Full Body Pat Down

As I made evident in my last blog post, I traveled to New York City over the winter break. Once again, I witnessed AP English in action in the real world (yes there are many applications beyond our upstairs classroom). I am sure many of you are well aware of the recent outrages with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) that have flooded the news and the internet during the end of 2010. Many people are upset that the TSA have been allowed to force travelers to entire full body scanners. The outrage stems from the fact that these scanners produce images of the subject’s naked body. The TSA does this because the scanner are very effective for identifying any type of weapon or illegal item that a terrorist would try to carry onto a plane. However, people argue against the TSA because they say that the imagers violate our privacy rights as United States citizens. The TSA does offer an alternative to these full body-imaging devices, but that alternative is an extensive full body pat down. This has created even more outrage than the scanners because of the breach of travelers’ privacy. Interestingly enough, when I flew out of New York City this Friday I was the passenger randomly chosen to go through the thorough security check. Normally, I would be able to just have a naked image of me produced and then I could proceed to my gate and wait for my flight. However, to my dismay, the imagers were broken that day so that meant…I had to be given a full body pat down. If they only knew how much of a patriot I am, they would not have had to waste their time on me. But I did not feel that the TSA agent would be very receptive to an attempt to evade a full body pat down. Unfortunately, the new pat downs are not the old hold your arms out while the agent slides his hand down your sleeve. The new security measures call for nearly every part of the subject’s body to be checked for a weapon or illegal item, so it takes a decent amount of time to execute a complete search. During the process I felt extremely powerless and weak while this authority figure held in his hand the power to either let me continue on to Cleveland or do who knows what. Because AP English is so pervasive, I could not help but think about our recent novel during this scarring process. I was reminded of Chief Bromden, McMurphy, and all of the other mental patients and their life under an authoritative and domineering figure. I never really felt sympathy for them while reading because I figured having no power was probably a good thing for them. However, after experiencing that five minutes (but what seemed like an eternity) of being totally and utterly powerless, I have changed my viewpoint. It was a terrible feeling to have no control over my own destiny and I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for the mental patients while living under the overbearing nurse Ratched. Before I wrap this up, let me just reassert my patriotism: even though the airport security checks are very invasive, if they stop potential terrorists from harming my beloved country, then I will willingly continue to let the department of homeland security do their job and keep America safe.