There you go again - semantics and perception.

The post to which you replied actually said "in order to board a commercial aircraft, one must essentially prove that one is not a criminal.", which is true. It is also true that many TSOs treat passengers in a manner which most people, who have never been truly "treated as a criminal", would probably liken it to just that. Particularly if they happen to have one of the TSA's silly banned non-threatening items in their carrryon.