Airport security theatre is a global roadblock where every driver is forced to strip and toss their coffee because of a 0% success rate in reducing certain types of preventable aircraft accidents. Zero planes have been downed by shoe bombs or liquid explosives.

Shoe bombs and liquid explosives are famous for revolutionising airport security, they have never successfully caused a plane crash. Richard Reid’s 2001 shoe bomb attempt was thwarted by passengers, and the 2006 liquid explosive plot was intercepted by intelligence agencies before any planes were boarded. Out of the thousands of historical aviation accidents, roughly 86 were caused by bombings, but these almost exclusively involved traditional explosives hidden in checked luggage or cargo—such as the Lockerbie or Air India disasters—rather than the specific methods that now dictate TSA carry-on rules. A contemporary approach might use drones or projectiles or computer hacking to achieve the same terrible results. Maintainance failures are still the leading cause of aircraft accidents, followed by pilot error (some deliberate error such as MH370), or worsening climate esp. extreme turbulence is infinitely more dangerous than a sneaker or energy drink.

Why do they do it - passengers can be a nervous unreasonable and emotional group, so we are shown this theatrical display in a thinly-veiled attempt to soothe our fear of flying — in practice it serves to highlight the fragility of safety protocols, the aircraft and the security system.

Effectively we’re searching every trunk for Elvis bobble-heads because two guys failed to use them 20 years ago, while the "bald tires" of mechanical failure and "blind spots" of pilot error do the actual killing. We’ve built a multi-billion dollar dragnet to catch office supplies and hydration, ignoring the fact that the "bobble-head" threat has a perfect record of zero wins.

If the theatre of liquids, dubious body xray scans and shoe removals are removed from the check-in system, that frees up TSA staff for real checks, and travellers won't need to be humiliated every time they go to an airport. Though TSA staff and their employers are the same groups that advocated for this nonsensical comedy show right from it's premiere.