6 Responses to “Airline Travel–A Pain in the Butt”

1. Tweets that mention Donklephant » Blog Archive » Airline Travel–A Pain in the Butt -- Topsy.com Says:
   November 23rd, 2010 at 4:13 pm

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Justin Gardner and Susann Ogg, Donklephant. Donklephant said: DONKLEPHANT: Airline Travel–A Pain in the Butt http://ow.ly/1a7W35 [...]

2. Tully Says:
   November 23rd, 2010 at 5:08 pm

   UH OH!

3. kranky kritter Says:
   November 23rd, 2010 at 6:28 pm

   I find the blithe tone-deafness of the TSA on this issue frustrating. It is a sad refrain reinforcing public sentiment that the government, again, is missing the point.

   Regular folks understand almost intuitively that we are facing seriously diminishing returns on each new speck of additional security that we buy at greater cost than the previous speck. But the government seems unable to see past the necessity of buying every new speck that they can imagine into existence, without regard for time, cost, or privacy.

   We’re all a tiny bit safer today by choosing a teeny bit of radiation here or a stranger’s clutch upon our genitals there. At the allegedly bargain cost of taxpayer-purchased gizmos, and our time and privacy. And as long as a majority of us are too afraid of terrorism to look at each proposed advancement in the context of a cost-benefit analysis, there’s no end in sight.

   What happens when terrorists attack a mall, a library, a gym, a pizza joint, a supermarket, a coffee shop, a drug store, a town hall, a school?What happens when they blow up a bridge, a train, a bus, a power plant, a subway station?

   There’s a dominant school of problem solving that responds to negative events with the following dictum:

   We must do all we can to make sure this never happens again. Ever. Without regard to cost.

   Until a majority of Americans grasps the very limited utility of that approach, freedom and privacy will continue to be sacrificed on the altar of safety.

4. Chris Says:
   November 23rd, 2010 at 8:03 pm

   Is that article supposed to make sense tully? lol. But yeah, that’s the next logical course of action.

   This explains the recent increase in scanners: http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/22/body-scanner-makers-spent-millions-on-lobbying/

5. Tully Says:
   November 23rd, 2010 at 8:48 pm

   The suppository bomber, Chris.

6. Tully Says:
   November 24th, 2010 at 1:04 pm

   Our government seems to be oblivious to the concepts of risk/benefit and diminishing marginal utility, doesn’t it?

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