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Refusing to Fly Because of the TSA
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Yeah, um. I have to fly sometimes but I'm considering driving for any distance less than some large number of miles out. I'm transgendered and starting to have ambiguous anatomy and I kind of consider it a big deal to be outed by random TSA agents and possibly have security become a big old thing.
It's just... not something I want to deal with, you know? If they do their pat down or whatever well then they're going to find stuff that will make everything a lot more difficult for me.
This isn't a concern for most people, but it's big enough that it's starting to worry me. It's some bullshit that I'll avoid if I can in any way.
Every single person on the planet already knows what you look like naked to the fidelity that a body scanner is capable of obtaining. I mean, if an ok artist looked at you in street clothes and drew what she thought you looked like naked chances are the drawing would be way closer to real life.
Sorry
Anyways I've never been a fan of it because it's a knee-jerk reaction. I mean it's a knee-jerk reaction that I can definitely understand the reasoning behind but it was still stupid response to 9/11. Could our airport security could have been a little better? Sure. But the TSA was and continues to be a ridiculous boondoggle that does very little to increase our safety while costing too much money and more importantly infringing on privacy like whoa.
The thing that prevents 9/11 the second is 9/11 itself. The hijackings worked because the public had been conditioned to believe if they cooperated they wouldn't be harmed. That's out the window now. The next group that tries to hijack a plane is going to get beaten to death with their own detached limbs.
This whole thing right here is part of what is all screwy about it. If the intent of implementing such protocols is to prevent a terrorist from setting a bomb off or hijacking an airplane again then as to the former you're kind of not really dealing with the problem because all you've done is move where the crowd is and as to the latter you can just as easily put the money into hiring more Marshals and giving better emergency situation training to on-board staff.
As to the OP topic: Body scanners, in my opinion, are really on the low end as far as reasons as to why one might not want to interact with the TSA. There really is a metric fuckton(tm) of articles out there as to how the TSA has acted ever since its inception. Now, saying the entirety of the TSA is bad isn't probably accurate (bad apples and all that) but just spend a couple minutes on Google and see where the subject can take you. As with anything though, avoid any article that has the words "Alex Jones" in it.
FFXIV - Milliardo Beoulve/Sargatanas
I would still dislike it just as much, but at least it would serve an actual purpose
That's a curious question, because I generally don't worry about having illegal things on my person that could be seized during a search.
If someone high up (whoever has influence on these things) finally decided that, you know what, all this illusion of security is expensive bullshit and the last several times someone's tried to down a plane, it was stopped by the passengers on board, so they're getting rid of all the useless security checks - would there even be a public outrage? Aside from the fake outrage that would come from Fox News and the usual suspects, would the general public actually go into conniptions about letting the terrorists win or such fearmongering like that? Or would people in general be glad to be rid of it?
Fox News would be happy to see the TSA go. The right-wing talking heads have had no good things to say about the body scanners and, despite being a Republican invention, think the TSA is a waste of money.
Unfortunately there's an "unstoppable force meets immovable object" thing going on here regarding their ideology. Security and not spending money on the federal level. Both things would clash. They would run with whatever negative exists. In this case, "Obama is compromising our security!" will become the narrative.
It's always amusing to me since he's basically the only person I know who likes the damned things. I've been selected for screening a couple times in PHL, but mostly due to large lines I was eventually allowed to go through the metal detector each time. That said, I really don't find appeals to slippery slope or constitutionality to be very relevant in this situation. I'd be happy to see them go mostly since they don't really do anything, but that can be said for almost all of the airport security theater.
It wouldn't just be Fox, it would be all the 24 hour news networks because fearmongering sells really really well
Public opinion would probably play along until the next shiny WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE comes along and then promptly forget about it entirely
There is a difference between doing something for shits and giggles and doing something that has a noticeable effect though.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
Then look at the bright side: if the right-wingers contradict what they said earlier, it will make for a great Daily Show bit when Jon says, "Roll clip b-12."
Kinda, no, not really. The TSA is going to stop using one vendor of the backscatter machines in airports. The existing machines from that vendor will be re-purposed at other locations. Other backscatter machines will be used along with the millimeter wave machines. It's really an amazing bit of PR though.
The right wing doesn't actually give a shit about the invasive security measures, they just want to let private security firms handle the job. See also the hard ass fight the TSA had to wage just to earn the right to unionize.
It's a slippery slope argument, but that kind of liberty is always the first thing to go when there's a precedent for violence done under the protection of those rights.
that's not really a fair comparison.
a better comparison would be checkpoints on the road. which have been ruled unconstitutional in some cases, unless there is a clear, reasonable justification for it. if there is, it can be allowed to have the cops stop everyone who comes through, regardless of individualized reasonable suspicion or PC.
also - you do impliedly consent to things when you get a license in drive. in my state, you impliedly consent to a breath test. if you refuse it, basically refusing a search of your person, you are penalized.
if there's a valid checkpoint on the road coming up, you can always turn around and go back to avoid going through it. inconvenient, yes, but not forcing you to consent. ultimately that's where the 4th comes into play anyway.
this is a separate issue of what SHOULD be required, whether the machines are effective at stopping weapons making it on board, etc.
c'mon ross, this is a pretty fallacious argument.
when we're talking about what the constitution does or does not prohibit it's really a nonstarter to say "why would you not want to be searched unless you had something to hide!"
Oh, I don't disagree that the discussion over violation of 4th is pertinent, I'm just saying that I, personally, have never felt strongly about my own privacy when it comes to official legal authorities.
That's not really true - the Texas legislature only failed to pass legislation banning the TSA pornoscanners from Texas airports after the DoJ said they'd stop all flights into or out of the state if we took that measure.
The right wing cares quite a lot about the invasive security measures, and "security theater" is a phrase you will hear frequently if you spend some time looking into the opinions of that slice of the electorate.
Let's be honest - a large part of that is the p-word in action.
They're wedged in there tight now, too.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/08/5100669/tsa-union-gets-sacramento-airport.html
I think you need to be a frequent traveler of some airline to do that. Regardless, the route I take every summer is not on the list, which is the only way it'd help me personally, so >.>
Plus all you have to do is check the brown suspicious people.
This is incorrect.
When I came home last Christmas, the TSA didn't believe that I was American and hassled me for about twenty minutes before letting me in the country.
Assholes probably get gigged more often, but it's not a hard and fast rule.
ROTFL the TSA is the opposite of an agency that is accountable to the American people....
Thank you for sharing this perspective. It's one I hadn't considered before.