Yeah, I'd opt for the pat-down too. Not because I'm modest or worry about privacy — far from that, actually, though I used to be prudish about nudity. Anyway, my concerns about the backscatter machines come from the fact that the TSA and FDA's safety is all based on arbitrary data from the companies themselves.
The radiation they put out, from my understanding, penetrates the soft tissues of the body, not merely bouncing off the skin. It means it can be absorbed, cause DNA mutations, etc. I'm not paranoid about cancer, but I'd rather not take undue risk since at least one person in my immediate family has had cancer — especially not when the actual longterm risks of the machines haven't been tested or reviewed very extensively.
I do agree with you that this is not the way to handle security. The TSA is all security theatre, protecting us from the threats of yesterday, today; protecting us from the threats of tomorrow by searching for failed terrorist plans of yesterday. All the people who have tried to terrorise air traffic since 2001 have been stopped, yet the TSA insists on checking for things similar these failed attempts. Anyway, it all seems a bit backwards to me, but at least it's finally making the majority of people take notice of what I think most people should have been thinking about back in 2006.
Anyway, I'm glad you got a kick out of the drawing! I drew it as a part of warming up yesterday before working on some projects for class. I do need to practise drawing more, though.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-12-07 01:06 pm (UTC)The radiation they put out, from my understanding, penetrates the soft tissues of the body, not merely bouncing off the skin. It means it can be absorbed, cause DNA mutations, etc. I'm not paranoid about cancer, but I'd rather not take undue risk since at least one person in my immediate family has had cancer — especially not when the actual longterm risks of the machines haven't been tested or reviewed very extensively.
Also of interest is this video in which a German scientist fools a full-body scanner (which I reposted about 11 months before the whole TSA Backstatter Patdowngate and Opt-Out-Daygate).
I do agree with you that this is not the way to handle security. The TSA is all security theatre, protecting us from the threats of yesterday, today; protecting us from the threats of tomorrow by searching for failed terrorist plans of yesterday. All the people who have tried to terrorise air traffic since 2001 have been stopped, yet the TSA insists on checking for things similar these failed attempts. Anyway, it all seems a bit backwards to me, but at least it's finally making the majority of people take notice of what I think most people should have been thinking about back in 2006.
Anyway, I'm glad you got a kick out of the drawing! I drew it as a part of warming up yesterday before working on some projects for class. I do need to practise drawing more, though.