This Thanksgiving Break, many USC students will be boarding planes to head back home. Whether they are traveling to Chicago or Cincinnati, San Diego or San Antonio, they will all have one thing in common: They will be violated. The Transportation Security Administration recently ordered that all fliers must either be patted down, like applying a rub to a turkey, or go trough a full-body scanner that sees through their clothing, like watching that turkey bake in the oven when you’re not supposed to peek at Thanksgiving dinner.
This new order has caused a backlash among many fliers and citizens in general who feel that their rights are unnecessarily being violated. They protest that the government is becoming a voyeur, claiming that it wants to “grope” them or take pornographic pictures of them.
Give it a rest. Yes, there have been incidents of abuse by TSA agents, but the vast majority of these employees are not out to “touch your junk,” as John Tyner protested, or get aroused off of your scanner images, which can hardly be described as pornographic. Their goal is to protect you from terrorism, and that goal is a noble one. Heed a cliche, and often abused, but nonetheless true statement: We are still at war.
Benjamin Franklin is often misquoted as saying, “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.” He actually said, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Your right to fly aboard planes containing dozens of other passengers without going through security is not an “essential liberty.” The government’s protection of all American citizens from terrorism since Sept. 11 qualifies than “a little temporary safety.” Sometimes sacrifices of liberty and privacy must be made to ensure safety. Even if that means someone must “grope” your junk.