Airport Security?

Today we flew to Salvador. There are only two roads that travel to the airport from Rio de Janeiro, both of which sit alongside several slums and, I have been told, have had some experience with shoot outs. A tourist exhausted from the international flight or from spending his last night at the clubs might fall asleep in the taxi both from and to the airport, completely missing the contrast of the slums with the beaches and richness of Rio.

After arriving at the airport, I put my bags on a free trolley and rolled it to the self check-in booths where a young woman kindly directed me to an open machine. With some assistance, I followed all of the steps and printed out my boarding pass. I then waited my turn to check my bag, where I was asked to present my identification. After an uneventful check-in process, in which I did not have to lug my bag to a separate scanning station, I prepared, passport in hand, to enter the security line.

Because there were only six people in line ahead of me, I did not have the opportunity to untie my sneakers before reaching the front. Once the person in front of me walked through the metal detector, I was signaled to the conveyor belt. A security officer asked me to take off my watch. That was it. No other requests to disrobe, so my socks remained clean and I did not have to worry about my shorts falling off, and my laptop never found its way out of my bag. Most amazingly, I brought my one and a half liter bottle of water through security and onto the plane. Through it all, I appeared foolish for holding my passport and boarding pass so dearly in my hand instead of one of my pockets.

While conscious of the potentially disastrous security breaches, I was amused by the ease and humanity of this Brazilian airport. Brazil, unlike the United States, does not suffer from the paranoia of real and imagined threats to its airports. The way that national security for each country is framed differs in that Brazil has not created and maintained a climate of fear that the U.S. perpetuates and uses to justify the interests and actions of its military. Still emerging from a military dictatorship, Brazil has not needed outside threats to justify its military’s autonomy. Thus, civilians live in relative peace and comfort, at least as far as traveling is concerned, compared to those living within the borders of the world’s only remaining superpower.