TSA Enhanced Pat Downs : The Screeners Point Of View
In the past few weeks since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented its new “enhanced” pat down procedures there has been considerable backlash from the traveling public. This backlash has been loud and angry … but what is not heard or seen in the media is the quiet resentment of this new policy within the TSA.
A few days ago I contacted 20 TSA Transportation Security Officers (TSO) to ask their opinions of the new “enhanced” pat downs. Of the 20 I reached out to, 17 responded. All 17 who responded are at airports where the new “enhanced” pat down is in place … and the responses were all the same, that front line TSOs do not like the new pat downs and that they do not want to perform them. I expected most to not like the pat downs … but what I didn’t expect was that all 17 mentioned their morale being broken down.
Each of the 17 TSA TSOs that responded to me detailed their personal discomfort in conducting the new pat downs, with more than one stating that it is likely they are more uncomfortable performing the pat down than passengers are receiving them.
Some comments from these TSOs include:
“It is not comfortable to come to work knowing full well that my hands will be feeling another man’s private parts, their butt, their inner thigh. Even worse is having to try and feel inside the flab rolls of obese passengers and we seem to get a lot of obese passengers!”
“Do you think I want to go to work and place my hands between women’s legs and touch their breasts for a few hours? For starters, I am attracted to men, not women and if I was attracted to women, it would not be the large number of passengers I handle daily that have a problem understanding what personal hygiene is.”
“Yesterday a passenger told me to keep my hands off his penis or he’d scream. Is this how a 40 year old man in business attire acts? He’ll scream? My 3 year old can get away with saying he’ll scream, but a 40 something business man? I am a professional doing my job, whether I agree with this current policy or not, I am doing my job. I do not want to be here all day touching penises.”
“Being a TSO means often being verbally abused, you let the comments roll off and check the next person, however when a woman refuses the scanner then comes to me and tells me that she feels like I am molesting her, that is beyond verbal abuse. I asked the woman if she thought I like touching other women all day and she told me that I probably did or I wouldn’t be with the TSA. I just want to tell these people that I feel disgusted feeling other peoples private parts, but I cannot because I am a professional.”
“I was asked by some guy if I got excited touching scrotums at the airport and if it gave me a power thrill. I felt like vomiting when he asked that. This is not a turn on for me to touch me it is in fact a huge turn off. There is a big difference between how I pat passengers down and a molester molesting people.”
Aside from the issue of TSA TSOs being required to physically touch passengers in places they do not want to be touching them during the ‘enhanced’ pat down, morale is decreasing for front line TSOs, due in part to an increase in verbal abuse. Each of the 17 TSOs who responded to me detailed a new level of verbal abuse they are experiencing at work.
The TSA has experienced a high level of turn over since its inception, however its turnover rate has decreased recently. With this decrease in morale, caused directly by a change in TSA policy, it is likely to begin experiencing a higher than average turn over again … which will further decrease the effectiveness of airport security.
Some comments from these 17 TSOs include:
“Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me, said in my presence as I patted passengers down. These comments are painful and demoralizing, one day is bad enough, but I have to come back tomorrow, the next day and the day after that to keep hearing these comments. If something doesn’t change in the next two weeks I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this taunting. I go home and I cry. I am serving my country, I should not have to go home and cry after a day of honorably serving my country.”
“I come to work to do my job. It is not up to me to decide policy, it is up to me to carry out my duties as dictated by the Transportation Security Administration. When a person stands in front of me and calls me a pervert or accuses me of molesting them it is disheartening. People fail to understand that neither of us are happy about the intrusive pat down I am carrying out. I am polite, I am professional and while someone may not like what I have to carry out, they came to me because they choose not to utilize the alternative and less invasive method of security at my airport.”
“I served a tour in Afghanistan followed by a tour in Iraq. I have been hardened by war and in the past week I am slowly being broken by the constant diatribe of hateful comments being lobbed at me. While many just see a uniform with gloves feeling them for concealed items I am a person, I am a person who has feelings. I am a person who has served this country. I am a person who wants to continue serving his country. The constant run of hateful comments while I perform my job will break me down faster and harder than anything I encountered while in combat in the Army.”
“Do people know what a Nazi is? One can’t describe me as a Nazi because I am following a security procedure of designed to find prohibited items on a passenger’s body. A Nazi is someone with hatred and ignorance in their hearts, a person who carried out actions of execution and extermination of those based on their religion, origins or sexual preferences. I work to make travel safer, even if I do not agree with the current security procedures. Further more, I am Jewish and a TSA Transportation Security Officer, an American Patriot and to call me a Nazi is an offense beyond all other offenses.”
There are multiple sides to every story, and I think the point of view of those on the front lines of the TSA, those required to carry on the policy and procedures created by the TSA, are an import part of this story. I think those organizing efforts to change the TSA’s policy should also consider the impact to the TSA TSOs.
Rather than dehumanize the TSA TSOs, work with them, understand their views and opinions and work together to change the current TSA policies.
Happy Flying!
Comment 4. Adressess the main article.
Ccomment 622. Makes a valid point.
a screeer charged with sexual battery will be a sexual offender for life. Don’t think because you are a government employee that the judge will let you off the hook. Many police officers have been convicted. “Just doin’ my job” won’t cut it in court.
I agree with the many people here who have no sympathy for the TSO workers. If you don’t want to do a job, then don’t. There are lots of other jobs available. Maybe you’ll get half a dollar less a moth, but so what? At least you’re not a criminal and sexually harassing other people, and YES, to me these people are no less than criminals. It’s like a paradise for pedophiles and perverse pigs. And they are even paid well to do it. There has got to be something wrong with this.
I do not understand why so many people tolerate these scanners or “enhanced pat downs” and do not do more against them. The TSA claim they do not store your scanned picture on some weird extra server, true, but who says that’s the truth? There’s probably some weird government office, that collects them and adds them to our growing file of personal information for one reason or another. Sure, the pictures hide the identity of a person, but is that the final picture they have of you or is it the one they show to the public? (Call me paranoid, but if you really believe your picture is going to be wiped as soon as the person behind you steps in front of the scanner, then you’re very naive.)
Take some action! Write to the senators, let everyone in your family write a new email or letter to them, encourage your co-workers, your friends, everyone you know, to do the same. If enough people do that they can’t ignore it. But as I see it, most people are perfectly ok with these procedures. Yes, they find them uncomfortable, but they truly seem to believe that they are safer because of them. I cannot understand how someone can happily give in to this humiliation and not protest while you, your old parents and your children are subjected to this.
You cannot prevent terrorism. Better security can be achieved otherwise. If the terrorist is not at the airport, he can go to a train station, to a marketplace, hell, everywhere else. Or he could just walk into the airport with a suicide bomb under his jacket that he unlaunches as soon as he is in a crowded area. There will always be a way around security. So, what is next? Should we put those scanners and gropers next to the train station as well? Or maybe the bank, too? What about schools. You never know, that 6 year old kid next door looked awfully criminal. Maybe he’s planning on bombing the school. Let’s all serve the country and search them, too. Or maybe we should all just forgo the clothes and walk around naked all the time. Then we’ll all be safe!
The airport is just the beginning. If something isn’t done now, then we’ll find those “security system” installed in many more places. Maybe it will take 20 years, maybe 30, but they will increase if we do not stop them now.
response to allan schneiderman’s posting
The Israeli’s at Ben Gurion, the Dutch at Schiphol, the Germans at Frankfurt airport, they ALL DO INTERVIEWS to whoever flies internationally. YES profiling is better that getting groped and humiliated.
Fucking Obama is listening to his dad’s advise and ruining this what used to be a great country, run in it the ground adn only this way makes things good for those who suffered under us… WHAT THE FUCK!!!
When are we opening our eyes and vote him out…. he isn’t fit to be president. NOT in my eyes.
He’s playing right in the hands of the companies who make the VERY EXPENSIVE scanners, adn those who invest in those companies.
Ever heard of George Funcking Soros????
While working as a police officer and in corrections, I’ve had occasion to be required to “pat down” individuals who were either accused or or convicted of crimes. With all the information currently available about me on some computer someplace, there is not excuse for me to be treated like a criminal. They have no probable cause for such a search, none. Yet they make it a condition of traveling. There is no comparable method available to the majority of travelers. They have no choice but to submit to whatever mauling or dosing of radiation the TSA insists on.
Raise merry old hell with your elected “representatives”, and be polite to TSA workers, but make it clear you do NOT like their “following orders” in any way.
I would suggest also contacting an attorney, or search for one who is collecting names to take a class action suit against the airlines, TSA, and anyone else involved in this debacle to stop it.
Don’t like the policy that your employer implemented? Quit. Find another job. Or maybe stand up and refuse to abide by unconstitutional procedures. You want me to feel bad for you? Too bad. This is a free country, and you are free to seek whatever form of employment you choose. You chose the job, you choose every day to stay at that job, therefore, you are making a willful decision to continue to molest innocent American citizens every single day.
You choose to continue to serve in a capacity that requires you to molest people every single day. No one is forcing you to work for the TSA. Either suck it up and shut up, or go find another job.
I’m just waiting for somebody to completely lose it during one of these assaults and hurt the TSA agent that is molesting them. Mark my words, it is not a matter of if it will happen, it is when.
Nazi comparisons always pop up for GOOD reason. They help you consider the fundamental principles well before such outrageous extremes are reached. They are NOT the same as equating TSA employees with Nazis.
There is a fundamental irony with the complaints that they HAVE to do this because it is their job, but we have a CHOICE not to fly- especially considering people have been told they no longer have a choice AFTER the consequences are sprung on them.
If my boss instituted such an egregiously illegal policy, I would refuse to comply. I admit It might take me a while to come to such conclusion. It is a serious matter requiring serious soul searching.
If it were strictly a matter of personal choice, I too would be willing to strip naked in an unrecorded private room with appropriate supervision over being groped or scanned naked images taken of me. The reason I cannot submit to this either is the Nazi analogy. I will not just go along. I will NOT condone what they are doing to travelers. Just being a good citizen and accepting illegal government actions puts even more undue pressure on victims.
TSA – not always bad
Why is it that a military background, either previous or present, is seen as a trump card when arguing national security/policy?
Yes, by serving in the military, you have served your country more than most. Perhaps even put yourself in harm’s way. But that does not mean your vote counts any more than someone who did not. Would a Vietnam-era conscientious objector therefore not have a say in such matters? are his constitutional rights stripped?
Seriously, why hasn’t this been brought to a court of law? It is clearly unconstitutional. These protests are a waste of time. This needs to be brought before the Supreme Court as a civil rights issue. There is no way that they can justify invasive pat-downs of people simply because they bought a plane ticket (or else go through a radiating scanner). Sorry, I do not trust that the scanners are completely safe, and I shouldn’t have to choose between that and a ridiculous pat down anyway. Constitutional rights are not conditional!!!
So, what has to be done to get the court involved here? We need a law that says things like this are not appropriate in America.
TSA employees should all go on strike until they have reversed the decision to allow the polygamous union of the military industrial complex with the high tech and private security industries to take over the airline industry. The fledgling billion dollar scanner industry that started this fiasco needs to be put back into the medical realm. To know what this is all about, one needs to follow that money trail.
If I decide that my profession is to pick up dog shit, I really can’t complain about the smell. I used to have a job that I stopped liking. So I got a new job.
For those of you making the “they chose this job” argument-these TSA agents probably signed up way before this kind of thing started up. Don’t blame the TSA agents for crappy security measures. They can’t do anything to change that.
So many of these responses are painful to read. I will make this very precise. The TSO’s are doing their job. Not everyone get’s to work in their dream profession. Money is required to survive. To say they should be held responsible because they ‘choose’ to be involved with TSA is extremely narrow minded.
Note to whoever wrote about train station workers being responsible for Nazi actions, just shake your head. If that were the logical response, then 99.9% of the German population should also feel responsible for the atrocities that occurred under Nazi leadership. THIS IS A JOB, THEY MAKE MONEY, THEY GO HOME, THEY FEED THEIR FAMILIES! Ignorance is tolerable, hateful rhetoric is not. Please unplug your computer and save us all from your terrible influence.
If someone refuses to go through the scanner, then they face a patdown. How hard is it to understand? If you object to both methods, or the security theatre thing overall, then don’t fucking fly until your objections are heard and the situation is resolved. It’s as simple as that. Call it injustice if you want, but that’s the way the country is just now, so by all means fight it but shut the fuck up if you have to fly while doing so.
Being rude to guys who are quite fucking clearly just doing a job just because you don’t want to suffer a 30-second patdown is downright retarded.
At the end of the day what makes the biggest impact – you having your inner thighs grazed for a few seconds by one stranger in gloves or the hateful remarks that that stranger hears from 100 ignorant prick passengers a day?
sounds like a bunch of crying babies!!
Today, I am thankful for the fact that these TSA goons have to sit down and eat turkey with their parents, and explain to their “Oh So Proud” parents what they do for a living.
Tim Reasonable Idiots, one more time:
If I decide that my profession is to pick up dog shit, I really can’t complain about the smell. I used to have a job that I stopped liking. So I got a new job.
You rocket scientists really don’t get it, do you? But then, the sheep never really DO get it, even when the wolf is sniffing their behinds….
So how much choice does one have in who does the pat down? If it’s supposed to be opposite sex, who does the procedure when the passenger is gay? Bisexual? Hermaphrodite?
On the other hand (other than Hawaii – you guys are screwed), if you need to fly to anywhere not in the US, drive on up to Canada, then fly out of here. Our government has quite clearly stated that they will NOT be implementing the same style of pat downs as in the US.
And yes, I travel to the US on business frequently – will be doing so several times over the next few months. But I won’t be flying there by choice for vacations. If I need to, I’ll either drive, or fly to Mexico, and drive back that way. Net impact to the US economy? perhaps 10-15K$ per year that will be spent elsewhere. Multiply that by the thousands of people who will also “Opt Out” of flying to the US…
i knew you didn’t have to go to college to be hired by TSA.
This article would be sobering if the people surveyed had been randomly chosen and had no motivation to ask for sympathy. Of *course* those who decided to respond said they loathe the new procedures and their role in enforcing them. Who in his right mind would answer saying oh yeah I really dig my job because I get to slip my hand up a hot chick’s leg every half-hour or so.
Every line of work has both nice guys and scumbags. If a given job gets stereotyped as unprofessional or abusive, it’s because a LOT of those who hold that job have misbehaved. TSOs were regarded poorly long before this recent uproar because, for nearly a decade, a LOT of them were inexplicably rude to passengers, and that problem was never adequately addressed. So now it’s not a neutral hand touching your thigh; it’s the hand of someone already perceived as unfriendly or nasty or otherwise repellent.
If TSOs had acted more professionally since 2001, they’d have more sympathy from the traveling public now. I’m not saying there’d be less of a protest, but the protest would be aimed higher, as it deserves to be.
This post makes it 100% more likely that I will “verbally abuse” the next TSA mall cop who puts me through “enhanced security”…the idea of making one of these failures snap or quit or have a breakdown is very motivating.
Perverts, molesters and bullies on a power trip. TSA workers hould show solidarity with real americans and walk off the job.
Nazis were “just following orders” too. I have no sympathy for these people. Abuse them until they cry. Dismantle the whole rotten edifice.
I think it is a gross and disgusting invasion of privacy. And worse still is that it is conducted in full view of anyone nearby whether airport staff or members of the public coming and going. I witnessed this on a recent trip to the US and although the pat down procedure then was not those being talked about here they were bad enough and I felt for the people I witnessed being subjected to this.
In this day and age with the electronic resources that are available there are better options available, even specially trained dogs. I’m sure most people would rather be sniffed by a dog than subjected to an intimate pat down by a TSO. It would be bad enough for a man but I especially feel sorry for women being subjected to this. How demeaning and degrading.
I understand the need for security however I believe that before such procedures are imposed on anyone there has to be reasonable suspicion of hidden contraband or other illegal items and that has to be established by non invasive means in the first instance.
Then and only then should any personal body search or pat down be carried out and only in the privacy of an airport security room, not in full view of everyone. And even then I believe the passenger being searched should have the right to have an independent witmess present if they wish.
As for TSO’s if they don’t like having to carry out the procedures they should get together and refuse to. Solidarity in numbers.
And further, I would liketo know the following:-
Does a passenger have the right to refuse a pat down?
If not can they refuse to be patted down in public?
What are the consequences of refusal, simply not being allowed to fly or being charged with an offence?
And if a person can be charged for refusing would they possibly face jail time?
Is a person allowed a phone call to seek advice?
If you think what you do is wrong, stop doing it. If you think it’s just unpleasant, suck it up.
If you don’t like what you do, quit your job, but don’t run around whining, telling everybody you’re serving your country by grabbing at other people’s dicks.
Pretty bored of reading this now.
The ratio of anger to sense must be 10 to 1. Either for or against.
And the anger is almost always without direction and is a disorganised spurt of venom at the next thing to come along, this time it just happened to be either:
A)the TSA and their new measure.
or
B)other people on here, for OR against A)
RELAX!
Check ya later.
I think that this is ridiculous.
Remember in school when kids were told “now, if ANYONE touches you here – or here – or here – tell an adult”?
Remember when it was announced (in certain areas at least) that urinating in public, regardless of whether you are in plain view or not (say, behind a bush, or fence) would make you a SEX OFFENDER?
Remember when it was considered all-too-proper to pop someone in the mouth for touching your genital areas without permission?
What happened? Oh, that’s right. The American People happened – or, happened to be turned into bleating, fearful serfs that don’t care about their rights, their liberties, their Constitution or Amendments (which this clearly violates the given rights of, Amendment 4) – all they care about is getting that car that costs too much, rooting for their favorite sports team (which is a purposely designed “tribal” activity, meant to give the men something to relate to and belong to while other things were taken away – like jobs), eating, and watching TV. Oh, don’t forget, HURR I HAEV TO CHECK MY FACEBOOK
You make me sick, all of you that are for this kind of abhorrent human rights violation, all of you that are for the government illegally irradiating us, all of you that are for these TSA goons molesting us – YES, _MOLESTING_ us – I have never flown, and I ESPECIALLY will never fly with these sorts of things going on. I can only hope that people will wake up and realize what is going on – they are slowly stripping all of our rights. All of our freedoms, all of our dignity – and this is one of the first steps, to see if it’ll fly right, to see if they can ease it on us – well, they’re doing a damned good job of it so far, and will continue to do so UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Get informed. Infowars.com, Infowars.net – listen to the free radio stream, watch the free movies on Google/Youtube – mainly “Police State 4: The Rise of FEMA” and “Fall of the Republic”.
People, this is no joke, and TSA goons working for the slavemasters and saying “Oh, well I’m just following orders” – yes, this IS likened to Nazism, for a few good reasons, but I’m not going to waste time explaining why, as there will be people on here that are butthurt and not willing to listen (OR do the research that shows and proves that this IS a thing of truth) – you DO need to get a different job, or you are just contributing to a world gone mad, a government that is trying to FUCK us – and it gets bigger than just OUR government. Again, Infowars.com, Infowars.net – “Fall of the Republic” and “Police State 4: Rise of FEMA”.
People, I’m taking a very big risk by putting this information out, and you KNOW what I’m talking about – but if anything happens to me, I don’t want it to be in vain. Please, if you care at all about this nation, about our people, and about our rights, about the very FUTURE itself, PLEASE get informed, PLEASE know your rights, your Amendments, your Constitution.
By the way: Not that it matters a whole lot, but for those of you who will cry “there aren’t any jobs” or “real easy for you to say” – I worked at McDonald’s for about two years (in before haters/ignorant motherfuckers who want to talk shit about that point) – and I STOPPED working there after watching “Super Size Me”. After watching “Food INC.” – after learning just how horrible this shit IS for you, and how McDonald’s rapes the rainforests, rapes their workers (trust me I know) – I did NOT stand for it anymore, nor do I support them. And guess what? I went out, and got a BETTER job within three months. It’s called gumption. It’s called want for action. It’s called standing up for yourself, and doing what you believe is right. So stop FUCKING crying, get out of the flock, and get a real job – not one that involves taking the rights from fellow Americans and harassing/MOLESTING them. (Unwanted sexual advances = molestation, sorry, that’s all there is to it.) As one poster on here put it, cleaning toilets would be a better way to “serve your country” than it is to go around grabbing tits and dicks all day.
Be a better person. Not only for yourself, but for others, too. For America.
Get off the brain-drain television, get off the fast food, get off the antidepressants, and GET MAD. REALIZE THAT YOU ARE BEING REDUCED TO SLAVES.
Not playing couch politician, not allowing the TSA to do whatever it wants to you, or any other “gov’t” linked/related agency for that matter – not allowing your “inalienable rights” to be alienated is the point of this whole deal. Infowars.com, infowars.net, “Fall of the Republic”, “Police State 4: Rise of FEMA” – for your own good and the good of your people. I know I sound like a broken record here, but please, I beg of you, if you have any pride in your country, any concern for your rights and the rights and freedoms of your children, family, whomever – PLEASE. GET. INFORMED. It’s much, MUCH bigger than just naked body scanners and invasive, HARASSING, should-be-considered-MOLESTATION pat-downs (grope-downs).
The reason some of these people are called “nazis” I think is because they are just “following orders”. Well when public policy VIOLATES US Code in the Constitution for inflated fears and we the people do not see a mass exodus of employees from an agency that is of the government, of whose employees took an oath to protect the Constitution, they are no longer honorably serving the country or the people. In fact they are also guided by the fear of terror, and of financial Insecurity. Job security is probably today the biggest fear factor in our society. It is unfortunate, they should read the Constitution, understand what they are violating, and how, and resign. People like me will continue to object and protest until the State backs down. The people are better defenders of liberty than these agencies whose engagement with is an involuntary requirement if we wish to fly.
And let’s not forget how Michael Chertoff is profiting from these naked body scanners and new policies. Keep your eyes on the ball people, the profit motive destroys our rights, but the free market is not the culprit. What Chertoff is doing is not the free market, only fascism, the mix of government and business. These two must always ALWAYS be separate. We are merely pawns debating the violations caused by people like Chertoff’s motive to profit, these distractions take us away from the real controllers. It’s not about security, or public safety, it’s about profit. The cost of his profit is our rights, this is what we should really be focused on, not is our security worth our rights, the answer to that for those who are not well versed in American philosophy is NO!
To the guy who says he’s a lawyer in comment number 19. I’d love to get your name and place of business so I never hire you. You are consenting to search and seizure genius. They ask you prior to the search if you’ll volunteer to it. That person gives up their 4th amendment right in doing so. Go ahead and tear up your law degree… it’s useless in your hands
So I’m supposed to meekly and quietly allow these people to violate my fourth amendment rights just because I’m supposed to feel sorry for their plight?
I don’t think so.
“I was just following orders” hasn’t been a viable defense since the Nuremburg trials.
Jason November 18th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
TSA agent: “Do people know what a Nazi is?”
German citizen in the early 1940s: “I’m not doing anything terrible. I’m just working at a train station where they’re loading passengers on these trains, bound for who knows where. I don’t hate them. I’m just doing my job. If I don’t do it, I could get in trouble. I have a family to feed. I’m serving my country.”
“I’m just following orders” is not a defense for being complicit in violating the rights of your fellow human beings.
flyingfish November 18th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Jason,
Nazis rounded people up and exterminated them. The TSA, for all its faults, is not killing people nor attempting to commit genocide. The comparison between Nazis and the TSA is a stretch that people make just for shock value.
Happy Flying!
-Fish
Fish,
I think you are not getting the point here. No comparison is perfect, yet I couldn’t agree more, with Jason’s comment. I grew up and lived under a Communist regime. Some of my relatives were executed by Hitler’s soldiers or died in ghettos during WW2, just because they were Jewish. Neither system (Hitler’s or the Soviet one) would’ve been possible if not for the compliance of the masses. Not all Germans were Nazis. Not all Soviet citizens liked the system. But most of us complied with the everyday routine, and not necessarily out of fear of executions or labor camps. No, most of the time it was because we wanted a better job, a chance to get college education, get a better apartment, etc. You know, not rocking the boat, because we had a family to feed, etc. Just like the TSA employees…
But then where do you draw the line? Where does “I am just doing my job” becomes being part of a horrible, oppressive mechanism that will gradually strip you of most essential freedoms and dignity… while giving no benefit whatsoever to your country, in spite of the government claiming otherwise?
And further, I would liketo know the following:-
Does a passenger have the right to refuse a pat down?
If not can they refuse to be patted down in public?
What are the consequences of refusal, simply not being allowed to fly or being charged with an offence?
And if a person can be charged for refusing would they possibly face jail time?
Is a person allowed a phone call to seek advice?
To Poste 645 (Lauren): You said:
>Flying is a privilege, not a right.
>If you don’t like the new security measures, get on a bus, train, boat or drive yourself.
>I am so sick of everyone claiming their “civil liberties” are being violated. Nowhere in the constitution does it read “right to airplane travel.”
>I, for one, am happy with the new security measures because I would like to arrive at my destination in one piece.
****************
Flying is not a right or a privilege. It’s a contract of service the consumer makes with the air carrier.
And it’s also a necessity for the most part because there are no viable alternatives to air travel in this country. We Americans don’t want to put tax money into high speed rail and now we don’t want to spend the money to fix up our crumbling intrastructure either.
How about if you are so scared of terrorists blowing your plane that you are willing to submit to being a criminal, then maybe it’s you that should not be flying.
If our intelligence community does the job that we spends billons of dollars on in the first place, then perhaps we wouldn’t be in this position where
TSOs are being made the first, instead of the last line of defense.
I’m sick of people who are sick of people who don’t want this country turned into a police state.
Jason,
clear up there at the top, you took the words right out of my mouth. Thank you.
I keep reading here about the “violation of the 4th Amendment”. If this was true, we’d be seeing lawsuits by now. Where are they? There is no violation or we’d be reading about them.
If someone is going to invade my privacy, then I want the invader to *feel* like they’re invading my privacy. “Less intrusive” screening, my ass. Does *anyone* think that the poor bored bastards watching the backscatter screens feel like they’re invading our privacy? Especially while they giggle at what they see?
Quote: “I don’t see why all of you feel you need to be such jackasses, if you don’t want to be “molested”, go through the body scan like 99% of people. If you are too much of an idiot to go through that you can still kayak across the Pacific or drive across the country. Flying is a privilege, not a right, so it is no surprise you have to give up some rights. The TSA needs to drop the whole “opt out” option and make the body scan required, it’s safer, cheaper, easier, and people don’t whine about being consensually “molested”.”
Right on the money. Don’t want to be manhandled? Use the scanner. Yeah someone might laugh, but you’ll never see them, and your precious person won’t be touched. Considering what happened 9/11? Be grateful we still have an aviation industry or any other travel industries at all.
My sympathies are also with the TSO’s who have to frisk the morbidly obese. I don’t even like to LOOK at them, nevermind have to touch them. ICK!!! Those people should be FORCED to use the scanners, to prevent trauma to the TSOs.
And yes, TSOs ARE serving their country, it’s just that their country has its collective head up its collective ass. If you don’t want to “pay” the price for flying, there’s always the big gray dog, and I don’t think Greyhound frisks you before boarding.
If we’re going to try to prevent terrorists/lunatics (same diff) from crashing more planes, stern measures must be taken. We can’t keep living in the bubble that made 9/11 a) possible, and b) so utterly shocking.
If those poor TSA emloyees don’t like touching other people’s genitals, sexually harassing/assaulting passengers, then they can quit.
Once no one in the US is willing to assault their fellow citizens, the TSA will be forced to change.
I call on every American to call-out and harass ANY PERSON they know who works for the TSA. You see someone wearing a TSA uniform – verbally embarass them. Let the whole world know that the TSA cannot intimidate passengers without some repercussions.
After talking to a number of TSO’s myself and making them feel comforable talking with me by joking around and just generaly being nice to them they willing admited to me the reason for the new pat downs were designed to make people feel so uncomfortable that they would go through the machines
To all those people who think that the TSO’s who don’t like doing the searches should just quit, are you all going to start a fund to help support them until they can finda new job? If they quit they dont’ get unemployment. And never mind the fact that they were almost all hired before this policy came out. so it’s not like they decided to take the job so they could go feel people up. Of course if they all quit then the TSA can hire people who do want to feel people up. I feel much better now!
As for whether the enhanced pat downs are a violation of your rights, it certainly seems so on the surface, but ultimately a court will have to decide that.
If the TSO’s are likened to the “just following orders” low level Nazi’s then I would propose we look at the vast population who know something is wrong but are willing to hand over their freedoms. Think about all the concentration camp victims who quietly stood in lines waiting to board trains. They gave into the bullies.
People need to stand up to this raping of our rights. We are cowards. Those who fought for our freedoms should be disgusted with the majority of Americans. Those who are veterans and now work for the TSA are hypocrites.
I am ashamed of what we’re becoming.
This article, and the comments afterward, have made the choice very easy for me. Neither I, nor anyone in my family will fly, for business or pleasure, until these procedures are abolished. I have refused other ‘requirements’ from a past employer that would have required me to sign over limited power of attorney to the state, for a 2-year period. I refused, and was told that my options for advancement were effectively gone. They could do this, as they were a ‘sovereign’ entity, that could get away with this.
I stood my ground and, as soon as I could manage, found another job. I will do the same to my current, or any future employer, that would choose to ignore my ‘CONSTITUTIONAL’ rights, in favor of furthering their own immoral agenda. I CAN and WILL find another job, if it ever came to that. Let the government support me with unemployment, food stamps, and any other freebie I can siphon from them. It would serve them right for wasting my hard-earned tax dollars on this travesty called the TSA, that serves NO purpose, catches NO terrorists, and is staffed by people willingly violating my constitutional rights.
Let the ultra-conservative ignorant right call me traitor, unpatriotic, or anything else they want. I believe that to NOT stand up for the rights we have, as citizens of this great country, is more traitorous still.
Remember the old story, ‘When they came for the Jews, I said nothing because I wasn’t Jewish. When they came for the Catholics, I said nothing because I wasn’t Catholic. When they came for me, there was no one left to say anything.’
Benn Franklin was correct, ‘They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’
I will NOT give up my rights, nor sit quietly by and be bullied by ignorant buffoons who don’t care about anyone or anything, until it impacts their own personal rose-tinted world.
And if I need to look for another job to avoid this Nazi, wow there’s THAT comparison again…I wonder why…, treatment, then why should I feel ANY sympathy for those TSOs who are SO bothered and traumatized by the immoral, perverse, and molestation-style treatment that they inflict on the populace that has done NOTHING to warrant it? The ‘I was doing my job’, or ‘I was just following orders’ excuses don’t hold any water.
So no, My family will not be flying anytime soon. Vacations will be local, and none of my money will be spent on those resorts or airlines who allow the TSA to continue these tactics. We should all do this. It is doable. None of us are REALLY bound to fly by employment. Those who claim to be, are just a little more interested in protecting their lifestyle, than they are in protecting their civil liberties. Sacrificing a little in the paycheck to help sleep better at night? Yep. I would, most definitely…
“I was just doing my job” “I was just following orders”…… Verbatim from the Nuremberg trials.
Puppets of the dictators always say the same lines.