> As if air travel over the [Thanksgiving](http://www.sfgate.com/thanksgiving/) holiday isn’t tough enough, it could be even worse this year: Airports could see even more disruptions because of a loosely organized Internet boycott of full-body scans.
>
> Even if only a small percentage of passengers participate, experts say it could mean longer lines, bigger delays and hotter tempers.
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> The protest, National Opt-Out Day, is scheduled for Wednesday to coincide with the busiest travel day of the year. The [Obama](http://www.sfgate.com/barack-obama/) administration’s top transportation security official implored passengers Monday not to participate, saying boycotts would only serve to “tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones.”
via [sfgate.com](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/19/state/n131910S42.DTL&feed=rss.news)
I’d be sympathetic to those who just wanted to get home to their loved ones, but you know what? Just wanting to get home to your loved ones without causing a stir is what got us into this mess. We need to wake people up. Does this have the potential to cause delays, stranded passengers, even some altercations over heated emotions? Yeah. Deal with it. Sometimes the right thing to do trumps convenience.
My guess is that the TSA will lower the percentage of people “randomly selected” for the X-Ray machine on Wednesday, just to decrease the incidents of opting out. Then they’ll use the low number of protesters as a talking point for how most Americans don’t have a problem with these procedures.
Of course, most Americans are completely unaware of these procedures. They walk into the X-ray machine not knowing at all that they are being photographed naked. Most Americans don’t even travel, anyway, so they really shouldn’t get a vote on this.
There are some issues where the majority really shouldn’t rule. If the majority always ruled, after all, women and blacks would still not be allowed to vote.
What we really need is for this issue to go to court. I really can’t see any sane judge making an argument that modern airport security methods don’t violate the fourth amendment. Nor can I see any lawyer making a competent argument that the airport deserves some sort of special status vs. other places where many people gather or travel.