'Abandon All Rights Ye Who Enter'

"Abandon
all hope ye who enter here," so goes the phrase inscribed on the gate
of hell in Dante's Divine Comedy. Replace "hope" with "rights" and that
phrase seems oddly apropos for the entrance to all American airports
these days.

Indeed,
since 9/11 the dust from those destroyed Twin Towers in New York City
continue to form a cloud of suspicion, blanketing the country. Nearly a
decade has passed and Americans have grown used to being on the
permanent lookout for terror. We have learned to report folks who wear
garbs in certain ways, who behave a little differently on the plane.
Even famous journalist Juan Williams admits on Fox television to being
"nervous" and "worried" with those who "are in Muslim garb."

That
is, we've learned to live permanently with Code Yellow and Orange. It
is perhaps why while some are complaining, a vast many more are
complacent with the new full-body scanners at airports. People don't
want to be groped or scanned, but people are willing to go through the
humiliating processes in the name of safety and security. In newspaper
articles, many of those interviewed used terms like "trade-off" or
"compromise" when talking about privacy versus safety. One in particular
said he's grown "immune to the procedures." A few days ago a new CBS poll found that a whopping 81 percent of Americans say the full-body scanners should be used at airports

"The
airport is no longer part of America," said a friend who is a frequent
flyer. "Mention the word bomb loud enough even in casual conversation
and you are likely be reported." Say "bomb" to the TSA agent and you
might create a massive traffic jam.

In one case of tragicomedy,
a passenger at Chicago O'Hare Airport en route to Turkey, was asked
about a device that turned out to be a penis pump. It was unclear how he
said it, as he was standing next to his mother, but the word pump was
heard as "bomb" by a TSA agent and the man faced three years of prison.

Another incident involved an Iraqi wearing a T-shirt with Arabic inscription.
He was not allowed on the plane at John F. Kennedy Airport. What did
the inscription mean in Arabic? It said, ironically, "We Will Not Be
Silent."

And
if you want to create pandemonium at San Francisco International
Airport, and turn Code Orange to Red, try wearing an image of Bin Laden
on your chest. In a sense, one checks in not just one's luggage, but
also one's tongue at airports.

Now,
with groping and full body scans as the norm, one gives up one's rights
to privacy along with free speech. "Are TSA pat-downs and full-body
scans unconstitutional?" asks the Christian Science Monitor.

But
this seems somehow a moot point. The First Amendment is already
seriously compromised, so why not the Fourth? The Monitor quoted William
Schroeder, a professor of law at Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale, on the constitutionality of scanners and the Fourth
Amendment problem who said, "I don't think that argument is going to
carry the day, given that people have hidden bombs on their bodies in
ways that cannot be found through less invasive searches... you've
consented. You don't have to fly - that's your choice."

But
even if you don't fly you could find that the whole country is becoming
a kind of "mega-airport," where you watch your language, your
neighbor's briefcase and your neighbor -- and your neighbor does the
same - all the while Uncle Sam's electronic eye watches everyone? What
if in the name of security, we are willing to give up more rights, not
at the airport but everywhere else?

I
have learned to accept the nature of the airport, but I think it is
only tolerable as long as we know it will not last, that we are
passengers to some hopeful and brighter destination. What I fear most is
that the phrase "Abandon All Rights Ye Who Enter Here" may no longer be
inscribed on the entrance, but that it is also etched above the exit
sign.