Forget about delays or lost luggage. Nowadays, new screening devices and pat downs are the targets of outrage at airports across the country.
When the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) unveiled new screening procedures, the backlash began. The normal crowd of libertarians, privacy advocates and impatient fliers began voicing their concerns. To them, the new TSA regulations are an invasion of privacy, the expansion of government and an unnecessary security measure. It wasn’t until videos surfaced on YouTube of the screening procedures that the outrage really gained momentum. Footage of John Tyner’s now infamous line – “if you touch my junk, I’m going to have you arrested” – became the poster child of the privacy movement.
So, what about us teenagers? Those under 18 are not (legally) at an adult age, so how much of a threat are we? Until recently, most people would be in agreement that the threat to fliers probably would not come from teenagers. However, after a 19-year-old boy was arrested for trying to set off a car bomb in Portland, Ore., there’s no clear way to tell by age where a threat lies.
As teenagers, we probably don’t make the TSA’s job much easier. For example: if you’re packing your iPod and charger, are they neatly coiled up and stored away? Or, are they tangled and tossed in your luggage? With messy carry-on bags, the TSA may only see a tangle of wires on their monitor, which can look like a bomb when it goes through the x-ray. That means that security will be forced to search your luggage – and yourself as well.
Of course, it’s easy for a traveler to get wrapped up in their own self interests. They want to get on their flight to get to where they need to be. We, especially as teenagers, hardly stop to recognize the needs of other passengers, let alone the flight crew and TSA agents entrusted with the safety of passengers. We have an expectation that we will be served regardless of our own behavior, and that the service ought to be without delay. Even after constant rudeness from passengers, airport staff members are still expected to show respect.
My travels over the past summer took me through Germany. The security at Munich Airport was such that every single passenger was screened with a metal-detecting wand, regardless of their age or whether or not they set off the freestanding metal detector. Everyone’s carry-on luggage was hand-searched. Everyone had to present a valid passport on at least two occasions, with many people having to offer up additional documents when asked. Despite this, I heard no complaints.
Why, then, is there so much backlash here in the United States? Rather, why is more of it directed at the TSA agents who are only doing their jobs, not the people who decided on the security procedures? Teenagers have a tendency to want convenience first and foremost, and it’s not uncommon for us to end up irate at any delay or nuisance. Unfortunately, that includes airport security. It’s not worth holding up the security line just so a TSA agent can listen to a passenger’s rant about how important their flight is, or where the agent can and can’t search them. We need to stop thinking of ourselves – and only ourselves – when we travel.
