# "National Opt-Out Day" -- Aw, Fuck! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978 "2010-11-17T15:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/101 "2010-11-22T04:19:15Z")
You do know that the TSA agents wear gloves during the pat-down, don’t you? So I’m not sure what you think you’d accomplish by pretending to have an infectious disease. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/102 "2010-11-22T04:21:35Z")
What if I sneeze a lot? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/103 "2010-11-22T04:24:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You do know that the TSA agents wear gloves during the pat-down, don’t you? So I’m not sure what you think you’d accomplish by pretending to have an infectious disease. You do know that some people have an irrational fear of AIDS don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/104 "2010-11-22T04:36:31Z")
{cough} {cough} . ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/105 "2010-11-22T06:23:35Z")
There was a recent case (don’t have a cite at the moment, I’ll get you one later) of a woman who had had a masectomy having to remove her breast prosthesis. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/106 "2010-11-22T11:53:03Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Could I be arrested for simply telling TSA that I was positive for HIV? No, if you actually are. However if you’re not, and giving them a scare for not keeping their hands to themselves, then I’m pretty sure that’s gotta break some law. I may be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/107 "2010-11-22T15:51:58Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > If they don’t screw with your holiday travel…if their protest doesn’t inconvenience anyone, nobody’s going to care about it. I do feel your pain, though. > > Also, it’s my understanding that people don’t move quickly and efficiently through the scanners anyway. I believe that including the scanners in the screening slows things down. They do slow things down, in my experience (apparently I had suspicious-looking Kleenex in my pocket, necessitating a second trip through, then my leg-cellulite might have been something almost as scary, getting me a leg patdown). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/108 "2010-11-22T16:00:02Z")
I wonder how a TSA pat-down would handle my many, many large lipomas? ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/109 "2010-11-22T16:20:22Z")
[Hope you don’t have any inconvenient medical equipment on you.](http://www.freep.com/article/20101121/NEWS06/11210610/Metro-flier-Airport-pat-down-too-rough#ixzz161mkrvzd) > [@](#): > > A Houghton Lake man is claiming he was so aggressively patted down by an agent at a Detroit Metro Airport security checkpoint earlier this month that it caused the lid on his urostomy bag to come loose, spilling urine on his shirt and pants. > > … > > Sawyer said he and his wife were heading to catch a plane to Orlando on Nov. 7 when he went through the airport’s new full-body scanner and was then selected to be patted down by a TSA agent. > > Sawyer said that after asking the agents for a more discreet pat down, he was taken to a private area. Sawyer said one agent began the pat down, but when he began sliding his hand firmly down his chest, he said he told the security officer that the pressure could pull the lid off his urostomy bag – which, Sawyer said, is what happened. > > “When I got out of the room my wife knew something was wrong and I just broke down crying,” he said. “I was just so embarrassed, so humiliated.” > > He said once through security, he changed his bag, but didn’t have time to change his clothing and had to board the plane soaked in urine. This, really, is where the outrage for me is. Not for those of us who might simply be uncomfortable being touched, but those who have to reveal intimate details about their medical history just to be allowed to fly, and who have the potential to be truly inconvenienced or even humiliated by the patdown security procedures. I mean, this is stuff that even your employer isn’t legally entitled to know. This is information that if your doctor reveals it without your permission, it’s a HIPPA violation; and yet you have to let the TSA know all about it and handle it and inspect it closely and maybe spill it all over you, 'cause they’re afraid an old man with bladder cancer might sneak a couple ounces of explosives in with his baggie full of pee or something. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/110 "2010-11-22T21:41:02Z")
> [@jenaroph](#): > > it’s a hippa violation Nitpick: HIPAA ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/111 "2010-11-22T22:09:32Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > No, if you actually are. However if you’re not, and giving them a scare for not keeping their hands to themselves, then I’m pretty sure that’s gotta break some law. I may be wrong. This is the part about airport security that scares me. I could deal with the searching and the scanning if it was all explained ahead of time, everyone had to do it and it seemed to have some purpose. But getting into a line and having to do whatever I’m told, at the risk of breaking the law, for whatever indefinite time security deems necessary is too much for me. I get claustrophobic after a half hour of shuffling along in my sock feet with no option but to continue until told I am free. I’m afraid to step out of line and I hate, hate, hate that trapped feeling. Two hours in line once and I was ready to explode. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/112 "2010-11-23T04:48:45Z")
Went through TSA at Miami International this morning. Luckily, I managed to get into the priority pass line because the scanner was not in use in this line. In the hoi polloi line, it was being used constantly. I had come to the airport prepared to opt out. I’m not interested in going through the scanner and unnecessarily exposing myself to radiation that doesn’t help me in the least. Pat me down, if you feel it’s necessary, but don’t touch my junk. I managed to get two ziplock baggies of toiletries in my carry-on, which included a 7 oz bottle of sunscreen, and a jar of peanut butter through without a raised eyebrow. I don’t feel safer, but I’m glad I got to keep my stuff. That sunscreen was $13. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/113 "2010-11-23T13:02:00Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Pat me down, if you feel it’s necessary, but don’t touch my junk. I managed to get two ziplock baggies of toiletries in my carry-on, which included a 7 oz bottle of sunscreen, and a jar of peanut butter through without a raised eyebrow. That’s not fair. Guys can’t hide that much stuff in their junk. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/114 "2010-11-23T14:46:00Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > That’s not fair. Guys can’t hide that much stuff in their junk. ☹ I see what you did there. And I like it. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/115 "2010-11-23T14:59:57Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > Personally speaking, I would prefer to be subjected to as little additional radiation as possible. As to nude pictures, I would be happy to have them put a little slot on the machine so I can put in a quarter and display my picture to anyone who cares to see it. 🙂 I too would welcome the opportunity to show off my 12-inch ding dong. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/116 "2010-11-23T19:50:48Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > … my long term expectation, what I expect we will see, is that flight crews will end up with something different from the travelling public, perhaps just the metal detectors we’ve all come to know and love. > > I’m basing this on the their unions getting attention for the increased radiation exposure. Bingo. I just heard on the radio that pilots and flight attendants will be able to just go through the metal detectors. Let’s see what effect (if any) this has on the Opt Out Day. I heard a lot of people talking about the fact that the pilot’s union was a big voice in the outcry about radiation exposure to their members. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/117 "2010-11-23T20:02:30Z")
I didn’t have the option of opting out last Thursday and yesterday, when I flew to DC and back. Neither location had scanners or was feeling anyone up. But at DCA, I was at the old “A” terminal which is the budget airline terminal. Maybe they only have the new system at the big-name airline terminals. I’m not surprised that RSW in south Florida does not have the new gear. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/118 "2010-11-23T20:44:20Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I don’t know about “prove”, but I have a Ph.D in chemistry, and if I tried to make enough TATP in an airplane bathroom to take down said plane I would probably do little more than cause my own death and start a fire. Now, the exact [procedure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot) they planned on using isn’t familiar to me, so maybe it’s safer. I agree, but a fire on a plane traveling over the Atlantic is a pretty serious matter. Particularly one that has its own oxidant. It might not take it down, but I wouldn’t want to be on that plane. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/119 "2010-11-24T01:46:06Z")
It is Wednesday morning here. I wonder how much TSA + protesters will disrupt travel. I suppose we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978/120 "2010-11-24T02:07:35Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > And I’ve heard about the excesses of the TSA for years, mostly through reading Patrick Smith’s Ask the Pilot column in [Salon.com](http://Salon.com). He’s a commercial airline pilot so he goes through the TSA lines multiple times a week. He’s described things like a pilot not being allowed to go through the TSA lines for airline crews just because he was wearing a civilian shirt but was otherwise in uniform. Also, Patrick Smith said that he regularly packed a metal knife and fork in his carry-on luggage to use for in-flight meals, only to have them confiscated by the TSA, even though the knife and fork are the same ones issued by an airline to first-class passengers. > > And the very idea that you need to be concerned about the pilots in the first place is just ridiculous. These guys don’t need a blunt butter knife or a shoe bomb to bring down the goddamn plane. All they need to do is take off, wait until the plane is a few hundred feet up in the air, and then push its nose into the ground at over 200 miles an hour. > > Patrick Smith is a great read. I always look forward to his new columns. In his [column](http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/11/22/tsa_screening_of_pilots/index.html) yesterday, he pointed out that while pilots and flight attendants need to go through the security checkpoints, the cabin cleaners, baggage handlers and caterers do not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-opt-out-day-aw-fuck/560978.md?page=7)