I would add that there are more things behind this - in a sense, there are cultural reasons behind the reason "pat downs"have been overbown this past week.

BoingBoing - Why did OMG Whisky Tango Foxtrot TSA go Viral this week?

In short:

1. Yes, this is probably a little insane.
2. This kind of unreasonable security theater has already been going on for a while (as pointed out by this entire forum)
3. One of the reasons for the sudden media blitz is that the 'target' now includes white males.