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The "Clear" pass being offered at many busy airports strikes me as an interesting example of capitalizing off the nonsensical nature of our security state. For $125 or so, you submit to eye and fingerprint scans and a background check, and in return, you get a sophisticated-looking little card that enables you to skip to the head of the security line.
Do you get to avoid a security screening? Not at all-- you just get to avoid the line to get to the screening. So what's the point? It provides a way for frequent fliers to skip one (but not all) of the hassles of airport security. This sense that one can take some concrete step to ameliorate the indignity of flying today just buys TSA a bit of peace: Clear purchasers are less likely to complain about security if they've skipped the line to get there, and non-purchasers either can think that their plight would be better if they had just purchased Clear, or can be told that expressly.
