Saturday, August 14, 2010

Maybe we should stop threating people

There is a big issue within the knitting community mostly within the US. It pops up every 6 months or so. Whether or not knitters can bring their knitting on airplanes. After September 11, knitting needles were on the banned items list for quite a while.

That rule was relaxed and knitters every where in the US let out a sigh of relief. Then there were instances of disagreement and some people lost their needles. So now the general feeling seems to be: TSA allows knitting needles on airplanes but the individual security agent you're checking in with may overrule the general guidelines. If the agent feels your needles are a threat you lose them.

So that sets off a firestorm. Some people think if it is allowed, it is allowed period! So now every time people fly they print out TSA regulations to show the agent if they have issues. I have not heard of any one winning that particular argument. Actually I have not really heard of people losing that argument either.

There are ongoing debates on wood vs metal needles, smaller dpns vs circular needles, how you carry the needles (mixed in with writing implements), if you have a project on the needles, anything way that you can think of.

I have heard people say things like: they better not take away my needles, I will be a very unhappy parson if they do. You should never try to take away something from someone with pointy sticks.

Aren't we being counter-productive here? We want the TSA to allow us to keep ourselves entertained for several hours by letting them think needles are not harmful but the next sentence out of our mouths we threaten them with the very things we said are not dangerous. Hello anyone else see the double standard here?

If I were a TSA agent am I more or less likely to let you keep your needle if you threaten to poke my eye out with it?

And ultimately don't we all want to get there safely first and entertained second? Or is that just me?

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