posted on Jan, 7 2010 @ 06:58 PM
I'm absolutely not a prude. I have no qualms about nudity, in fact I encourage people to get comfortable with non-sexual nudity, both their own and
other people's, as I firmly believe that "aggressive prudishness" is a sign of major psychological issues that are easily sorted. I'm also an
artist, and for my entire adult life I have been fascinated by nude art, both male and female, and have drawn, painted and modelled in 3d many of my
friends and firmly believe that the human body, in all it's shapes and sizes, is one of the most beautiful things in nature.
My issue with the rapiscan is not "oh no, someone will see my winky".
My brother went on holiday a fair few years ago, and met a wonderful girl from England, and a couple of years later, he left N Ireland and moved over
to England, got married, and now they have 2 beautiful children, and they're all living happily ever after. When their first baby was born, my
parents and sister decided that they would also move over to England, as my folks wanted to have a real relationship with their grandchildren. We all
lived in England for a few years when we were younger, and I remember how hard it was being so far away from my grandparents, so I supported them in
their decision, but I felt that N Ireland is my home, and I stayed here.
I'm 35, and bar a few day trips to the south of Ireland, and 1 week of rock climbing in France, I've never left the UK. My father was for years a
member of the police force, and later worked as a civilian contracter for the military. I've never been arrested or a suspect in any crime, nor do I
ever intend to be. I live my life by the philosophy "Do no harm". I don't seek revenge when wronged, I try not to judge when people make mistakes
that cause me harm, because I myself have unwittingly caused harm.
All in all, I'm a fairly good person, and I try to live a quiet but fulfilling life, and try to treat people in the manner in which I wish to be
treated.
But now I'm told that if I want to visit my family, go and see my little nieces, get some good old fashioned Mummy cooked food, hang out with my
brother and sister, I'm going to have to first prove that I'm not a terrorist. Now I know all about terrorists. I grew up in N Ireland. I've had
to stand out in the cold waiting to get back to my car because someone planted a bomb in my home town. I've sat and tried to console a friend when
she found out that her dad had been shot and killed in his own shop by the IRA. When I was younger, I thought it odd how lax security was in English
airports compared to the airports over here.
Put simply, I find the notion that I have to allow myself to be strip searched, albeit virtually, just to travel from here, which is inside the UK, to
another part of the UK, is too far. It's wrong. We cannot allow it to happen. We cannot allow our governments to get away with this. They've
already tested us for our obedience with their ludicrous smoking bans. There's no need to force smokers to stand outside in the cold and rain when
adequate smoking facilities keep any fumes and smells away from non-smokers. It was simply an exercise in testing our obedience. Would we revolt and
refuse, or would we bend over and part our cheeks for them? Well, we parted, and now they've got the results back from their test and they're
literally going to strip us of every dignity we have left.
It cannot be allowed. We have to refuse. We have to tell them no.
But we won't. We'll bend over again and again. In a few years time, when it's manditory to have webcams online in our homes, we'll grumble and
complain, but we'll do it. Mark my words, as a society, we've been broken.