FINE! DON'T FLY

First I have to make a disclaimer. I don't have a solution for the issue of airline travel safety - to scan or to pat or to ignore. No position at all to speak of. But I sure do have to shake my head in wonder, and sometimes even laugh, at the positions people take on Airport Body Scanners vs. The Patdown.

Recently the Fiqh Council of North America, a body of Islamic scholars, issued a fatwa that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty.

I suppose the Fiqh Council wouldn't like the thorough patdown any better.

So I say "Fine. Don't fly. Take a boat, swim, parasail, go horseback, walk, or if those don't sound do-able, stay home."

I read online some opinions of female responders to an article on bodyscanners and had to shake my head at the thought processes of some of the responders:

* to body scanning: Do we want TSA airport agents to see all of us? What about children, babies, grandmothers and pregant women? Do we want them exposed to radiation which accumulates in the body over a lifetime and could very well lead to cancer at some point?

* to body scanning: Any TSA inspector who may have a bent towards porn could really have a field day with this. They'd work for peanuts to get access to such a gold mine!

*to body searches: Looking up Grandma's dress and into her Depends, into our babies' diapers and into our genitals is just going too far.

I say "Fine. Don't fly. Take a boat, swim, parasail, go horseback, walk, or if those don't sound do-able, stay home."

And then the Pope speaks out against body scanners: "It is above all essential to protect and value the human person in their integrity." Say what?

He goes on: "Even in this situation [airplanes being in the forefront of the terrorist threat] one must never forget that respecting the primacy of the human person and attention to his or her needs does not make the service less efficient nor penalize economic management." Say what again?

The Pope has his own flymobile so he is speaking out of concern for his flock and probably for the wolves who are at the gate but to which his boss has commanded, "Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you." Luke 6:27

So no disrepect intended but I have to say again, "Fine. Don't fly. Take a boat, swim, parasail, go horseback, walk, or if those don't sound do-able, stay home."

I do not have a good answer. In tough times, tough action is needed. And someimes we may have to do something we would prefer not doing. But in this case, the alternative is simple. You know what it is. You may not want to take this alternative, but that is your choice. It IS an alternative and will definitely protect your body from perceived violation.