And A Child Shall Lead Them: What A Toy Can Teach Us About Security
In my last blog, I talked about the diminished respect that the Transportation Security Agency was experiencing as a result of their reactive and ludicrous policies. I based my comments on a sampling of media reports and comments to various professional email lists and blogs. However, I overlooked a very interesting source for gauging public opinion on TSA – the customer reviews at Amazon.
It seems Playmobil issued a toy set in early 2008 called the Playmobil Security Check Pointthat comes complete with a passenger with roll aboard luggage and two security screeners. Leaving aside the strange choice of theme for a children's toy, what is really instructive are the Customer Reviews. Every one of the comments I reviewed used humor to send the same message (and not always in a nice way!): we don't take TSA or their procedures seriously. Here are some samples:
- It's too bad that they never came out with the "Pat-Down" edition, where fat guards are groping women for weapons, and turning customers away who refuse the degrading method of search.
- This toy would be a lot more realistic with about 350 people standing in line for an average of an hour.
- I especially appreciated the enclosed signed photo of Michael Chertoff and his letter explaining how necessary it is to start educating today's youth early with toys like these, especially as their elders just don't seem to be taking the whole thing seriously, what with posting snarky reviews on Amazon and all…
- I'd like to see some diversity in one of the guards and perhaps the other guard could have some drool dripping from it's lip to reflect the extremely low IQ needed to obtain this type of position.
Note that these comments were posted in early 2008, before TSA's latest fiasco. One wonders what these folks would say if this toy were being issued now. It might be tempting to dismiss these comments as attempts at humor by marginal elements of society but when you hear the same message from professionals in security and emergency management and read reports by reputable journalists and publications, you have to believe that something is wrong with TSA's approach to security.
