Doing the Right Thing

Saturday, November 20, 2010
I really, really dislike bullies. I don't really care much why someone chooses to behave in a bullying fashion, I just break out the Shovel of Doom™ and start a-swinging.

Standing up to bullies is always the right thing to do. It doesn't really matter if they're stronger than you, or if doing so is against the rules, or if your action results in getting your ass kicked. It's worth it, and it always matters.

When I was about 13, I attended a private school. I took a bus to school, which served grades 1-8. I shared my bus stop with a variety of other kids, including two brothers named Craig and Hodd, aged 11 and 6. When a new student started using our bus stop, he proceeded to try and bully Craig and Hodd. This was not an acceptable outcome to me, so I acted. Of course my Hot Mom was called to the principle's office to discuss my inappropriate behavior. Apparently kicking someone's ass at the bus stop for bullying a first grader is a violation of the rules, even if they are bigger and stronger than you. The principle was told to punish me for fighting if she saw fit to do so, but my Hot Mom wasn't going to support that course of action. I did the right thing, and my Hot Mom wasn't going to punish me for it.

Lesson learned: While responsible adults adhere to the social contract for the good of the whole, there are absolutely cases when doing so is not the right thing to do.

Which brings us (once again) to the TSA and their Assembly Line of Shame.

There are a lot of people out there who feel that the new security measures are "no big deal" and that submitting is our "duty" in order to keep us "safe." Wrong, wrong, wrong.
  • It is a big deal. It's a big deal to a lot of people. People like survivors of sexual assault. People whose religious or personal belief has a cornerstone in modesty. People who can see past the end of their noses and realize what a slippery slope you put yourself on when you allow the Federal government to indiscriminately take away your rights. 
  • It is not my "duty" to let some nameless bureaucracy take away my civil rights so they can pad their resume and give the appearance of safety to a bunch of sheeple. As a citizen of this country, my duty is to the Constitution, and these procedures are a clear violation of my Fourth Amendment rights. I should not have to compromise my rights under the Constitution simply to be able to make use of a commercial air carrier. Anytime we compromise the rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution, we give the government a little more power over us. Since 9/11, this trend has continued unabated, and it's simply NOT OKAY.
  • These procedures do not keep us "safe." They're knee-jerk reactions by scared little tyrants addressing known threats in an effort to keep their jobs safe. As my friend Eric notes, these procedures simply help move the target from the aircraft to the security line. That's awesome. Heckofa job, Pistole. You want to impress me? Come up with a system that addresses threats that haven't already been successfully used.
Our federal government has become a bully. A bully who has become accustomed to using fear as their motivation to get their way. I think the TSA is honestly puzzled at the vociferous reaction of the American public to these measures. Why the fuss, American public? You didn't say shit when we passed that incredible piece of crap known as the Patriot Act. You didn't have a cow when we went into cahoots with the telecommunications companies to illegally spy on you and yours. You didn't rise up when we suspended Habeas Corpus for our own convenience. Why the fuss?

Why the fuss, indeed. The Constitution matters. Defending the Constitution matters. Even if you are not personally offended by the invasive measures of the TSA, you should be offended at the abrogation of your Fourth Amendment rights.

For details on how to stand up to the bully that is the Department of Homeland Security, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation's website. There you'll find links to areas where you can complain directly to the TSA, the DHS, and help outside organizations like the ACLU fight this violation of the Bill of Rights.

Standing up to bullies is the right thing to do. So stop being afraid, and stand up.

7 comments:

mom in northern said...

Hee Hee
You forgot to mention Hoddie pillagings of the neighborhood's flowers....

Warner (aka ntsc) said...

Try this one.

http://www.mybottlesup.com/2009/10/tsa-agents-took-my-son/

vince said...

Why is this suddenly a big deal? I think this expresses it best:

It is no accident that women have been complaining about being pulled out of line because of their big breasts, having their bodies commented on by TSA officials, and getting inappropriate touching when selected for pat-downs for nearly 10 years now, but just this week it went viral. It is no accident that CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) identified Islamic head scarves (hijab) as an automatic trigger for extra screenings in January, but just this week it went viral. What was different?

Suddenly an able-bodied white man is the one who was complaining.


The claims of how effective our security measures are at airports reminds me of the old joke about the man who always carried an elephant gun everywhere he went. When asked why he did this, he said it was to keep away the elephants. Asked if it really worked, the man said "you don't see any elephants, do you?"

A friend on Facebook responded to a post on my wall on this asking essentially if not this, then what? My response:

Pay more attention to airport workers. Have truly random enhanced screening that can't be planned for like protocol-, background-, and profiling-based searches can. Make security lines less vulnerable - you don't have to take down an airplane, you can just take people down in a security line (as Eric and many others have noted). Significantly improve the training and quality of security personnel. Put money into investigations and intelligence.

There is no such thing as perfect security. As Jim Morrison once said, no one here gets out alive. 9/11 was a horrible tragedy that killed 2,741 Americans directly.

But.

- A 2009 Harvard Medical School study estimated nearly 45,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lists 30,797 fatal crashes in 2009
- According to statistics gather by the American Heart Association, 831,272 Americans died of cardiovascular diseases in 2006
- A 2010 report detailing the findings of an investigation by the Hearst Corporation calculate approximately 200,000 people die in the United States every year from hospital infections and preventable medical errors

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have good and effective security, but we pour hundreds of millions of dollars into people and procedures that do little to protect people, while neglecting programs that would actually save lives.

Megan said...

The terrorists have won, for real. These guys are morons. The best they can do is set their underwear on fire, and we are acting like they are evil geniuses. I don't know what that says about our own intelligence.

WendyB_09 said...

Having been the victim of an official airport groping many years ago, I'm very suspicious of the current level of stupidity.

See, back in the early days of TSA, before they'd gotten people trained and security was half local idiots and the other half newbie TSA Agents, I managed to stop a whole gateful of people getting on a plane.

I was told I was selected for a hand screening, and I thought it would just be my carry-on. It's boarding time, flight is already late because of the new procedures, and I figure, fine, whatever it takes to get me on the plane. One agent takes my bag, another says she's going to pat me down, and tells me to take my shoes off - this is well before the shoe-bomber. Now, I don't want to take my eyes off my bag, so keep trying to turn around to see where my bag with purse, wallet, and everything is.

I get forceably spun around, and told she's going to check the inside of my legs. WTF! Bitch reaches down, and starts grabbing hard from the ankle up. Hits my bad knee too hard and I yelp and jump, she yanks me back. Then proceeds to cop a feel of my crotch so hard I screamed, LOUDLY, and demanded they get a supervisor before she touches me again.

The gate area screeches to a halt. Every time said agent tries to finish getting her jollies off, I screech again. After a couple minutes a supervisor finally gets there and want's to know what the problem is. I tell him I've just been assulted by this bitch, and I'm not letting her touch me again. She's the only female agent at that end of the concourse. I then loudly describe the "screening" I've just endured, and point out very loudly that this better not make me miss my flight and didn't they have anything better to do than harrass elderly women in wheelchairs and families with small children, the other handful of "selecties" from my flight.

They boarded us all pretty quickly after that, the rest got very cursory bag checks. One of the older women thanked me for standing up for them. I told her what the agent had done to me was against the law in most states and we shouldn't have to put up with it even in the name of national security.

In other words - Been there, done that, still get the willies every time I have to through a security check-point. And I've been flying alot since my dad died in September.

SO - If I'm selected Tuesday night I'll be asking for a supervisor to be present whilest I'm being groped and for said groper to put on clean latex gloves before they touch me. Yick. Who knows what germs those things are carrying???

WendyB_09 said...

Sorry 'bout the triple posting, it kept rejecting my verification, but instead was repeatedly posting my comments. Smart Chick, if you can remove the extras, I'd appreciate it!

Anne C. said...

I'm planning to fly next week. If I'm subjected to invasive screening, I'll be sure to send a comment to TSA.