After twenty-three years of barefoot indignity, the TSA plans to stop making us remove our shoes at airport security. It's about damn time.
The shoe rule started after one guy tried to blow up a plane with explosives in his sneakers back in two thousand one. So naturally, we made three hundred million Americans take off their shoes every time they flew. Because nothing says national security like making grandmothers walk through metal detectors in their socks.
Here's what nobody talks about—this was always security theater. We banned shoes while cargo holds went barely checked. We confiscated water bottles while duty-free liquids sailed through. We created the illusion of safety without actually making anyone safer.
The real kicker? TSA failed most of their own security tests during these shoe-removal years. Investigators snuck fake weapons past screeners seventy percent of the time. But hey, at least they caught our Nikes.
Twenty-three years. That's how long it took to admit that making everyone play shoeless hopscotch didn't stop terrorists—it just made flying more miserable.
This makes me wonder what other "temporary" security measures we've accepted that serve no purpose except making us feel like something's being done.
What security theater have you noticed that's more about appearance than actual safety?
Let me know in the comments and check out more at jamesabrown.net. On that note, I'm James A. Brown, and as always—be well.
Share this post