Body scanners, airport security and right-wing paranoia

Focus on WHAT – not WHO – is on the airplane. As argued on the blog in the past, no airplane has every fallen out of the sky because of a “dangerous person” on -board. Nope – the presence of a “dangerous person” seated on an airplane alone has never caused harm to an airplane. Indeed, on Christmas Day, 2009, an airplane landed in Detroit with the “dangerous person” on-board because of failure of his instrumentality to do harm. Rather than be concerned with WHO is on-board an airplane, we need to be concerned with WHAT is brought onto an airplane.  The body scanners and pat downs are a step in the right direction – away from WHO and a focus on WHAT.

Body scanners and deterrent effect.  The body scanners can see what is under clothing, down to the skin level.  According to an August 2009 article that appeared in Corrections Today, (Developing Testing Methodology for the Use of Noninvasive Whole Body Scanners. John A Ely; Todd Craig. Corrections Today; August 2009; 71, 4;  44-47.) body scanners are an evolving technology that are in use by other US Federal agencies, such as Customs and Boarder Protection.  Body scanners have been installed at airports around the world, including in Asia and Africa, as well as in prisons in places like the US and Mexico. The body scanners have proven themselves to catch contraband in various security settings, as they are in use around the globe already.Now – the deterrent effect of the presence of the body scanners to those who really want to do harm to airplanes must be growing and enormous already.  In the criminology field we have the triad of suitable victim, motivated offender and instrumentality. The motivations of offenders to do harm is lessened if the pay-off becomes too low and/or the likelihood of getting caught is too great.  What this means is that would be bombers are convinced that the scanners and pat downs, as well as other “security layers,” are too much to get the pay-off, the bomber is deterred. This is also called “target hardening” in security lingo – and this aspect of security practice tells us why keeping instrumentality (WHAT) off airplanes is vastly more important than keeping people off of planes (WHO).

The usual right-wing mob and the real purpose for rejecting body scanners. The first generation of body scanners could spell the beginning of the end to a hysterical and obsessive focus on innocent air travelers who are of the wrong religion, wrong ethnicity, wrong political beliefs. The idea that body scanners could, indeed, make flights safer and act as a deterrent to the real dangerous people could mean less dependence on WHO on a plane and more on the WHAT on a plane.Seeing a threat to their desire to focus on harassing hated groups of people at airports (Muslims and Leftists), the American right -wing mass media machine is now heating up to convince Americans that body scanners are a bad thing, will hurt your health, and most especially, “innocent people should not be put through them.” Well – without surprise, the right-wing wants to go to profiling, which absolutely does not work, and the “Israeli system” of questioning passengers.  In the past, some righties have suggested that whole classes of people (presumably Muslims) be prohibited from using the air travel that others use, again, with no due process and no redress for the people affected.

FULL freedom of movement as a human right. Here is something for the right-wing, Tea Party mob to chew on:

Article 13.

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
• (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

The US is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – and Article 13 above – means that Muslims, Leftists, Leftist journalists, human rights activists – and others hated by the Tea Party – have a human right to travel and leave their country and return to it, no matter for what purpose. To do this, air travel is about the only means that is feasible and possible in the 21st Century world. It is about equal freedom of movement enjoyed by others. This should include the right of presumed innocent people to access free movement -by any conveyance of their choosing.We also need to note that freedom of movement is also a measure of how free a nation is. The first order of business of a tyrannical regime is to restrict freedom of movement for political opponents and members of hated groups. The claim of tyrannical regimes is that “certain people are too dangerous to travel” because they are  “terrorists. “Right-wing media return to demanding “misleading and, arguably, dangerous” racial profilingTSA the Latest Target of the Angry Mob? (updated)Right-Wing ‘Experts’ Justify Profiling, Body Scanners with Familiar Paranoid Rhetoric