I’ve compiled several stories which I think are worthy of your attention. Both for the outside world peeking in, and for readers based in Thailand who might have missed something.
At this point it's heresy to even question the idea of the government running airport security checkpoints, but it has no business being involved at all. The TSA in the US always has huge miss rates when it's tested with fake contraband, with well over half of banned items getting through. But they're totally on top of your shampoo and toenail clippers because safety.
The airlines should be running their own security. They'd compete for top scores and use that as a selling point to gain and keep customers. They'd also be more likely to be rational about things like nail trimmers because they have a vested interest in their planes not blowing up. The government has a vested interest in training people to tolerate invasions of privacy, assploding irrationality, and general fuckery for "safety." And as someone who used to work for a cargo airline and spent some time around the passenger-free points of airports, I can tell you that the last place anyone with a brain would use to get bombs and weapons onto passenger planes is through passenger security checkpoints. I used to watch the catering trucks drive in and out through the airport gates as they came and went from the food service companies. They're not screened. Their cargoes aren't searched. No one even opens the door for a cursory glance into the back to see if there's a commando force in there. Those trucks pull right up to the aircraft and load the catering carts directly onto them. Am I the only one who sees the possibilities there for getting weapons and bombs onto airplanes? There's only one reason for government to be in charge of airport and airline security, and that's to train people to tolerate *anything* if it's sold as being for their safety.
I'm not saying that the kakistocracy was playing a long game decades ago when it insisted on taking over security. They're not that smart. But they have the animal cunning to take advantage of an opening when it's given to them, too, and nothing shuts people up faster and gets them to bend over farther than airport "security."
At this point it's heresy to even question the idea of the government running airport security checkpoints, but it has no business being involved at all. The TSA in the US always has huge miss rates when it's tested with fake contraband, with well over half of banned items getting through. But they're totally on top of your shampoo and toenail clippers because safety.
The airlines should be running their own security. They'd compete for top scores and use that as a selling point to gain and keep customers. They'd also be more likely to be rational about things like nail trimmers because they have a vested interest in their planes not blowing up. The government has a vested interest in training people to tolerate invasions of privacy, assploding irrationality, and general fuckery for "safety." And as someone who used to work for a cargo airline and spent some time around the passenger-free points of airports, I can tell you that the last place anyone with a brain would use to get bombs and weapons onto passenger planes is through passenger security checkpoints. I used to watch the catering trucks drive in and out through the airport gates as they came and went from the food service companies. They're not screened. Their cargoes aren't searched. No one even opens the door for a cursory glance into the back to see if there's a commando force in there. Those trucks pull right up to the aircraft and load the catering carts directly onto them. Am I the only one who sees the possibilities there for getting weapons and bombs onto airplanes? There's only one reason for government to be in charge of airport and airline security, and that's to train people to tolerate *anything* if it's sold as being for their safety.
I'm not saying that the kakistocracy was playing a long game decades ago when it insisted on taking over security. They're not that smart. But they have the animal cunning to take advantage of an opening when it's given to them, too, and nothing shuts people up faster and gets them to bend over farther than airport "security."