And please record the interaction (ala Steve Bierfeldt) for the entertainment education of your fellow FTs.

I won't criticize your Quenya accent. Really, I won't.

So.. does it apply the OTHER way too?

Would you think it wrong - and demand consequences - if the TSA guy/gal used "inflammatory" language directed at YOU?

If Yes, then why would you think it OK for you to use it?

I ask this because that is how I see it... I try very hard to never treat other folks in a way I wouldn't like to be treated... Seems terribly simple to me..

YMMV.

What ever happened to civics class, dont we teach manners in the world? My tolerance meter gets pegged more than a few times in a random week, but I dont go around telling postal employees, IRS clerks or social security administration representatives its none of their G-D business, even when it is not. They have supervisors, use them. Or ignore them and go about your business. But premetated and planning on cursing out a lowly TSO sure make you come off soundling like a bully.

I would suggest letting little things like that getting the OPs panties in a bunch is a sure way to an anuerism, or HBP at a minimum.

Ethically, your view is correct. However, as employees, TSA security theatre have a standard of conduct to answer for. We should hold them to the highest ethics and standards, since we are funding the facade.

Whereas there is no law against freedom of speach, peaceful protest, and the right to be free of interference.

Fortunately, there is no law against being a jerk. (don't flame me, it's a fact)

One effective way to mold behavior, just like raising children, is to create dis-incentives towards undesirable behavior. We can actually drive change to the benefit of security by being vigillant and demanding dignity and by questioning the shoe, liquid, and ID carnivals.

Don't forget, security measures in other countries exist without the fear mongering, without the insane spending.

As flyers, we all benefit from safer skies. Almost 10 years in and it's still a mess.... now that's something for the departments to be embarrased about.

Note that I am do not condone the profanity or being rude.

But I encourage telling it like it is. And that includes being blunt about the facts.

Once, I inadvertently muttered "whiskey tango foxtrot" sotto voce at FLL during a gate grope lineup (completely unrelated to security, was reading an email on the iPhone). I was told by the 3-stripe TSO leading the gate grope that if I said "one more f-ing word," he would have me arrested for "disturbing the peace and obstruction of a federal officer." Since I was traveling with my boss, I did not press the issue.

How is it that I have gone through an airport almost every week for several years and have yet to have any problems?

Sure I get pissed with the process and the people sometimes; but if someone asks you a question why not just either answer politely or walk away?

I'm kind of tired of reading the same comments from the same people about the "system" and the "man".

While I am far from a TSA advocate, I have accepted the reality that crying about how the big bad security guard yelled at me will not do anything to change the system.

Either accept the way things work or hop on the interstate.

It's my opinion that this is exactly what has changed the system, and will continue to do so. And the system is in dire need of changes.

If only that uppity Parks woman had sat at the back of the bus like she was told and not been crying about it, everything would have been fine.

She should either accept the way things work or get off the bus.

For the record, I don't have problems when I fly, either. (Well, I take that back. Back in the old days before "mandatory shoe removal" happened, my shoes would set off the WTMD about half of the time, with absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. The same shoes wouldn't set off the WTMD at my home airport but would set it off at just about any destination. Go figure.)

But just because you, and I, haven't had problems doesn't mean that others don't have problems --- or that you and I won't have a problem the next time we fly.

You don't make a process better by focusing on the things that work; you have to focus on the things that don't work.

Because anything you say can be used against you, no matter how innocuous it sounds.

Also, "walking away" isn't always an option. We've been told numerous times that once the "screening process" begins (whatever that means), we're not allowed to stop the process and walk away.

That's not necessarily true. Read this story from 1999...

http://www.deadhero.com/ramblings/1999/cursing/

Long story short, the guy was charged for cursing in front of a female, which was a 100 year old law that he broke.

I'd have laughed at him. Hard. And pointed at him while laughing.

(I do understand about not wanting to escalate in front of your boss.)

Which interstate connects HNL and LAX?

If you don't like people challenging the theater and its actors, just keep walking.

Luck of the draw, act of God, TSO that actually understand their Constitutionally-limited authority? Who knows...

TSO have threatened people for not answering or answering with a perceived falsehood. Walking away is not an option, until you are "dismissed" by the TSO - unless you are prepared to be stopped by the airport LEO or held at fault for an infamous terminal breach.

Some of the folks on here like to share information about incidents/locations to make more people aware of things. This site is not just read by members and this forum seems to get crawled by the web search engines fairly well. Tired of reading comments? Don't read the thread. Tired of certain posters? That's why the forum has an "ignore" option.

Yup, don't even try to use that First Amendment-protected right to express one's self - you'll just piss off Jcd2147.