Selective outrage

The usual Thanksgiving travel stories were
spiced this year with concern about enhanced security screening at airports. While
most Americans accept the screening procedure as a reasonable inconvenience
that all of us have to undergo for the sake of general safety, commentators
like Kathleeen
Parker and Charles
Krauthammer seized on it has one more sign of an intrusive government
intent on invading our personal space.

Of
course, that story line nicely fits with the antigovernment outrage of libertarians
and the Tea Party movement.

I
got an email from one Christian theologian by the name of Alex McFarland. Upset
by the screening methods, he wondered, "Is our country sacrificing its sense of
humanity for security?"