Putting faith above reason almost always leads to negative consequences. End the cultural relativistic bullshit and call a spade a spade.
Hell, even if you want to call them “cultural practices” they’re still WRONG, IMMORAL and ILLEGAL. Not all cultures are equal and such beliefs are poisoning the left.
]]>And the US will be even worse. They STILL make you take off your shoes. Stupid security theatre.
]]>Actually, as far as I understand it, the rules are so nonsensical (as with most airport security regulations) that you can turn down the THz scan and instead get a pat-down. Don’t quote me though.
]]>Obviously, this is being exploited by people who just have a hate on for the “terrist ferr’ners” and pretty much destroying any useful discussion, per http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIzivCJ9pzU
That being said, a few thoughts:
– Last few times I flew, they didn’t check my ID until the gate (they just checked that I *had* a ticket). That’s when they check this stuff.
– These women(?) did go through x-ray and metal detectors, so it’s safe to say that they didn’t have any more weapons than anybody else.
– The positive ID is important to ensure that, for example, a blacklisted terrorist isn’t boarding the plane incognito. Or fleeing the country, or whatever.
– Thanks to that terahertz radiation you like so much, even a niqab won’t protect their modesty from the prying eyes of the CATSA soon enough.
– Our IDs currently don’t have an easily checked biometric other than the picture. Therefore, that’s what we use for positive identification (and why the hutterites have run into trouble).
– I’ve heard many discussions back and forth about the niqab and why people are obsessed with seeing the face. I think the thing that causes people trouble (outside of being “strangely foreign”), which isn’t the case with the head scarf, is that a lot of our interpersonal communication is based on the subtle facial cues. When you talk to someone with a niqab, I think you might as well be talking to someone on the phone (disclosure: I haven’t actually ever talked to someone with their face covered). Furthermore, it seems lopsided because they benefit from those cues from you. However, other than for Israeli-style emotional reaction based security, I think this is more of a sociological discussion and not an airport security one.