Shut up and get scanned, already

Listen, slave, who do you think you are? A free, sovereign individual? Shut your mouth, and submit. Get on your knees and grovel. Beg. There are 1.2 Billion Muslims out there that want to kill you, rape and murder your wife and kids. Don't you want the State to protect you? Aren't you afraid? What is wrong with you?!

Someone might want to remind this toolbag that his job is to find the truth, not shill for the State; an enabler for government criminality. Maybe instead of being their useful idiot, he could expose the fact that the entire justification for the naked body scanner is, at best, gross government negligence and malfeasance; at worst, a staged terror attack.

Incidentally, his email is at the bottom of his rant. Feel free.

Jim Byers
Toronto Star -

Waa, waa.

It's only been a few days since Ottawa said it would add new security scanners to Canadian airports, and already the righteous indignation is flowing.

"I don't want people seeing an outline of my body."

"Why don't they spend their money going after terrorists before they get on the airplane?"

Waa, waa. Suck it up, folks.

There's some question whether real, live people will actually see the images from the so-called "naked scanners," the name of which strikes me as inflammatory. It should be "kinda, vaguely naked but in a really bizarre, shapeless, blobby kind-of-way scanner," but I realize that doesn't work so well in a headline.

I've read that the images won't be looked at by humans. But let's assume they will be. Do you honestly think some poor airport security person is going to endlessly stare at the outline of a dumpy electrician from Stouffville? Or a journalist from North Toronto who could use a few hundred stomach crunches?

Okay, an attractive person might be another story. But any airport worker can wander over to the nearest newsstand at Pearson and pick up hard-core pornographic magazines for the cost of a couple fancy coffees.

So instead they're going to spend precious time poring over a strange outline that looks like the Atlanta Olympic mascot? Come on. Don't take yourself so seriously, folks.

There are issues, of course. I've read comments that the machines don't scan the tops of people's heads or the soles of their feet very well. And, as a father, I certainly understand the issue of having children's images captured by these machines.

Ottawa has said they won't be used on people under 18.

That's nice for privacy, but last time I checked there are terrorists all over the world who couldn't care less if they use children of any age to further their causes. So I don't know that we're doing ourselves any favours by exempting children.

It's a sad time for travel. I don't take any delight in this. I don't WANT to have my body scanned. Nor do I want to empty my backpack every time I trudge through that overrated barn called Pearson Airport and take off my shoes and remove my laptop from its case. But it's the cost of doing business.

As for concerns that the scanners won't deter anyone, I have one simple answer. How on earth do you know?

Maybe they won't deter the hard-core terrorists who can stay a step ahead of Ottawa and, apparently, Washington, but maybe they'll scare off someone who's not so smart. Or catch someone who makes a mistake. Isn't that worth it?

I've also read the scanners are purely cosmetic; designed to make us feel better but of no actual use. I disagree. But I have news for you; cosmetics are important.

If scanners make us feel safe, we'll travel. If we travel, we keep flight attendants and pilots employed, not to mention the folks that make those hideous sandwiches they serve on airplanes these days. Hotel workers benefit from travel. Cab drivers benefit. Servers and bartenders benefit.

Tourism is the biggest industry in many countries of the world, and it's a huge draw for Canada, what with the great cities and mountains and lakes that the rest of the world jealously covets. It's critical that people feel safe when they travel.

When I blogged on this on our website this week, I got a note from a reader named Victoria.

"Those scanners don't show any more than if you were wearing a swimsuit, she wrote.

"I'll take less chance of being blown up any day over my so-called privacy."

Me, too. No matter how small that chance may be.


Disagree? Drop me a line at

jbyers@thestar.ca