Is It Wrong to Call The TSA Idiots?
 

After going through TSA screening at DEN last week, I was frustrated and called the TSA agents idiots. They called the LEO that was standing nearby. It turns out that LEO just lectured me on how I can't call TSA agents idiots. I explained to the LEO that these two agents were in fact idiots and I didnt feel safer flying with them around (or most of the other agents that are employed by TSA). I was allowed to catch my flight and not further action was taken. Did I go too far or was I right to voice my opinion?

IMO - TSO calling LEO to complain about your calling them idiots = federal, state and local violation of your rights, as protected under the First Amendment.

Clearly, I agree that they are idiots and it's okay to say so! :D



Plus, it's good that from time to time we are challenged on our most precious rights so that we are reminded that we all have a duty to stand up against those that would quietly, but surely, chip away at our rights.

Tell others!

Not to mention the 4th Amendment.

Not only were the screeners idiots, the LEO was an even bigger idiot. I'd say the LEO qualifies as an imbecile. Certainly wouldn't be the first screeners or LEO to be labeled as idiots.

I would give a week's pay to hear this LEO quote the statute that says you can't call a TSO an idiot.

But, in your situation, I would have flipped off the cop, which is completely legal.

Man I agree with you here. The TSA are idiots & morons & every thing else I can think of & have just destroyed flying. How an leo could act like that is beyond me. The leo's I know hate the TSA & dread any call from them.

I do not feel you did anything wrong by making a statement that most of the flying public would agree with.

I have asked this before, how many of the screeners would act like they do on the job in a different setting?, my guess is not many, when they put on that tin badge and smurf suit, they become creatures of a different sort.

I think you were far too kind in your assessment of the TSA.

The cop should have bought you a beer for showing such restraint.

Of course it's wrong - it's offensive to idiots :D

It's distressing to hear that a sworn orfficer acted like such a dummy. I've come to expect it of the TSA (which contains far too many cop washouts and cop wannabes) but it still disappoints me to see police officers adopt the you're at an airport post September 11 and you cannot dissent in any way or I'll lecture you with all my authoritah nonsense.

Grown adults essentially repeating by rote "September 11, September 11, September 11" as if that justifies their personality defects. Sad.

The honorable cops I know would have laughed at the idiot screeners. As this one should have. I realize that one fool shouldn't tarnish the others, but it takes untold effort to undo the harm done by bozos like this.

You're lucky he didn't pull the "interference with screening" card. Say what you want about your 1st amendment rights but they could argue that you are "harassing or intimidating" and that may be against the law.

You should register a complaint with whichever governmental body has oversight over the LEO's organization, and with DHS. You were well within your rights to voice your opinion. The officer and TSO's had no right to do what they did.

Besides, after passing though DEN a few weeks ago, I can attest to your observation. The TSO's there are, by and large, idiots.

I work at an airport and have contact with many tsa people. 90% are not idiots and if not for the fact that they make more money per hour than most airline employees, have better health care, vacation and retirement than us I can't blame them for hanging unto their jobs. Many are teachers, retired cops, retired military, professionals and students. THEY hate the DC idiots that make the rules that they have to endorse. Call and email your representative and get some of these rules changed. I thought the new administration would have done more by now.

Sorry, while much of the blame properly rests on the DC leadership of TSA (and they are largely idiots - I've dealt with them) for the insanity that is TSA, the line workers aren't off the hook. As you point out, they are more concerned about their cushy personal situation than taking steps to fix the system. And don't tell me that the line TSO can't have an impact. Back when I was on active duty, when a boot seaman had a good idea, we adopted it.

You can either lead from the front, or be a mindless drone. Unfortunately, most TSO's are the latter.

to the OP
I think you were wrong, but for all the right reasons.

Stirring up trouble with the TSA, on the spot, at the airport, can't work in your favor.

I do support filing a complaint.

Oh, and they are idiots, people who couldn't get a job as a mall cop.

Agreed, but the OP seems to have limited this incident to commentary not something that escalated to the point where the screening process was interrupted so a review of Rendon v TSA might be on point.

It doesn't require a law degree to read that and find: "...a passenger who grumbles, even if the grumbling includes profanities, would not be found to have interfered with a screener in the performance of his duties. Indeed, Pindroh, the screener in this case, testified that he frequently hears passengers grumbling in line about how long the screening process is going to take and whether the screeners can hurry up the process, and notes that such grumbling is just normal talk from the customers..."

To the OP: Do you think the LEO literally meant that you cannot call TSA agents idiots because it is a violation of the law, or did he just mean you can't do it beacuse the idiots will call me over and then you will be delayed?

I blame them.

No one forced them to work at TSA. They chose to sell out the principles of this country for a paycheck. That's wrong at any price.

"I was only following orders." - Sound familiar?

This is all further proof that if you challenge the ego of the TSA, they will, in turn, go after you.

The cop really didn't do anything. He/she could have did the NCIC check, etc....but didn't. He/she probably just did the token effort in talking to you to keep the peace between the cops and the TSA.

No, it's the truth. By the same line, it's not wrong to call politicians stupid either. They ARE stupid. You want me to call them smart? :rolleyes:

You have to call a stupid person stupid. Otherwise, they would never know their place.

How can it be wrong to state the truth?

Then my question is why do they still work there ? I can not for the life of me understand why the "few" good ones stay. I have to work around these people 5days per week & ride the employee bus with them. For the most part the way these people act just on the bus is just way over the top. Time permitting I'll wait on another bus in hopes of not being around them:mad:

It would be wrong to not call them idiots. I don't care about wanting to hold on to a cushy job. I'm sure there were peope in Hitler's regime who felt the same way.

yup

and yup again

and not to forget our very own MKEbound and the original kip hawley is an idiot freedom baggie

:D

From Dave Barry's "How to Win an Argument:"

Except in this case, the OP was completely correct, so it would need to be the TSA or the LEO using the Hitler argument.

OP can you explain exactly why you called the screeners idiots? All you said is that you felt frustrated.

Even if most of the flying public didn't agree with that statement, the OP has every right to say it.

All your points are reasonable but don't really apply to this discussion. The OP was asking if they had the right to call the TSA idiots, not whether they are idiots.

Mike

DEN, huh? At least one of them is a Gun Toting Idiot™, which is like getting an oak leaf cluster for the tin badge.

Do you work at a fairly large, busy airport like a FLL, MIA, TPA, etc or one of the smaller airports?, what is your idea or definition of "many tsa people"

I have friends who are airline employees, they work in EWR, ATL, MSP, ORD all very busy airports with many flights a day, and their positions require them to have frequent contact with TSA every day of the week, from the screeners all the way up to the TSA director for the airport and some of the higher ups in D.C.

EVERYONE of them I have talked to over the last several weeks would disagree with your statement "90 percent are not idiots", and say the large majority, ESP the screeners are idiots.

Yes, as you point out its the "DC idiots that make the rules", but in many cases the screeners dont have to "endorse" the rules, they must "interpet" them, and in this area, I believe, the screeners are idiots.

Two prime examples of idiot screeners lack of common sense in interpeting rules,

1. A screener in LAX who forcibly took away a 10yr old childs G.I Joe doll because G.I. Joe had a small, plastic toy pistol and the screener said "replicas of weapons are not allowed" :rolleyes: . The GI Joe figure measured about 7inches tall, the "replica weapon" was molded into the dolls hands.

2. This one I experienced myself at IAH about 6months ago, go thru security, screener said I need to inspect your carryon, inspects carryon, finds nothing, and then berates me in a very loud, rude way because of what??...my 1 quart bag that contained my toothpaste, shaving cream was not zipped up all the way, yea I sure felt safer knowing he was on the job:mad: .

I have many other examples I would be glad to share, either experienced myself, witnessed or related to me by coworkers, or airline employee friends.

As for the part of your post that states "they make more money than most airline employees", "have better vacation", I presume that would be any airline employee with less than 10yrs of seniority, i.e, gate agents, ramp agents, ticket counter agts, baggage agts.

Most of the airline employee friends I know hold one of the positions noted above, have seniority ranging from 14yrs to 38yrs, they work for DL, WN, CO, AS, and they all have a much higher salary and vacation time than any screener they deal with has. I dont know about the health care or retirement part of your post.

One thing I certainly agree with you on is, I too thought the new administration would have done more by now as it relates to getting rid of the some of the garbage that we know as TSA. I am very disapointed that they have not.

My apoligies for getting slightly off the topic of the op.

The OP probably had reasonable suspicion that the screeners were idiots. The screeners confirmed that suspicion when they called an LEO to investigate the OP's use of the word "idiots" at the checkpoint (something even the idiots in charge of the TSA have yet to explicitly prohibit).

I'd say the OP's spidey sense was dead on that day.

As an aside, then a worthless LEO "lectured" the OP and asserted that the OP could not call them idiots. Hat trick.

You could consider filing a complaint against the LEO (if you have time and date and know which of the two big screening areas you used, there was probably only one officer on duty.)

Denver has an independent monitor for the police department -- info here:
http://www.denvergov.org/Default.asp...vergov.org/OIM

I've been a cop for 20 + years. I've been called a helluva lot worse. Now if a TSO called me over to complain that someone had called them an idiot, I would probably try to calm both parties down and send them on their separate ways.

I was given a novelty key chain more than 5 years ago. It has an expended bullet and like the toy GI Joe with the little gun, it is totally useless. The one TSA told me that I couldn't fly with it and they were going to confiscate it. I told them thats fine...I dont care (at this point, I just wanted to get through screening and catch my flight). He told me not to yell at him. At no point did I raise my voice at all. He went on that I can't fly with the key chain. I told him that I have flown around the world with the same key chain in my bag and never had any issues before then. Ironically, I went through the same screening point at DEN twice in the previous 3 weeks and no one ever said anything. When I told him that, he said that wasn't possible..someone would have caught it during screening. That is when I said "that's because you all are a bunch of idiots." That is when the LEO was called over. As for the LEO and his lecture, he did ask for my ID. He did not write anything down but did tell me that he could have called my employer and reported that I had an incident at the airport. "Just this once, I will cut you some slack and let you go."

To which my response would have been, "Please go right ahead. Here is my cell phone."

You dealt with 2 idiots that day.

We had to do that once for a NASA guy that kept giving us a hard time back when we first started. His supervisor told us that the situation would be taken care of. Ever since then, he always looks like he's about to blow his top when he comes through the checkpoint, but he doesn't give us a hard time anymore. From the time he steps in to the time he leaves, his face is red, he looks like he's got a vein bulging in his forehead, and he never replies to anything.

Just curious, where is the written TSA policy that required you to call this man's employer?

And what exactly constitutes a "hard time" that falls short of interfering with the screening process, but is severe enough to warrant your meting out punishment outside the legal system?

I'm surprised this guy didn't sue for slander.

IMO, it's cool to call me, as a LEO, whatever you want, but don't be a hypocrite and get all high and mighty if I give you the same back in return. :D

I would have been ROTFLMFAO. I'm self-employed.:p

Of course, there's a whole thread of people up in arms demanding a screener be fired for telling a passenger to "don't go away mad, just go away. "

Can a TSO call a passenger an idiot and it be okay, if the passenger has demonstrated they are, in fact, an idiot? Or is that only allowed from passengers?