I am all for national security. I travel at least twice a year by plane. And I like to know that terrorists, hijackers, and others aren't sitting next to me on that plane considering when to take it down. I like to know that the guy next to me doesn't have a bomb in his shoe...or his underwear.
But I'm also conservative when it comes to my rights and privacy being stripped from me. Call me crazy, call me Texan, but I'm all for concealed carry or even open carry in specific circumstances. On Facebook, I'm a fan of the "Concealed Carry on Campus" group. Too many school shootings could be prevented by licensed, regulated gun owners. The bad guys will always get the guns anyway, so if I know the good guy also has a gun...well I like the odds a whole lot better.
National security goes beyond just being able to carry a gun though. It is and will always be illegal to carry a gun on a plane, unless you are specific government personnel. Even police officers aren't allowed to carry their weapons on planes. Don't ask me why.
So the TSA has opted to use more "invasive" screening at airport security. Beyond the metal detectors and random searches, they are utilizing body-scanning technology. It takes an entire body image that sees through clothing and allows a TSA officer to detect what a metal detector might miss (like plastic combs that double as knives). Unfortunately, these bodyscans are invasive because of the radiology that they deal with.
Basically, it's an X-ray of your body. Just so you can board a plane. Granted, they are optional scans for now. But if you opt out, be warned that you are subjected to a more "intense but traditional" patdown. (And between you and me, you might just be black-listed. Heck, I'll probably be black-listed just for writing this.)
I don't believe in exposing your body to more X-rays than absolutely necessary. I've had my share of MRI's and X-rays and I even have a cell phone. But I also know that flying twice a year (that would be at least four scans) and having to walk through an X-ray machine doesn't really sit well with me.
You're wondering how this connects to diabetes, aren't you? Well get this. Insulin pumps can't be subjected to X-rays or any radiology. Not a big surprise. But the kind of nifty thing about that specific detail is that it's a valid TSA-approved (although some officers WILL argue with you and you just have to insist and stand your ground) reason to not be subjected to X-rays of any kind.
TSA cannot make you disconnect to undergo this search. Nor can they make you send the pump through a scanner of any kind. It's a medical device. Granted that doesn't mean they can't pull you aside. My insulin bottles, syringes, and diabetes gadgets have caused many a TSA agent to pull me and my family aside for these invasive searches. I remember when I was about 12 on my way to Miami, an agent pulled a handful of syringes out of my carry on and questioned me. That was before 9/11.
Anyway, I've often said before that diabetes can be the best excuse sometimes. When you just don't WANT seconds from grandma or when you feel like skipping a workout/class/meeting, diabetes is your go-to-guy. "I'm low, I can't." "Bad night of highs, didn't sleep." "Too much insulin, can't workout now!" The perks of having this disease.
And now there's one more added to that list. "I'm sorry, I can't go through your X-ray machine, I have an insulin pump." Score.
Lindsey, I'm confused, at best, about your perspective on security. You say you want to make sure you don't sit next to a terrorist on a plane, but you believe higher security measures are an invasion of privacy. How would you propose that TSA and the government ensures you don't sit next to a terrorist without more invasive screenings? Unfortunately, this is the day and age we live in, and if you want to fly, you're going to have to put up with increased security.
I'm also confused about why carrying a weapon on campus would "prevent" a school shooting. In fact, it just adds another gun to the equation. Preventing a school shooting can only occur before someone opens fire, which means controlling who has guns in the first place. And you're definition of "good guys" might vary quite a bit from the next person - remember that school shooters and terrorists also think they're doing the "right thing." Sometimes we need a level of protection that discerns between the right to carry a gun and the human right that everyone should have, which is to live free from fear of a school shooting and gun violence. That means increased gun security and containment for everyone.
Finally, using diabetes to make excuses is exactly the attitude that perpetuates stereotypes about our disease. There will be times when diabetes legitimately interrupts our lives and ability to work out or to eat a particular food at a particular time, but using diabetes as an excuse to skip class, a workout, meeting, or anywhere that you have pledged to give your time simply represents a lack of integrity, and makes people around you think that having diabetes inhibits you from activities - and at your convenience. Think about every time someone has said something untrue about diabetes and how that made you feel. Don't contribute to others thinking that having diabetes is a reason someone should not participate in any life activity, including airport screenings. Per your blog entries, you unhook your pump all the time and take it off when you don't feel like wearing it. What's the big deal with unhooking for an xray scan? I feel better knowing that I'm participating in keeping planes safer, not contributing to the slow down by being an "exception" when I don't need to.
I know you may not like everything I have said in this comment, but I think its important to be truthful in the blogging world, and I'd be happy to continue this conversation, as I do respect your personal views as well. Take care.
Hi amped, thanks for the feedback!
First~ I don't believe that putting radiation into my body is necessary to tighten flight incidents. I am fine with security screenings, but there is a point where not only my privacy but my own personal "security" becomes threatened by the government. I am not okay with that.
Second~ My point on school shootings being limited/prevented by concealed carry is that the students involved in those shootings would be able to protect themselves. The deaths could be prevented. Even the shootings themselves if a potential shooter walks in knowing that a quarter of his classmates are carrying a weapon. I'd just rather have those odds than no way to defend myself.
Third~ The point of unhooking for an X-ray scan is that it's just that, an X-ray scan! We walk everyday in enough EMF's that I don't need 4 extra scans a year to put me at risk for cancer. As for diabetes being an excuse, that doesn't have anything to do with my integrity. I never said I was lying...every excuse I used above is a valid one. Sometimes diabetes shows up at opportune times...when you just really don't want to go to class and you happen to be heading low. I also think it's important to explain the issues when diabetes DOES get in the way (because we both know that it does, whether it's an excuse or not). No, diabetes doesn't mean that I can't work out or that I can't lead a "normal" life. But it does mean that there is interference and differences from me to the non-diabetic friends I have. None of my friends believe that diabetes inhibits my activities. The fact of the matter is that sometimes diabetes does prohibit us from doing things. Whether it's by choice or not.
"An armed society is a polite society." Open carry means you know (at least some of) whom your adversaries might be if you try to open fire. Concealed carry means anyone and everyone could have a gun which would be trained on you should you initiate violence.
The security scans actually decrease our security because they take away from us anything we could use to defend ourselves from an attack (remember that in the 9/11/01 incidents, the attackers used box cutters which had been preloaded onto the planes by Aircraft Services (aka the food-and-beverage service company) -- not by the passengers. The fewer weapons you allow peaceful people to carry on-board, the less peaceful the plane becomes -- and the more likely it is to become a deadly target for violence.
I do know that I myself have been inconvenienced and psychologically upset due to posessing medical equipment when going through the security scan at an airport -- especially when the security guards have no idea what it is just by looking at it.
NOT ALL INSULIN PUMPS SIMPLY "UN-HOOK". The OmniPod pump itself, for example, is directly adhered to the skin with the insulin pre-injected into the pump. If you take it off, you cannot put it back on and you lose any insulin that was in it; instead, you would need to refill a new OmniPod pump, prep the infusion site (I prefer antimicrobial soaps over alcohol swabs alone), and put the new pump on.
And anyway, for pumps that can un-hook, it could very well result in having to take off one's clothing to get to the infusion site.
The one thing I learned after my phase of life thinking logically and rationally is that logic and rationality are incomplete without ill-logic and irrationality thrown into the mix. And honesty is not always the best policy in the real world, though it usually is. A group of honest people going through a security line will not affect the perception of "everyone" going through the line, nor would it create a trustworthy "stereotype" to use to identify honest or dishonest people.
I too was pulled aside once for posessing insulin syringes. Another security officer was called over. Except for the public embarassment that lasted about five minutes (which seemed like an eternity), I got through with no problems. I had been on an international flight coming back home (over 24 hours), and had facial stubble and messed-up hair from sleeping overnight on the plane -- I was treated like a drug dealer until I showed and EXPLAINED THE PURPOSE of all of my diabetic equipment. I did not need that kind of treatment. Unkempt grooming is not a reliable stereotype for drug dealers. In fact, no stereotype is reliable -- it takes only the worst properties of a class of people and pretends to be a guideline for the entire class. Behaving in a non-stereotypical manner will not affect the stereotype for all people, whatever it might be.
And furthermore, I don't care much about idealistic or theoretical perspectives on "perpetuating diabetic sterotypes". It's ridiculous. In the past my connecting flight was delayed, and passengers were asked to volunteer to spend the night in a hotel until the next morning. I told them that I had insulin-dependant diabetes and that I would run out of insulin if I did not get on the next flight to my home city. They put me first on the list to get on the next available flight, before the rest of everyone else who had lesser excuses, like wrinkled underwear. I'll play every "diabetic card" I have to ensure my heath is maintained -- it's hard enough to maintain it with no outside interference.
And as for the aspect of radiology, there is a limit -- X-raying my carry-on baggage to view its contents is one thing, but in the total-body scanning units I don't want complete strangers looking at my genitals, nor would I ever imagine women wanting total strangers to see their genitals or breasts in full X-ray detail under their clothing. Smashed like two flat tires, if the woman is wearing a sports bra.
I'd rather be pat down and allowed through like everyone else, instead of having every last piece of my medical equipment examined while other members of my party have already gone through the line and are now waiting ten minutes for me to get through.
I agree with T'Mana -- I would want to be able to defend myself, or at least have "someone" on board to ensure my protection. I believe that the honest and the innocent people will be the only ones UN-protected in any type of attack, because no matter what technology is available, the "bad guys" will eventually find some way to do whatever they want. There is no way to cover every last possibility; but hypothetically if everyone had a weapon, any terrorist would think twice before acting.
Sometimes one just has to trust. I don't see how it could be any other way.