cells to mastectomies to remove entire breasts. They have their lymph nodes excavated. They chug radioactive milkshakes and get injected with radioactive fluids. They have toxins dripped into ports implanted in their jugular veins. They have their flesh singed with radiation. They spend sleepless nights wondering whether they will live or die.
After all they've been through, the new airport-security measures would not seem to be a big deal. Yet women erupted in fury over a report that a veteran flight attendant who'd had breast cancer was asked to pass through a full-body scanner, submit to a pat-down by female security agents in a private room, and -- this caused the most outrage -- show them her prosthesis. Many said they felt the procedure was "humiliating."
I personally don't care who knows I wear (or more often, don't wear) prostheses. And I'm happy to show my breast forms to anyone who wants to see them. But I'm upset that my fellow survivors are being placed in a situation that causes them anguish. And I do have concerns about radiation exposure from full-body scanners. Further, I doubt these expensive, labor-intensive measures are the most time- and cost-effective ways to protect airline passengers from terrorist attacks. Surely, innovative, can-do America can find sensible methods that protect people's privacy as well as their safety.
In the meantime, the uproar is serving a purpose: putting pressure on security personnel to exercise sensitivity toward passengers.
What about you? What do you think about the controversy over the new enhanced security measures?
Posted November 29, 2010.
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