»In which we offer money for our own subjugation

This online-only piece in the New York Times's JetLagged column surprised me with its frankness and length:

The airlines, for their part, are in something of a bind. The willingness of our carriers to allow flying to become an increasingly unpleasant experience suggests a business sense of masochistic capitulation. On the other hand, imagine the outrage among security zealots should airlines be caught lobbying for what is perceived to be a dangerous abrogation of security and responsibility — even if it’s not. Carriers caught plenty of flack, almost all of it unfair, in the aftermath of September 11th. Understandably, they no longer want that liability.

As for Americans themselves, I suppose that it’s less than realistic to expect street protests or airport sit-ins from citizen fliers, and maybe we shouldn’t expect too much from a press and media that have had no trouble letting countless other injustices slip to the wayside. And rather than rethink our policies, the best we’ve come up with is a way to skirt them — for a fee, naturally — via schemes like Registered Traveler. Americans can now pay to have their personal information put on file just to avoid the hassle of airport security. As cynical as George Orwell ever was, I doubt he imagined the idea of citizens offering up money for their own subjugation."

Despite glaring systemic and amusingly obvious holes in the security of airlines, the agenda continues to be both reactive and unnecessarily disruptive. As cynical as George Orwell ever was, I doubt he imagined the idea of citizens offering up money for their own subjugation.

The prevailing notions of physical security around air travel stick in my craw not only because I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy flying from place to place, but also because the notions are wrong. Wrong-headed, and with the worst sort of ignorant, wrong intentions: these are measures that reflect no sophistication on the part of policy-makers or of law-enforcement, reinforcing the glorious stereotypes the legislative and executive branches have as dunder-headed troglodytes. We have massive models for the prediction of weather and traffic; and we have the ability to place a massive yellow first-down line underneath the image of football players onscreen; but we cannot reliably secure our transportation, merely provide the irritating illusion that we are doing something.