Why does my dad do this?
 

My parents just cleared FLL security...as you know they have BKSX primary. I told them about the family line trick, but it seems that was not an option this morning.

My mom, a cancer survivor, opted out as usual. She claims to have had no problems. My dad, on the other hand, continues to be a member of the sheeple population. He went through the scan, and then when I talked to him about it said "well, everyone is doing it". (To which I offered that if everyone jumped off a bridge, would he?)

I'm sure everyone on here has a family member like this. What can we do to convince them of the lack of safety of these machines? Or are they just lost causes?

Most people don't care about the health risks.

An amazing amount of people still consume aspertame, also known to cause cancer.

They're lost causes. For whatever reason, they've decided that it's perfectly reasonable to put their personal safety into the hands of a collective of GED-bearing knuckle-dragging clerks who're all convinced they're smarter than doctors and represent the vanguard of National Security.

It's a real shame, isn't it. And he can't really use the everyone is doing it excuse since his own wife isn't doing it! I mean at the end of the day, my dad turns 60 this year, so the health risks probably won't go noticed until close to or after the end of his days. Horrible thing to say, I know. I can't believe I'm saying something so depressing about something that the Government says keeps us safe. #Rant

Ask him flat out whether he would feel safe flying if the checkpoints reverted to their pre-TSA state of metal detectors and bag x-rays. If he pulls the 9/11™ card, describe the changes that will prevent another 9/11-style attack from recurring. Explain the financial costs of AIT and that it is actually less effective as a security tool that old-fashioned metal detectors. Explain that AIT slows down the lines, and that by amassing more people before the actual checkpoint, AIT is putting him at a greater risk of someone choosing to attack the actual checkpoint.

If he still fails to understand, then give up.

The sky is falling; the sky is falling

'Cuz your dad (along with me and a few others past our prime) grew up when medical XRays were frequent and at far higher dosages than today's, as children were taken by our parents to be fitted at shoe stores with "Shoe-Scope" fluoroscope XRay machines, and by "current" standards were "radiated" far more than the modern "sensitive" folks would tolerate. Of course, many of us were also "OD"ed on pencillinn and the second generation miracle antibiotics for non-serious and often wrongfully treated illnesses, making us the vectors by which all sorts of infectious agents could mutate to become resistant. Then we ran down the street in the tail plumes of the regular mosquito spraying trucks, dined on fruits and veggies laden with insecticides, and even if not in Viet Nam sure absorbed a spectrum of herbicides near as carcinogenic and dangerous as Agent Orange.

But then, I can recall seriously and liberally "dusting" a small Italian orphanage and its tenants with DDT. In retrospect, it wasn't wise, but then neither was living in a tiny ship's stateroom through which a large lagged steam pipe passed. of course, the "lagging" was packed with asbestos fibers, thumped by every catapult shot into the air I breathed. If I'm going to worry, I guess I'll worry about the risk factor from that exposure. I forgot all the dust from 3 years of life with constant exposure to the dust from lead paint, a practice which on old ships was constant as long as it was light enough to see.

Maybe, at his age and my age, we're simply not too worried that a little more radiation by the TSA is likely to be a threat to our health. For your dad and me (and others), there ain't no do-overs.

Honestly, I see that last paragraph the same way I see a smoker saying 'Well, something's gotta kill me'.

And why do you care? It doesn't affect you or anyone else. If his dad doesn't want to hassle with opt out, why does that affect us?

If you're worried about the health risks, then my opinion is that it's your dad's decision to make. It's his body, after all.

What frustrates me is his answer that "everybody's doing it." The whole conformity and AFS nonsense really bothers me. I wish people cared more about their rights and their relationship with the government.

Well, I did quit smoking 2 packs a day 20 years ago, based on a fairly rational cost/benefit analysis. The same type of analysis for a 2 weeks short of age 73 air traveler provides me with not enough cause for alarm to delay myself and others ample time to board.

It doesn't affect me, but I'm a compassionate human and don't like to see other people unnecessarily or unknowingly potentially harming themselves.

People have to make the choices that are best for them....and for a lot of travelers, it is much more complex than just opting out or walking through a scanner.

I typically opt out of both types of scanners (though I *never* use the term "opt out.") But I have, twice, I think, made a decision (for reasons of my own) to go through a MMW scanner. I expect my decision to be respected -- whatever it is -- and so it's pretty compelling for me to respect the decisions other people make.

In your situation, I respect the decision. I have gone through the MMW once, although I was intending to opt out. This was before it was primary, so I just kinda found myself in there and went with it. However, I consider you an informed passenger and I have no problem is someone is informed and chooses to still take the risk. My problem is my dad's comment that "everyone else is doing it". Seems a bit ignorant, no?

Sadly, you've only recently discovered that your father is a complete idiot.

This may be a new development - senile dementia?