TSA trauma

Dear Congressman,

There has been a lot of controversy over the new full body scanners that airport security agencies are now adapting since the attempted Christmas Day bombing. Critics of the new scanners, specifically the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), refer to this process as a "virtual strip search".

Since the scanners provide a front and back image of all passenger's bodies that pass through the scanner, the Transportation Security Administration will be able to see through clothing and determine if anyone is trying to board a plane with 2lbs of explosives attached to their groin.

Per the TSA, they have taken steps to protect privacy, including the blurring of all faces, personnel inspecting the screening will not have direct contact with passengers, and assertions that the images are deleted soon after they are reviewed.

This is all well and good, but I personally have a serious concern regarding the implementation of this new technology.

My concern is obvious. It is about the TSA screeners who will spend at least 30 hours a week viewing these images looking for threats to the US transportation system. For reference to what I am referring, take an hour this weekend and drive to your local Wal-Mart. Grab a shopping cart and circle the store a few times. Try to imagine seeing all of the people you pass in the aisles naked.

I think you see my point here. Within a short period of time, all of these screeners will begin to develop a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from having to constantly look at screen shots of an obese general public that passes through their particular airport.

Sure, they might smile once in a while at the occasional Apollo or Aphrodite as they across their screen, but the majority of images will be of people who only know "curls" from the Arby's menu and believe it is exercise to get out of the Lazy-Boy to get another beer during commercials. The "yards of lard" that they will be expected to examine on a daily basis will become a vision that they can not shake. It will cause sleepless nights due to fears of dreaming of raging lipids and then general anxiety every workday morning when they realize that they must again examine screen shots of endless overweight individuals while trying to identify potential contraband almost completely masked by massive gelatinous fat layers.

That, my friends, is not a job I would wish on anyone.....