To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of. Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.
Exactly. No one wants to admit they or their countrymen were caught by the element of surprise. Much easier on the conscience to chalk it up to sinister intents of "animals" and "lax" security measures.