 |
Airport
rules extreme While I realize this may be a tad on the unpatriotic side, I have two words to say about the current extent of airport security: Good grief. I understand the need for heightened security, and I appreciate efforts to keep planes safe. But some measures are becoming a little ludicrous. For example, I was waiting for my aunt at Hobby Airport in Houston over Christmas break, and I was watching for her among the passengers entering and exiting the gate area. Airport security guards checked the Southwestern Airlines wheelchairs for safety as an armed National Guardsman looked on. Up to that point, I was completely satisfied. But then an elderly woman passed through the metal detector, having obvious difficulty walking with her cane. She sat in the wheelchair, smiling and waiting to be wheeled to her plane. So far so good, right? I was caught completely off-guard when the airport security official made this benign, aging lady raise her arms and then proceeded to pat her down. Has our nation become so paranoid that we take this 80-year-old woman in a thoroughly-inspected wheelchair to be a serious security threat? On another note, the most recent additional airport security measure is matching passengers to their bags as they board planes. While this is a good idea in theory, it does nothing to protect would-be terrorists from hopping on a connecting flight, and it cannot stop suicide bombers. Although this is a dismal reality, determined terrorists will probably be able to succeed. Even if they can’t strike through planes, then attackers will strike through trains or cars or any other route to achieve their objectives. As much as school shooters could not be stopped by countless gun control laws, so will terrorists find ways around heightened airport security measures. I suppose the next step in airline security will be requiring all passengers to walk around the nation’s airports in our skivvies. At least that way elderly, artificial-hipped U.S. senators won’t be holding up the metal detector lines. Sandy Stafford is a sophomore theatre/TV major from Nederland. Sandy’s column can be seen every Tuesday and she can be contacted at (s.a.stafford@student.tcu.edu). |
|
|
TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
||