My Daughter, the Terror Suspect

Original here

Mr Brown recently discovered his four-year-old daughter is on the terrorist watch list. He also discovered that the TSA unloads the cost of their false positives onto the victim. What is really instructive, however, are some of the comments from the wearers of kneepads. One commenter with the initials "CM" writes in part:

Speaking as someone who was flagged for several months and travels regularly, you are overreacting. The inconvenience of checking-in in person is relatively minor. Being flagged does not subject you to additional searches, simply the requirement that the airline confirm your date of birth.

Ever notice when someone is defending the indefensible they use weasel words? When compared to a heart attack or an attack of the gout, checking-in in person may be "relatively minor". However, the sane and intelligent member of the human species will compare it to the alternative of checking-in online. Being sane, intelligent and having done both I can testify that, by that much more reasonable standard, it is not relatively minor. In fact it is an inconvenience. At times a major inconvenience.

Hat tip to The Advice Goddess