At the risk of piling on...
In the few days since I've had a chance to start a new convo, there have been lots of smart posts here about all things TSA. It seems, though, that every day brings a new and more hideous example of our government's violation of our Fourth Amendment rights, some of which ought not go without comment.
For example, we must note this story about a man whose TSA screener broke the seal of his urostomy bag. Due to his baggy clothing, traveler Thomas "Tom" Sawyer of Lansing, Michigan, was targeted for advanced screening. His ostomy bag appeared on the scanner, prompting agents to demand that he undergo a pat down. When Mr. Sawyer asked that the procedure be done in private, the agents rolled their eyes in a demeaning manner. Once inside an office, they refused to listen to his explanation of his medical condition until it was too late -- an agent's overzealous pat-down broke the seal on the bag causing urine to leak down Mr. Sawyer's body and onto his clothing. He was thusly forced to board his plane, until he finally was able to clean himself up in the cramped confines of the on-board toilet.
As incensed as I was reading this story, here's the part that scares me the most:
The security officer finished the pat-down, tested the gloves for any trace of explosives and then, Sawyer said, 'He told me I could go. They never apologized. They never offered to help. They acted like they hadn’t seen what happened. But I know they saw it because I had a wet mark.'
...[Sawyer] plans to file a formal complaint with the TSA. When he does, said TSA spokesperson Dwayne Baird, 'We will review the matter and take appropriate action if necessary.'"
If necessary? How could "appropriate action" not be necessary?
I want to be sure to make this next point carefully lest I'm accused of overstating a problem. I'm sure we've all experienced kindness, courtesy and professionalism on the part of TSA agents. I know I have, especially in many of the smaller airports into which I fly.
On the other hand, the enhanced screening procedures are requiring TSA agents to intimidate, humiliate and violate the flying public in the name of "safety and security." They're being trained to look at their fellow, law abiding citizens as potential enemies.
The only way for TSA agents to engage in the demoralizing, embarrassing tasks they are being required to perform is to become dehumanized and to project such dehumanization onto those under their scrutiny. They have to learn to view themselves as the authoritarian "we" and the flying public as the submissive "them." Once that happens -- once a police agency of the federal government loses its humanity and also treats the citizenry as subhuman in order to "protect" us from ourselves -- we've lost more than the war on terror. We've lost our liberty to the tyranny of a "safe and secure" police state.
Be on the lookout for more stories about TSA abuse of authority that reveal dehumanization on the part of agents. In my view, it's the only way that good, decent, hard working TSA agents can do what they are being required to do by our government. And it's the only way they can justify stripping down ostomy patients and spilling their urine, or demanding that cancer victims prove they are wearing a prosthetic breast, or stripping a small boy to his skin and patting down his Pull-up looking for... God knows what.
Time to call my daughter to see if she's all set for her flight home from college tomorrow. Sigh.
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Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Please do not try to humanize these appendages of the TSA. Janet Napolitano has firmly grasped the broom as her own and taken up the Margaret Hamilton role, John Pistole (gawd I love that name!!) is playing her simpering toady, and, dispatched to airports throughout the country, are her winged monkeys pawing and terrorizing our fair and virtuous citizens.
I am given to understand that hats are now in season, and white outer garments are to be avoided.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
What a bunch of pansies. Best I can figure, boarding an airplane is no more humiliating and intimidating than being processed into a state penitentiary.
Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
I'd expect (and receive) more courteous treatment from a minimum wage, part-time retail clerk. It's one thing to do a job poorly, it's another to be so consistently rude and incompetent that outrage is routine.
Aug '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Marybeth Hicks:
And it's the only way they can justify stripping down ostomy patients and spilling their urine, or demanding that cancer victims prove they are wearing a prosthetic breast, or stripping a small boy to his skin and patting down his Pull-up looking for... God knows what.
It's not just a dehumanization problem, it's a knowledge problem -- an insoluble knowledge problem.
A TSA agent cannot be expected to recognize all of the many millions of innocuous (and in the case of ostomy bags and the like, beneficial and necessary) items that people carry onto planes with them. To be able to do that the agent would have to have detailed knowledge of the equipment of all professions, medical conditions, and lifestyles -- and who but God has all that knowledge?
And what is unrecognizable will naturally seem suspicious.
So as long as the burden of proof remains on the passenger to prove that his equipment is not suspicious, tragedies like this will happen.
No ill-will need be involved, just the simple fact that another person almost always knows less about your own life than you do.
Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Marybeth Hicks:
On the other hand, the enhanced screening procedures are requiring TSA agents to intimidate, humiliate and violate the flying public in the name of "safety and security." They're being trained to look at their fellow, law abiding citizens as potential enemies.
The only way for TSA agents to engage in the demoralizing, embarrassing tasks they are being required to perform is to become dehumanized and to project such dehumanization onto those under their scrutiny. They have to learn to view themselves as the authoritarian "we" and the flying public as the submissive "them." Once that happens -- once a police agency of the federal government loses its humanity and also treats the citizenry as subhuman in order to "protect" us from ourselves -- we've lost more than the war on terror. We've lost our liberty to the tyranny of a "safe and secure" police state.
They are the enemy. This is an apt description of nazis. There's no gun to their head to perform this job... not yet. "I was only doing my job (following orders)...."
Jun '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
The word citizen has been replaced with the word suspect. We have all become unindited co-conspirators. There seems to be little concern at the top of the hierarchy at the distress caused by these procedures and the way they are carried out. I think that may be because those in power are not subjected to indignities the rest of us are. They make the rules, the laws we must follow, but then exempt themselves.
Jun '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Why do the terrorists have to bomb anything? They've already won.
Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Nah, they couldn't win a participation ribbon at an elementary school track meet. Course, we may have already lost.
Nov '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
For the last time:
The Israelis do it right. Their airport security is the model we should follow. And if that model requires profiling (Horrors!), then we better start profiling. Our aversion to profiling is nothing but a disgusting symptom of political correctness, which is the equivalent of national brain cancer. God knows, Janet Napolitano's own head is nothing but an empty husk.
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 6:25amMay '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Marybeth,
I think you've made an astute point -- despite all that's been written on the subject I haven't seen it put quite that way.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
So what's everybody think? Coupla weeks of sturm und drang that all blows over?
Anybody write to their congressperson & senators? I have (although I'll stipulate I think it was a waste of time).
If the polls are correct (and I'm only granting it for the sake of argument here) that 80% of the American population think x-ray scanners and pat downs are worth it because it makes us safer what does that say about us as a people? We'll accept any restriction of our liberty if the government tells us it makes us safer?
Demonstrating Godwin's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law, given enough time all discussions end up being about nazis) it is more than a little frightening that the TSA agents are becoming dehumanized, and we're evidently falling in line and accepting it.
I don't think it unreasonable to wonder "what's next?"
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Here's partly what's next http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSQTz1bccL4.
This is the video of the little boy shirtless. Read the commentary of the person who shot the video and posted it. Folks, this is getting just damn scary. At issue here was not "making us safer." It was covering the TSA's ass.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
As long as we are looking for bombs instead of terrorists we'll never make any progress.
Nov '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Nick Stuart: Here's partly what's next http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSQTz1bccL4.
This is the video of the little boy shirtless. Read the commentary of the person who shot the video and posted it. Folks, this is getting just damn scary.
Government-funded pedophilia, plain and simple. Just wait until they start doing cavity searches on three-year-old girls. Once this kind of official lunacy begins to manifest itself, it grows beyond all bounds of decency and rationality. You ain't seen nothin', yet.
The TSA is caught in a classic bureaucratic spiral. It cannot address the escalating problems without admitting that the entire system is broken – that their precious security model is simply wrong and unworkable. So it has little choice but to "double-down" and keep subjecting innocent Americans to ever more intrusive outrages.
Sooner or later an average, ordinary American (very likely an enraged parent) is going to snap and kill a TSA agent right on the spot. That means that the TSA, supposedly working to prevent terrorism (*snicker*), may be breeding a whole new kind of domestic terrorism – with the TSA as its target. That sort of irony is almost too delicious.
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 6:17amJun '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Perfect!
Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Lady Kurobara: For the last time:
The Israelis do it right. Their airport security is the model we should follow. And if that model requires profiling (Horrors!), then we better start profiling. Our aversion to profiling is nothing but a disgusting symptom of political correctness, which is the equivalent of national brain cancer. God knows, Janet Napolitano's own head is nothing but an empty husk. · Nov 21 at 7:55pm
Edited on Nov 22 at 06:25 am
I'm sorry, that would make sense!
One thing you can be sure of about the Federal Government, They Don't Make Sense, They Make Policy!
In my old MAD Magazines there is a parody of the TV Show "The F.B.I." they called it The FIB. In the parody inspector Oilskin is looking for a clue that will cause the Bureau to have to sift through mountains of evidence to find the suspect. After all the show is an hour long. When Jackie Paxton suggests the suspect's address they dismiss that as too easy. So they finally settle on the fact that the suspect wore Black Shoes.
In the 1970's that was Comedy.
Today it is Policy.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Nick Stuart: ....................
If the polls are correct (and I'm only granting it for the sake of argument here) that 80% of the American population think x-ray scanners and pat downs are worth it because it makes us safer what does that say about us as a people? We'll accept any restriction of our liberty if the government tells us it makes us safer?
I have nothing against the scanners, especially if they are MMW frequency. I also see no problem with TSA agents getting training in the basics of medical situations that could be encountered in different situations- they sure find ways to do "sensitivity training" for every Federal employee in every other multi-culti area.
But I agree with the polls- you have to take measures to increase the difficulty bad guys encounter when trying to practice their craft. We cannot be free, relatively safe- with a 1980's civil liberties environment. Pick any two- you can't have all three.
As I've said here before, we need Stewart Baker to comment here on this.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
Who is behind the push for the body scanners? Former Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who now runs a security & risk management firm which shared a $160 million contract to build body scanners for airports.
May '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
lysdexic: Who is behind the push for the body scanners? Former Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who now runs a security & risk management firm which shared a $160 million contract to build body scanners for airports. · Nov 22 at 11:27am
Oh, good grief. So if ExxonMobil contributes to Sen. Inhofe, the only reason Inhofe opposes Cap'n Trade is because he was bought?
Scanners are a sensible use fo technolgy to address a real problem. The problem is real, some kind of rapid scanning is a sensible solution.
Is Chertoff involved with the x-ray wavelength or the MMW frequency?
Jul '10
Re: At the risk of piling on...
a small story, but relevant I believe: in 1944/45, when the Jewish population was being herded to the trains which were to take them to Auschwitz, one of the actions taken by the guards was to feel into women's groins for evidence of hidden valuables.
The US government has taken these intrusive measures for the 'security' of airtravel because it is inherently authoritarian. People allow these actions because they are afraid to miss their trip, afraid to stand up to the people in uniform, afraid to face down Government Authority.
If the TSA had any respect for the American Constitution, it would find other methods to make air travel more secure. But note that it has concluded that there is no alternative but to treat American Citizens of all ages as if the Constitution was never signed by anyone, as if there was no dignity allowed to American Citizens anymore. And it seems the majority of the American population agrees that this is totally agreeable and reasonable.
As to the 'scanners', these are exceptionally complex, will be at work 24/7, and require recalibration every now and then. What could possibly go wrong?