In case you missed it, the TSA has a new plan to combat the all-powerful terrorists and their exploding toner cartridges, underpants bombs, and deadly moisture weapons. It’s a 2-part plan:

1. Take naked pictures of airplane passengers.
2. If passengers decline to be photographed naked, subject said passengers to genital groping.

In a word, this plan is stupid.

What is equally stupid is the protest campaign that has sprung up over the last week and is now being breathlessly promoted by sites like BoingBoing:

The Plan is Simple

1. If you absolutely, positively must fly, opt out of the scanners. Do it to protect your health and privacy.
2. If you can avoid flying, don’t fly. Hit the airlines in the pocketbook until the scanners and gropers are gone. Make the airlines work for us.
3. Raise holy hell. Register your disapproval of the scanners and gropers to your airline, your hotel and all government officials who claim to work for you. Educate your community.

That’s all great, but the day they have chosen for this is protest is November 24. That’s right—the day before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year.

I would guess that the percentage of the US population that reads sites like BoingBoing and gets fired up by Twitter/blog-based campaigns about civil liberties is vanishingly small. So this small group of people is going to try to raise a ruckus at airport security checkpoints, which will cause already ridiculously long lines and wait-times for their fellow passengers to grow even longer. I’m *sure* the rest of the people waiting in line will be totally cool with that, because they will obviously understand that it’s all for a good cause.

I’m all for pushing back against the TSA’s dumb and ineffective security theater, but picking a time to do it that will cause maximum irritation and frustration for the vast majority of the traveling public seems like a poorly thought-out strategy.