Those that know me well know that I have a long standing disdain (fury, really) for the new ‘safety’ measures the TSA requires us to follow when traveling on airplanes. You know, no more shampoo or hairspray than what a 3 oz bottle will hold. And no more than a 1 quart bag full of those tiny 3 oz bottles or we’re in an unregulated safety nightmare!! And if you don’t know – and your $300 Creme de la Mer face lotion is in a 4 oz container in your carry-on, well… you know what happens next.
Waste. Total and utter waste. Trash cans in airports across the land brimming to the top with perfectly harmless liquids that will enter the landfill. And for no more ‘safety’ than if you were able to bring your Suave Extra-Super-Hold hairspray on board to help you style your hair when you land in Chicago. Seriously. Time and time again – we have seen reports of people who purposefully try (and succeed!) in bringing knives, shivs, prison shanks and other potentially harmful items on flights. All the time. In a reality where far more deaths are caused by guns (Aurora, anyone?) you can still get them almost anywhere without much effort – anytime. But Suave on a plane? Well, Suave might kill people.
This issue was raised for me again this past weekend in a different way – at an EDM (electronic dance music for the novices – like me) show in Santa Monica. Apparently these shows are known for rampant drug use and security takes drastic measures to make the environment ‘safe.’ Such as making me throw out my $30 lipstick case because it wasn’t sealed. Apparently in the past – maybe lipstick cases have been a vehicle to smuggle some sort of drugs in? Must be – and now I am in dire need of a trip to the Mac store while a perfectly good lipstick is on its way to the Puente Hills Landfill.
The problem with this is – there was still a room full of hundreds of people who were on drugs. Some of them might have taken them before they came in (shocker!). Some of them maybe put them in let’s say…a pocket. Their shoe. Maybe a sock. In their bra? Or in a myriad of other places security wasn’t even checking. They were basically only looking in purses and wallets, patting pockets – and that’s it. Asking people to throw away innocuous and random items for no real reason at all. And there was likely little to no increase in our ‘safety’ because of it. In fact, there was a guy who sparked up a joint right next to me during the show. Good thing he didn’t try to smuggle that in with a lipstick case!
So, for the greater good, we can add my lipstick to the tip of the trash mountain that also contains hundreds of thousands of unopened bottles of water, hairspray, shampoo, shaving cream and god forbid – Creme de la Mer face lotion – that enters our landfills every month in the name of ‘safety.’
What a waste.