More TSA bullshit.

"I cannot consent to nor accept unwelcome physical contact any more than having images of my naked body being viewed by government personnel as a routine part of my daily commute to work. If I'm not under arrest or a suspect in some known threat to air transportation security, the feds have no grounds to invade my privacy and personal space in this way. It is an outrage beyond any measure of reason, an assault on liberty, a gross overreaching of the state, and a very significant step on the road back to the sort of tyranny many of our forbears and the founders of this society fought and often died to escape and abolish." - ExpressJet pilot Michael Roberts who was barred from entering Memphis airport for refusing a full body scan.

Let me just say "Thank you George W Bush" for the Patriot Act. Without which we might still have some semblance of freedom and liberty in this country.

The TSA - Security Theatre. There to employ people to make the sheeple feel safe.

Comments

Paul said…
While I agree with the sentiment I think the pilot is a bit of a fool. What was he trying to prove? Did he honestly think that he'd be let through after refusing the scan and the pat down just because he's a pilot? Not a chance. Did he think it would be newsworthy? Well he had his 5 minutes in the sun and next week he'll be forgotten.

Yes the rules are a joke. Yes there are far better ways of accomplishing what they want to accomplish, probably cheaper as well. But at the moment they are the paranoid rules and I'm not sure what can be done to change them.
22:08
Anonymous said…
You may like Patrick Smith's column on salon.com, he has an article on this event too. Patrick is an airline pilot himself.
http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/10/21/michael_roberts_body_scan/index.html
00:55
Anonymous said…
I hope that one day, society will look back on these measures and realize how inappropriate it was to treat people in this way.

It's right up there with drowning people to determine if were witches.
03:21
Chris said…
The problem is they've totally missed the point. It would be so much easier and less invasive to have security personnel with sniffer dogs roaming the checkin and security areas. I've travelled a lot more than usual in the last 12 months and the level of security theatre in the US airports is obscene now. It's the only place you have to go through body scanners. It's the only place you still need to take your shoes off and it's the only place run by pinheads on a uniform-induced power trip.
The TSA need to go and take a look at how Hong Kong airport do security - they could learn a thing or two. Not least of which how to be (a) effective and (b) polite.
07:21
Mystery Girl said…
I used to look forward to flying. Your holiday started when you got to the airport. But flying into or out of the US, being photographed and fingerprinted (like some common criminal) even though I went through the whole vetting process to get my green card is a nightmare and worse if you have a connection to catch. At LAX the TSA seem to go out of their way to be as intrusive and rude as possible and you can't answer back.

Examples of great airports where they have security checks but aren't in-your-face about it are Holland, Singapore and Hong Kong. The american way - in this case - is not the way to do it.
09:45
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