Originally Posted by
BSBD
Seems to me that it is you making it about you. The bulk of your posts on FT are about TSA and other related DHS agencies/programs. In many of those posts you defend the actions and policies of TSA, and deride those who are critical of TSA or say they've had negative personal experiences.
By your own admission, your interactions with TSA are practically nil and statistically insignificant. OTOH there are posters here who have weekly and even daily personal interaction with TSA/DHS. You seem to make a point to argue with, dismiss, or minimize their experiences and viewpoints.
Why? What's your motive?
First, I disagree with your characterization of my view of the TSA. I've criticized TSA many times here --- in my view, far more than I've defended TSA.
My motive? Pretty simple. I want people to "fight fair". I criticize gaps in logic from both sides.
I criticize TSA for forbidding knives of any length while permitting scissors, when a pair of scissors can be turned into a pair of knives in a matter of seconds. I criticize TSA when it promotes liquid limits of "3 ounces" when the true limit is "100 milliliters" --- and TSA cries that it would somehow be too confusing to advertise the true limits. When a well-known TSO here claims that the BDO program has been a big success but then declines to offer specifics, I've called him out for citing facts not in evidence. Heck, I was put on double-secret probation by FlyerTalk for opposing one particular TSO's faulty logic too strongly.
And then, to be fair, I criticize TSA critics as well. When critics claim BDOs should've found child molesters in their own ranks, I object, since the BDO program was never designed for that. When people complain that TSA costs too much and then turn around and complain that there aren't enough staff at the checkpoint to process passengers in a timely fashion, I point out the contradiction in the claims. And so on.
It seems clear from the OP's accounts that the aggressive remark from the TSO did not come out of nowhere. It was the last step in an interaction between both parties. From my uninformed vantage point, it appears that both parties contributed to the tension in the interaction that led to the outburst.
Who bears responsibility for the outburst? The TSO, absolutely. I've never stated otherwise. But that doesn't mean that the OP made it easy for the TSO, either.