Another Report of TSA Thuggery
Feb 16, 2011, 11:58 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 855
Feb 16, 2011, 12:17 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
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Disappointing 
What other possible purpose, then, than a very deliberate, public show of force making it clear to all witnessing the spectacle that those who will not submit quietly will be made examples of?
Feb 16, 2011, 12:35 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 108
This account of a gang of TSA thugs following the woman and her son onto the plane and detaining them is pretty darn appalling.
Spreading the word about this sort of abuse is something we all ought to be doing more actively. Blog a link, tweet it, plaster the offending TSOs' names all over the internet.
I've seen older Egyptian citizens apologizing to the young protesters of their nation for not having the guts and the will to speak out about the "emergency" order instituted there 30 years ago. Some of them apparently feel that they cooperated and submitted to authority to such an extreme that they scarcely noticed until they basically had no rights at all.
I certainly hope that doesn't happen in the US -- I hope the checks and balances originally set up in our Constitution will prevent it. But when I see the vast majority of sheep herded thru the checkpoints without uttering any protest, I have to wonder what THIS country will look like in 30 years.
Spreading the word about this sort of abuse is something we all ought to be doing more actively. Blog a link, tweet it, plaster the offending TSOs' names all over the internet.
I've seen older Egyptian citizens apologizing to the young protesters of their nation for not having the guts and the will to speak out about the "emergency" order instituted there 30 years ago. Some of them apparently feel that they cooperated and submitted to authority to such an extreme that they scarcely noticed until they basically had no rights at all.
I certainly hope that doesn't happen in the US -- I hope the checks and balances originally set up in our Constitution will prevent it. But when I see the vast majority of sheep herded thru the checkpoints without uttering any protest, I have to wonder what THIS country will look like in 30 years.
Feb 16, 2011, 1:06 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
What other possible purpose, then, than a very deliberate, public show of force making it clear to all witnessing the spectacle that those who will not submit quietly will be made examples of?
About 30 minutes later I was sitting at the gate, and three TSOs appeared to stand about 3 metres away from me. I will admit that my very first thought was 'they have come for me'. It was in fact a gate ID check, but made me rather nervous, even though I had done nothing wrong. (And in the end, they didn't check my ID)
My experiences and more importantly the experiences of family in the DDR make me nervous at any checkpoint, even though I logically know that I should have nothing to fear.
Feb 16, 2011, 5:24 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Feb 16, 2011, 6:18 pm
#7
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Originally Posted by Mary Theroux
But such bullying is not the least unpredictable. Investing petty clerks with arbitrary and unchecked powers always leads to their visiting ever-increasing humiliations and violence on the politically impotent. As this past 10 years of escalating “homeland security” well confirms, thuggery not resisted grows ever more bold. Tunisia’s recent uprising may have been sparked by a young man who set fire to himself after being harassed by a low-level government official, as Egypt’s was by three policemen killing a young man posting evidence of their petty corruption on YouTube, but the fuel for each had been built up over decades of tyrannies small and great. The only question here is how far down the road we blessed with a heritage of security in our own persons and property will quietly submit before turning on “our” Brownshirts and saying “No. Go.”
Except, of course, for the simple fact that they are little better than the original Sturmabteilung.
Last edited by MikeMpls; Feb 16, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Feb 16, 2011, 7:47 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: AA, WN RR
Posts: 3,122
This account of a gang of TSA thugs following the woman and her son onto the plane and detaining them is pretty darn appalling.
Spreading the word about this sort of abuse is something we all ought to be doing more actively. Blog a link, tweet it, plaster the offending TSOs' names all over the internet.
I've seen older Egyptian citizens apologizing to the young protesters of their nation for not having the guts and the will to speak out about the "emergency" order instituted there 30 years ago. Some of them apparently feel that they cooperated and submitted to authority to such an extreme that they scarcely noticed until they basically had no rights at all.
I certainly hope that doesn't happen in the US -- I hope the checks and balances originally set up in our Constitution will prevent it. But when I see the vast majority of sheep herded thru the checkpoints without uttering any protest, I have to wonder what THIS country will look like in 30 years.
Spreading the word about this sort of abuse is something we all ought to be doing more actively. Blog a link, tweet it, plaster the offending TSOs' names all over the internet.
I've seen older Egyptian citizens apologizing to the young protesters of their nation for not having the guts and the will to speak out about the "emergency" order instituted there 30 years ago. Some of them apparently feel that they cooperated and submitted to authority to such an extreme that they scarcely noticed until they basically had no rights at all.
I certainly hope that doesn't happen in the US -- I hope the checks and balances originally set up in our Constitution will prevent it. But when I see the vast majority of sheep herded thru the checkpoints without uttering any protest, I have to wonder what THIS country will look like in 30 years.
Feb 16, 2011, 8:02 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 331
Not surprisingly, I've heard this from people I know for a fact are not FlyerTalkers. The word it out and the sheeple are waking up... ^
Feb 16, 2011, 9:57 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,425
I rub elbows with LEOs occasionally, and although I don't hear those particular terms, the words "loathing" and "disgust" do come up when they talk about how they feel when the women in their lives are being peeped and felt up at the airport, felt up to a degree that is forbidden to the LEOs unless arresting someone.
Feb 16, 2011, 10:04 pm
#12
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 331
I rub elbows with LEOs occasionally, and although I don't hear those particular terms, the words "loathing" and "disgust" do come up when they talk about how they feel when the women in their lives are being peeped and felt up at the airport, felt up to a degree that is forbidden to the LEOs unless arresting someone.
Feb 17, 2011, 5:13 am
#13
Join Date: Sep 2010
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Posts: 772
I rub elbows with LEOs occasionally, and although I don't hear those particular terms, the words "loathing" and "disgust" do come up when they talk about how they feel when the women in their lives are being peeped and felt up at the airport, felt up to a degree that is forbidden to the LEOs unless arresting someone.
They constantly call LEO there for no good reason, and he has nothing but distain for them, feels they should all lose their jobs, etc.
Feb 17, 2011, 8:01 am
#14
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,728
The TSA employee "lost it" first.
Anger management seems to be one area in which the TSA really needs to offer "additional training opportunities" to its horde of knuckle-draggers.
Feb 17, 2011, 8:09 am
#15
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,113
Wonder no more.
The TSA employee "lost it" first.
Anger management seems to be one area in which the TSA really needs to offer "additional training opportunities" to its horde of knuckle-draggers.
The TSA employee "lost it" first.
Anger management seems to be one area in which the TSA really needs to offer "additional training opportunities" to its horde of knuckle-draggers.
Don't think you can count this one as who will go off on a TSA employee.
Anyhow, it certainly seems that using tactics of a bully is part of TSA's extensive training, so this person was just using the tools TSA provided.