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Originally Posted by gregory carlin
They started with opposite gender intimate searches! let us think back to the way things once were. The Europeans who complained of intimate vaginal prodding by male searchers at US airports were viewed as dangerous foreign radicals by the DOT/FAA.
The TSA was once a lonely circle of empty chairs and relied upon the BOP prison precedent. As the Bureau of Prisons largely resolve issues of sexual assault by simply denying it, things got off to a very bad start. The DOT/FAA decided that instead of a bona fide system with sexual assault complaints being made to the local police (the proper authority), they would simply offer a form email service instead. The local police were to be bullied into walking away and the TSA became the first 'quasi-police agency' to offer a reportage facility for sexual assault by internet form and only by internet form. Two things happened to make things a little better. Cabin crew (female) began screaming about dozens and dozens of sex assaults by male searchers and Indian and Asian girls complained (with some justification) that their marrage prospects were being damaged by inappropriate opposite gender searches at US airports. Mr. Jeremy Corbyn MP (Westminster, London) asked the US Ambassador to the Court of St. James for a training video of the searches and the US was eventually shamed into halting the abusive searches. If it is bad now, remember how bad it was before a few brave souls risked no fly lists etc. to try and invoke a little sanity. |
I attempted a minimal-clothing adventure. I knew I had been SSSS'ed because my boarding card wouldn't print at home. So I deliberately wore soccer shorts and a t-shirt. No socks, no shoes, nothing else (yes, it was winter.) This stopped nothing. I got my bare skin wanded and patted down. Who knows? Maybe I had put on FAKE SKIN! Better safe than sorry!
It's sad but I decided to forego a trip this weekend in part due to SSSS. I was asked to fly to Washington. I knew that if I bought a ticket to DC with less than a week's notice that I'd be a guaranteed SSSS. I really just don't want to deal with it, so I'll stay home. It's pathetic, but I really don't need a pat-down and a wanding right now. I'm all stocked-up for this year. |
Originally Posted by Mats
I attempted a minimal-clothing adventure. I knew I had been SSSS'ed because my boarding card wouldn't print at home. So I deliberately wore soccer shorts and a t-shirt. No socks, no shoes, nothing else (yes, it was winter.) This stopped nothing. I got my bare skin wanded and patted down. Who knows? Maybe I had put on FAKE SKIN! Better safe than sorry!
It's sad but I decided to forego a trip this weekend in part due to SSSS. I was asked to fly to Washington. I knew that if I bought a ticket to DC with less than a week's notice that I'd be a guaranteed SSSS. I really just don't want to deal with it, so I'll stay home. It's pathetic, but I really don't need a pat-down and a wanding right now. I'm all stocked-up for this year. a. You didn't need to go. b. If you worked for me, we'd have a talk. |
Originally Posted by Mats
I got my bare skin wanded and patted down. Who knows? Maybe I had put on FAKE SKIN! Better safe than sorry!
Oh, if a TSA screener ever wants to pat down my bare skin, I will demand to put my clothes back on first! Bruce |
Originally Posted by Mats
I attempted a minimal-clothing adventure. I knew I had been SSSS'ed because my boarding card wouldn't print at home. So I deliberately wore soccer shorts and a t-shirt. No socks, no shoes, nothing else (yes, it was winter.) This stopped nothing. I got my bare skin wanded and patted down. Who knows? Maybe I had put on FAKE SKIN! Better safe than sorry!
It's sad but I decided to forego a trip this weekend in part due to SSSS. I was asked to fly to Washington. I knew that if I bought a ticket to DC with less than a week's notice that I'd be a guaranteed SSSS. I really just don't want to deal with it, so I'll stay home. It's pathetic, but I really don't need a pat-down and a wanding right now. I'm all stocked-up for this year. Regarding your second paragraph, please write to your airline and explain to them that the hassle of SSSS cost them at least one ticket's worth of revenue. |
Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
Mats -- Several times I wore shorts and non-metal sandals the summer expecting to get sent to secondary as punishment for not taking off my sandals. When my bare legs were wanded, I said to the screener (not yelling, but loud enough that other passengers and screeners could hear me), "Do you realize how stupid you look wanding bare skin?" I rarely got a response but I noticed lots of red faces of screeners. If I got the "I'm just doing my job" response, my reply was something like, "Is that what you look in the mirror and say to yourself every morning before you come to work?" Try this type of dialogue next time. A little bit of psychological warfare at the screener level never hurts.
Regarding your second paragraph, please write to your airline and explain to them that the hassle of SSSS cost them at least one ticket's worth of revenue. As someone who has decided to forego flying until the pat down searches are stopped, I, too, urge you to contact your airline and tell them why you are not flying. The pocketbook nerve is very sensitive. Yes, I still need to travel and my future car or train trips will take several days as opposed to several hours, but at least I will arrive at my destination unmolested. |
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I did write a letter to Delta today.
This trip was not for business so it was entirely elective. |
Originally Posted by bdschobel
This is a serious question. Suppose I'm SSSSed and don't want to be touched by a TSA stranger -- and I really don't! Instead, I request a private screening and strip naked.
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
I hadn't thought about this angle. I'll definitely throw it into the mix next time I have some fun with a screener.
Seriously, I understand why people dislike the TSA, but there is a fine line between standing up for yourself (e.g., asking screeners to substitute clean gloves for dirty gloves) and being petty (e.g., asking for special non-latex gloves that you don't need). |
Originally Posted by hb1
What do you do for a living? Would you mind if I came to your worksite to harass you for personal pleasure? Is there a time when I could come so that my harassment would not only bother you, but also inconvenience others waiting to use your company's service?
Seriously, I understand why people dislike the TSA, but there is a fine line between standing up for yourself (e.g., asking screeners to substitute clean gloves for dirty gloves) and being petty (e.g., asking for special non-latex gloves that you don't need). I was in ROTC on a US college campus in the early 1970s and have been on the receiving end of harassment. I know all about being a "symbol." |
Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
It's civil disobedience, and I will do it every chance I get. I'm deriving zero personal pleasure and I'm not standing up for myself. I believe I'm standing up for the Constitution and for your right to think & write that I'm a complete jerk. I regret you have such a narrow view of protest and its essentiality in a democracy.
2. Lying about being allergic to latex is a pretty bizarre way to "protest" government policy. 3. "Civil disobedience" requires actual disobedience and is a powerful form of protest to observers because the disobediance creates a risk of arrest or sanction that underscores the protestor's resolve. If you went to the checkpoint and refused to be searched, that would be civil disobedience. Doing everything the screeners tell you to do but being obnoxious about it is not civil disobedience. |
1. Contrary to your present assertion that you gain "zero personal pleasure" from harassing TSA employees, your previous post described your goal as to "have some fun with a screener." 2. Lying about being allergic to latex is a pretty bizarre way to "protest" government policy. 3. "Civil disobedience" requires actual disobedience and is a powerful form of protest to observers because the disobediance creates a risk of arrest or sanction that underscores the protestor's resolve. If you went to the checkpoint and refused to be searched, that would be civil disobedience. Doing everything the screeners tell you to do but being obnoxious about it is not civil disobedience. |
FliesWay2Much,
I agree with you. If each person harassed the TSA just a little bit, these thousands of small acts could possibly unite to form one act big enough to change policy. We can only hope, but isn't this the season of hope? |
Originally Posted by bdschobel
One of our TSA posters here wrote a while back that they do not wand bare skin. Has that policy changed, or did Mats just encounter an idiot (not an unlikely occurrence, unfortunately!)?
Oh, if a TSA screener ever wants to pat down my bare skin, I will demand to put my clothes back on first! Bruce |
Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
Mats -- Several times I wore shorts and non-metal sandals the summer expecting to get sent to secondary as punishment for not taking off my sandals. When my bare legs were wanded, I said to the screener (not yelling, but loud enough that other passengers and screeners could hear me), "Do you realize how stupid you look wanding bare skin?" I rarely got a response but I noticed lots of red faces of screeners. If I got the "I'm just doing my job" response, my reply was something like, "Is that what you look in the mirror and say to yourself every morning before you come to work?" Try this type of dialogue next time. A little bit of psychological warfare at the screener level never hurts.
Regarding your second paragraph, please write to your airline and explain to them that the hassle of SSSS cost them at least one ticket's worth of revenue. Hey, Flieswaytomuch You must have flown through my airport just before I quit, some guy made a comment like that to when I was screening him. Just said, nope, I usually say two more weeks of this BS hehe |
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