Don't Touch My Junk

By now everyone is familiar with the immortal declaration "Don't touch my junk!" by an outraged passenger who was about to receive a pat-down by a TSA employee.

Even though I no longer fly for work, something I used to do with great regularity, I empathize with the sentiment. There's something frightfully un-American about what's been going on at our airports. And, at even deeper level, what's been transpiring is dehumanizing.

We're supposed to be free people in this country; instead, we're all being treated as suspected terrorists.

Our country was founded in part on a recognition of the value of the individual; the process of checking in for a flight degrades people.

We say we're going to beat the terrorists; instead, we surrender our civil liberties in the name of freedom.

Something is very, very wrong here.

While people speaking out and posting YouTube videos is encouraging, I wonder what is really going to change in the long run. My fear is not much.

And that, dear reader, is very sad.

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