http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

I only wish to be at least half as noble, brave and bold as some who have come before me.

And, I am grateful that our forefathers of the United States were willing to risk their LIVES (forget dinner or jobs) to stand up for what they believed in to make this country independent. Also, while I never really bought into the notion--rather the ideal, if it weren't for those who lost their lives in WWII we would all be speaking German or possibly be slaves or dead if we didn't fit the ideal of one man or group's belief is the perfect race.

I am just as guilty as I find your comment, as so far I have just sat by (but have at least talked about to whoever listens) as our freedoms are stripped away, but I realize my fault and hope to change it.

I realise that the levels of airport security might be verging on excessive (pilots don't exactly need to be carrying banned sharp items to seriously threaten passenger safety on board an aircraft anyway...), but for some reason I find the equivocation of freedom fighting and moaning about being mildly hassled at an airport more objectionable than the airport officials themselves. Coming across as paranoid and self-righteous* every time law enforcement comes up with any new directive detracts from legitimate criticism of more disturbing trends and behaviour.

If you're really afraid of the power of government then security personnel asking to see your genitals without asking you taking your clothes off ought to be the least of your concerns. A healthy majority of American citizens think the government has the right to take away people's _lives_ (should they be convicted of a capital crime).

*this isn't intended as a direct personal criticism either of you or the pilot; merely an observation of how it potentially appears to a large swathe of the general public. The "boy who cried wolf" analogy sounds more apt than any Godwin's-law-invoking slippery slope arguments.

My comment makes me sad, too. I think my actions and beliefs today would probably disappoint the "10 years ago" instance of myself.

A little background...

The incident in question happened 4 weeks ago, when I had an extra 2 hours before my flight. Sure, I had plenty of time to stand up for what I believe in.

On Friday, I was running late because of traffic and crowds. If I had refused the naked machine, I would have missed my flight, and I would have missed Startup School.

Funny how strongly we believe in something until it's our turn to act. That's when we find out, for better or worse, who we really are.

2010: "Of course I'll waive my rights. I don't want to miss my connecting flight."

As you say though, fighting it just isn't worth it right now. The last thing I need is one if the geniuses that work security arresting me, even under false pretenses, because I won't consent to a strip search.

There is actually a hilarious idea buried here. An interesting way to protest full-body scans would be to walk through security naked to make the point about what is really happening in the machine. Done en masse, it could probably get some media attention. And to make it legal, you could probably just wear some minimal fleshtoned bits taped over the right parts, which is supposedly all the machine does to make it "legit" for TSA employees to watch.

The time to force the issue over this (by making "optional" strip searches prohibitively expensive) is now.