We all have our limits, I guess. I don’t see why complaints count as over reacting. How else should we react to something we see as wrong?
Indeed, nothing will stop grandmothers, crotch patting least of all.
Being genitally groped by a stranger with no medical training and little idea of what he or she is actually looking for is not something to be “relaxed about”. Indeed, most cultures regard this kind of behavior as the extreme of offensiveness. The fact that this is all done in the effort to conduct “security theater”, i.e. present the pretense of security without the genuinte effect of it simply opens the door to nearly unlimited abuse. Once such boundaries are breached by utterly arbitrary rules, there is no argument against further intrustion. In reality, the most effective measures against a follow-on attack similar to the September 11 event have already been taken, i.e. securing cockpit doors. Confiscating cupcakes and groping granny are just handwaving to distract from the fact that the authorities do not know where the next threat is going to come from or how to deal with it effectively.
Stranger
My SO has an ileostomy, a small piece of his small intestine which comes out through an opening in his abdomen. A small plastic bag is stuck onto his belly’s skin with adhesive, and liquified poo comes out the intestine and into the bag.
Every month, we go to a support group for “ostomates”, people with ileostomies, colostomies and urostomies.
You can imagine how those whiny over reactors felt when they read this story:TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine
‘I was absolutely humiliated,’ said bladder cancer survivor
If that’d been my SO, it wouldn’t have been smelly but medically clean urine, that would have been liquid hazardous waste containing infectious e.coli. bacteria, all over him, the TSA agent, the floor you’re walking on, probably the luggage nearby…
Yeah. Whiners.
Well, I think most of the arguments against the current system argue that it is inconvenient, invasive and most importantly: completely ineffective. I think people would put up with the first two if it actually acomplished anything other than making the less inquisitive in our nation feel more secure.
But here’s the thing, America has let our irrational fear of terrorism (specifically dark-skinned, non-Christian terrorsim) erode our freedoms. We maintain secret prisons, we torture and we have recently introduced a bill that would allow for the indefinite detention of citizens without trial. Those things aren’t just mild inconveniences, they are fundamental deviations from our cultural values and they happened in the name of fear of the dark skinned non-Christian (and largely non-existent) terrorist ™.
And just when did rights enumerated in the Constitution of the US (not to mention Privacy articles in many states’ constitutions) become “vague ideal[s]”?
And my favorite, more honored in the breach these days:
True. Maybe my complaint should have it’s own thread.
It’s clearly not vague to someone who sleeps with the CONSTITUTION!!! next to his bed. But give me a break if the average person knows much more than “hey, don’t touch my freedom”.
My condolences to your SO. I would hope the TSA and your SO would be able to come up with an alternative arrangement to the routine pat down.
But for everyone else who does not suffer from ileostomy, I still think they are whiners.
Probably. I think it’s a good subject for discussion.
I was under the impression that at least one type of explosive did smell like frosting- or, more specifically, marzipan.
So besides the people with ostomies…
…and besides the nursing mothers…
…and besides the children under 12…
…and besides those traveling with formula fed infants…
…and besides the frequent travelers…
…and besides the women…
…and perhaps even besides the people bearing baked goods at Christmastime…
(did I miss any other TSA policy/procedure changes implemented after consumer complaint and the TSA’s realization that they were stupid?)
…besides all those people, we’re whiners. Got it. Thank you for your contributions to the thread.
The problem with the TSA is that they are reacting after-the-fact to an infinite number of situations. It’s still in it’s infancy and they’re already starting to behave like a bunch of brown-shirts. They’re planning on monitoring train travel as well as other forms of transportation. It’s just a matter of time before we see road blocks pop up.
Instead of reacting to each new situation after it occurs they should focus on potential terrorists before a new situation arises. It’s the person that commits a crime, not the tools used. That doesn’t mean we abandon common sense, it means we apply money and resources toward designed to find terrorists.
Has it actually been proven more effective? This says otherwise, but the “we totally know a guy who got through by lying, like, for real” part at the end makes me wonder what they actually looked at:
I’m personally skeptical that “behavioral profiling” in airports works any better (or on different principles) than divining rods, but there doesn’t seem to be much data out there about how well it works in that kind of situation. (I’ll admit that I also think the Israeli model would be many times more intrusive. I’d rather be x-rayed and searched 20 times than be interrogated about my personal life, but I’m probably idiosyncratic there.)
Of course, divining rods could end up being a great deterrent if they were seen as being really effective, so even if behavioral profiling ends up being magical thinking, it could still work. Kind of.