Safety vs. Freedom

773 Words2 Pages

Why is America taking such drastic moves like putting full body scanners in airports? The truth of the matter is that America is willing to do what ever it takes to protect the lives of American people and their families.

The sectaries of America say scanners violate their freedom of rights. However, these scanners were prudently designed with the privacy of the customers in mind by not giving them a hard drive, or putting memory and data storage in them.

America has had 21 terrorist attacks, from 2000 to 2009 consisting mostly of al-Qaeda and suicide bombers (infoplease.com). Osama Ben Laden, leading al-Qaeda’s attacks is fed up with the way America treats the world. Blaming America for global warming and determined to stop them by sending suicide bombers and hijacking planes. After the 9/11 attack America changed the way they looked at security, putting into effect; Airport Security Federalization Act of 2001: To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools (The Library of Congress).

Most recently, America has decided to put full body scanners in airports to detect items hidden under clothing and are considering using the scanner as the main source of screening customers. The full body scanners take detailed images of the naked body, allowing security to see what is underneath clothing. They will speed security lines and find people carrying explosives without pat downs or full body searches. However, there is a draw back of this sumptuous two hundred thousand dollar machine; it cannot see objects hidden inside body cavities. Some rigid Americans believe that having their picture taken at a public place by a stranger is humiliating and infrin...

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...watch, without slowing down the line or inconveniencing the people lined up behind you. No thank you, I am going to avoid the hassle and embarrassment of metal detectors and possibly a pat down by going through the full body scanner. I would rather have one hidden person see my naked body knowing the other hundred people are seeing nothing, not even my toenails.

I believe the problem that Americans should be concerned with is the safety of themselves and their loved ones. Simply putting it, if given the option of showing their naked bodies or possibly dying, I am sure they would choose to show their naked bodies. So, let us bring a collation together and consider what is important in life.

Works Cited
The Library of Congress http://thomas.loc.gov/

A Blue View http://www.ablueview.com

News Week http://current.newsweek.com

Infoplease http://Infoplease.com

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