I am Mikey Hicks's mother, the little boy featured in the news media reports this past week. The one the TSA states in "not on a list".
Instead of reaching out to our family, you chose to belittle the process by stating:
"It’s inevitable that every several months or so, some cute kid gets their mug posted on a major news publication with a headline reading something like: “Does this look like a terrorist to you?” Anything involving kids or cats gets tons of mileage and everybody starts tweeting and retweeting that there’s an 8 year old on the no fly list." Would it have made a difference if we had an ugly kid compared to a "cute kid"?
It would have been far more helpful had he reached out to our family and help us formulate a solution than belittle the effort.
I am insulted and appalled that a representative from the TSA would chose to make such a juvenile and insulting statement. You could have easily left the above quote off and just shared the Redress process with everyone.
It has been made quite clear to our family from both Continental and US Airlines that our son is clearly on a TSA list and they have absolutely no power in which to remove him.
If you think it's far more helpful to belittle the process rather than just giving people the information they need, then I think the TSA has far more serious issues than any of us imagine.
I look forward to getting our son off a list he's supposedly not on.
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Indeed.
Why not reach out to the family and turn a terrible PR moment into a good PR moment?
Of course, we are talking about the intrepid TSA warriors who believe they, and they alone, are the last line of defense that will keep planes from falling out of the sky, so I can't say I am surprised.
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I'm honestly stunned that Mikey's mother's post made it past the delete-o-meter. I wonder if Blogdad Bob, Gale, and Nappy will launch another personal attack on the mother like they did to the mother at the checkpoint a few months ago?
TSA Myth Busters post in 3...2...1...
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I'm honestly stunned that Mikey's mother's post made it past the delete-o-meter. I wonder if Blogdad Bob, Gale, and Nappy will launch another personal attack on the mother like they did to the mother at the checkpoint a few months ago?
I'm not surprised. I think it reflects that fact that sadly, the majority of people either believe the 'safety at all costs and TSA means safety' line (ie, "if it doesn't inconvenience me and/or I don't see it, it must not be there") or they just have resigned themselves to the situation. TSA knows this. They know that no matter what happens, they are above accountability. On the rare occasions someone of 'note' has tried to take them on (congress person, Anne Coulter (!), Gloria Allred (!)), there's been some kind of backroom conversation and the congress person or media figure has immediately backed down.
I think Bob sees the blog as a dialogue with a tiny dismayed fraction of the population, at best. There's no serious attempt to be truthful or to seriously engage. It really doesn't matter what hits the airwaves, because in the end, the fuss dies down and nothing changes for the better.
What's wrong with this picture? Where is Mom's lawyer? Her Congressmember?
What difference woudl it make if Mikey's parents did get a lawyer? Or involve their Congress member?
The lawyer would just get stonewalled ad nauseum and if their Congress person did get involved (very big 'if'), I'm sure there would be a backroom conversation and the Congress member would immediately find other issues to occupy his/her time.
I'm honestly stunned that Mikey's mother's post made it past the delete-o-meter. I wonder if Blogdad Bob, Gale, and Nappy will launch another personal attack on the mother like they did to the mother at the checkpoint a few months ago?
Blogger Bob does not delete-o-meter posts that disagree with the TSA line, he only deletes those he feels are overly disrespectful. All in all he keeps a good balance.
