In that case, I’d say choose the scanner. And pay attention to what you carry which could trigger scrutiny. It’s that simple.
It’s not that simple, the body scan is threatening to some people for the same reasons as the pat-downs, as given in the article and comments. The people who are threatened by this are not rare birds with peculiar psychology, there are as many as one in five adults who have been subjected to some kind of childhood sexual abuse or exploitation.
To those people, the threat is intimidating. Why should citizens, convicted of no crime be subjected to this punishment, psychological stress, and intimidation by their government? Shouldn’t the methods at least be proven, or at least agreed by all the best experts to be the only way?
But it is not the only way, it is rather what the government prefers to actually identifying likely terrorists and making them prove themselves before boarding.
That trade-off would never gain popular support, but our government is not interested in popular support. What they want from the public is something else entirely.
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