These People Make my Head Hurt

[Fragony]

Because it makes noone any safer, and it costs so many billions it makes my brain hurt.

It does make people safer, being able to bring explosives on a plane then again doesn't. Also comes in handy for human and drug weapon traffickers. You seem to be confusing how things should be and how they are again.

[HoreTore]

It does make people safer, being able to bring explosives on a plane then again doesn't. Also comes in handy for human and drug weapon traffickers. You seem to be confusing how things should be and how they are again.

No, they don't make people safer, simply because they don't stop explosives going through security.

There have been plenty of tests on the security controls, and they never catch all of them. Considering the insane number of people going through security every day, you would need to stop 100% of them. Not close to 100, not 99.9999, you need 100.

And since the success rate of the checks are around 7/10, it's about as useful as licking your finger and pointing to the sky.

Even if it was 100%, it's still waaaaaaay too expensive to be justified in a cost/benefit analysis. People stand for 30 minutes at the checkpoint. Time is money. Let's say the average wage is 20 bucks an hour. That means standing in line for 30 minutes doing nothing costs 10 dollars. Now, multiply that number with the number of passengers since 2001. The figure is mind-blowing. And since we don't have access to a pot with infinite money, perhaps we can take a look at what else we could buy for that amount, which would save a lot more lives. Aids medicine in Africa is what, 100 bucks per person per year? That's the cost of forcing 10 people through security.




I have a brilliant idea!

Drugs kill people. A lot of people. And ruin the lives of many, many more. Drugs are smuggled in cars and trailers through our borders. Why don't we detain and check every car and trailer that passes through our borders for 30 minutes? It would be a pain for smugglers, wouldn't it? This is just so S-M-R-T, I mean S-M-A-R-T!!

[Fragony]

No, they don't make people safer, simply because they don't stop explosives going through security.

There have been plenty of tests on the security controls, and they never catch all of them.

Yes they do, they have dogs for that, can't stop all but can stop most. Expensive yes, but it's the passenger that pays for it not the tax-payer, ask them if they want to pay a little extra for that.

perhaps we can take a look at what else we could buy for that amount, which would save a lot more lives.

What do you suggest?

[Brenus]

“So, we're come to the point were we have to justify what sort of clothes we are wearing: "If you don't have a good reason for wearing those clothes, then don't wear them all".”
Well, in another debate, some suggest that women wearing some “slut” clothing are partially responsible for their rape…

You don’t have to justify what clothes you wear but you have to be aware of the result and the symbol of some clothes.
When I was younger and in the army, I choose to wear my uniform or not, depending of what I wanted to do (achieve) and who I would meet.
If you wear “afghan” fashion clothing you want to spread a political message, not a religious one, as there is not compulsory requirements for an Imam, contrary to Catholic Priest.
They made their point and, yes, blow a way “the nation of the Free” self assume notion defended by some even on this forum.

I spend a lot of time to explain that some clothes are more than clothes and are a political statements. And I see nothing wrong in this. However, when someone decided to play on “oh, it is only a piece of clothing” button I think it is pure hypocrisy.
The passengers didn’t react on the fact the Imams were Muslim but on the Clothing they choose to wear.
Well, they shouldn’t. Shouldn’t they?

[Viking]

“So, we're come to the point were we have to justify what sort of clothes we are wearing: "If you don't have a good reason for wearing those clothes, then don't wear them all".”

You don’t have to justify what clothes you wear but you have to be aware of the result and the symbol of some clothes.
When I was younger and in the army, I choose to wear my uniform or not, depending of what I wanted to do (achieve) and who I would meet.
If you wear “afghan” fashion clothing you want to spread a political message, not a religious one, as there is not compulsory requirements for an Imam, contrary to Catholic Priest.
They made their point and, yes, blow a way “the nation of the Free” self assume notion defended by some even on this forum.

I spend a lot of time to explain that some clothes are more than clothes and are a political statements. And I see nothing wrong in this. However, when someone decided to play on “oh, it is only a piece of clothing” button I think it is pure hypocrisy.
The passengers didn’t react on the fact the Imams were Muslim but on the Clothing they choose to wear.
Well, they shouldn’t. Shouldn’t they?

And what does these clothes represent? "I think OBL was a great guy"? I don't know what 'Afghan fashion clothing' is, and I doubt that too many of the passengers knew it either. At best they could realise the imams were muslims, but it wouldn't surprise me if sikhs also managed to get that label.

What really happened here is 'clothing indicates Muslim, which indicates potentential terrorist'.

[HoreTore]

Yes they do, they have dogs for that, can't stop all but can stop most. Expensive yes, but it's the passenger that pays for it not the tax-payer, ask them if they want to pay a little extra for that.

This is getting tedious....

No frags, they don't. They've failed in every test I have ever seen. The typical way to do it, is by sending 10 guys in with various items. Usually, they stop 6-7 of them, that means 3-4 terrorists get through at every test.

And this is before we factor in types of explosives etc that outsmarts the security checks.

A few links of failures for your enjoyment, frags, google can provide you with many more:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...d.main/771587/

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...st-in-Slovakia

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...r_airport.html

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-01-28/u...bombs?_s=PM:US

This is quite simply the biggest waste of money the world has ever seen.