Airport Controls - Are we really unsafe?

Having just come back from a quick holiday and coming back by plane, I have got the urge to ask and write about the same thing I ask myself everytime I fly.
-"Are we passengers being conned to fly with no liquids and little handluggage etc, or are we really that unsafe from terrorists and other terrible people in the air?"

Everytime I fly (which is as often as 6 times a year). I notice there are new rules and legislations that we need to follow which make us have less and less rights although this can sometimes be an expensive form of travel. We get treated like barn yard animals or even like criminals if we accidentally leave a lighter in our inside pocket.



The way I got searched through my trainers was ridiculous. O.k, I understand there is the slight chance i'll get my secret weapons out :-) but when there are hundreds of people in a queue is it really necesarry all this drama and rude, uptight gestures from the security staff? I know it can be boring seeing so many faces, but do they have to put me off my travels?
In the end, behind all this moaning I am a good traveller, I know what to have off before going through security, I always have my boarding pass and passport open at the right moment, I have my mobile off at all times, I don't stand until the plane has come to complete stop, and I evem weigh my bag before every flight, just so I dont get ripped off for having that extra kilo....

What I don't understand is, why do ferries, cruises, buses and trains not have the same security restrictions like planes do, if they are preventing bombers bombing? Why are planes always the main targets for terrorism, by police/ security when there have been more bombing attempts on trains within countries like the UK (7th July train bombings) and Spain (11-m).

I get angry because I sometimes question whether this is a huge money making scheme for both the airlines and every type of business that sell products for your holidays or if they really are worried for us and our countries.

Today an Asian man, the only one in the Italian airport was stopped. Can this not be discrimination, or because there have been Asian terrorists we now have to stop each one? Should security really have the right to pick who they want to search and discriminate? I thought it was an awful gesture from the customs police considering it was more than obvious this man was a normal passenger, but then again, what do I know?

I have seen too many of these conspiracy theories to believe that foot scanners and whole body scanners do any good for us, I don't believe this is protecting the World or that Airport, it is more likely to give cancer to a higher percent of people than find a terrorist or narco trafficker.
Maybe I am wrong, as saying all this, when I got home this evening I read in the newspaper how they have found packages on two seperate airlines disguised in ink cartridge printers. They say this is a product that can't be found with detectors or scanners, so how come they are spending millions on new technology if the real technology isn't being detected?
How did they detect these "bombs"?

Is this fear factor they are creating in our lives really beneficial to the World?

What are they going to ban from us next? Mobiles and laptops???

Are we all going to live in a World like that Sly Stallone film where people don't even kiss?

Truthfully, I really don't want to see where all these new laws are heading, maybe I am making myself paranoid against the good guys, but it is something that has been bubbling inside me for a while, and more when I leave an airport!!!!