by Yizuman 42 Replies latest social current
I don't like the scanner thing either, so I guess I would take the pat-down thing instead.
I don't understand this guy's freak-out.
If you want to get on a plane, you may have to prove that you have no bombs or weapons. A random sample of flyers are picked to be scanned or have the pat-down. This seems reasonable to me.
Big deal. Flying is not a right.
And with all the b*tching and moaning about the TSA agents, what do you think happens to them if a bomb etc. gets through?
I'm with Berengaria. If you don't like it, walk to wherevever you're going.
I suppose I'm going to get lumped in wih Juan Williams, but I wouldn't want to get on a plane with somebody that balked at the security checks.
lisaBObeesa....I've had a few pat-downs from TSA personnel in the past and they were benign. But this controversy concerns the new enhanced pat down procedures implemented just in the past month:
The Transportation Security Administration implemented what it calls "enhanced" pat-down procedures at airport checkpoints nationwide Oct. 29.
In the new pat-downs, officers use open hands "and fingers" -- instead of the backs of their hands -- "to go over one's body, including the genital area and breasts," according to a statement by a pilot group upset by the procedure.
Travelers get the new pat-down if they refuse to go through an advanced-imaging technology scanner.
So exactly what is involved in the new pat-down? The TSA is not saying.
"We would not describe the pat-down in any detail for security reasons," said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis.
http://staugustine.com/national-news/2010-11-14/new-tsa-pat-downs-rile-pilots-unnerve-passengers
There are many women who would have a problem with this. There are rape and sexual abuse survivors with PTSD who likely would have an issue with such touching. And parents upset to see their children touched in their private areas. What is interesting about the OP is that in some places TSA agents are using coersion to make people who don't want to the pat-downs to be subjected to them. The TSA says that if you decline the pat-down or the scanner, you will not go through security and will not be allowed to travel. But this man was told that if he left the airport without subjecting himself to the procedures, he may face a civil lawsuit and potential $10,000 fine.
Berengaria and JeffT....Don't worry, you'll be protected from the rape survivor who balks at having her genitals handled, but you might want to worry about the terrorist who conceals plastic explosives in his rectum. That's how a real terrorist who wants to sneak it past security would do. After all, that's what drug mules often do, and they're only given body cavity searches with probable cause. And we know that Al Qaeda bombers are doing this very thing. So why isn't the TSA also doing random body cavity searches? These new enhanced pat-downs are a reaction to the "underwear" bomber, after all. Is the slippery slope going to keep going or are we all going to have to expect to get our anuses and vaginas randomly searched when we go to the airport? Where do we draw the line? Many people feel that these new procedures cross the line. But there should be no line drawn when it comes to passenger safety, right? So that should mean that if you have a problem of having a TSA agent violate your anus or genitals, don't fly! There are plenty of alternatives, I'm sure, for travelling between New York and London on business. Just take the bus, train, or walk. Or maybe White Star Line is still around as an alternative.
The simple fact is that the TSA has chosen the most humiliating way to screen passengers. Alternatives to the grope-down and naked body scanners include: bomb-sniffing canines, automated target recognition scanners (which do not produce an image of the body but which the TSA has chosen not to use), explosive trace detection systems (which do not humilate the passenger), etc. Some of these are superior to the privacy-invasive systems the TSA is now using (an "enhanced pat-down" would not find explosives hidden in body cavities but an explosive trace detector, whether canine or mechanical, has a much better chance of doing so).
How come almost all of your threads are taken directly and verbatim from FARK.com and you never give them or the original source the credit that they deserve? And the story is not about your personal experience, so it may be nice to state that it is another person who is going through this, so please give credit where credit is due.
Regarding the TSA, they are going way overboard, and until many more people try to stick up for their own rights, it will only get worse.
Meanwhile, they are letting bombs be shipped as freight all ovet the world!
I agree with the TSA's procedures but where I have a problem is when the they are going to force him to the pat down. Come on, his items went through xray and he a metal detector. The passenger was calm and kudos to him for recording it. I wonder if the TSA will sue him for recording, there are signs all over at the security screening that no one is to photograph/record.
I doubt that it is the terrorist they are worried about. They would have ways to plant bombs that a "pat down search couldn't detect.
I think it is the nut that want's to "make a name for themselves". I also don't think in this day and age they would any longer tape a bomb to their body. (Unless they were really nutty).
So going to extremes with a body search isn't going to be any help in my opinion.
If someone wants to blow up something, they will find a undetectable way.
Please note I have NEVER flown in a plane.
Most of the planes are on their last leg anyway...
My daughter used to be a stewardess and I was so glad when she finally quit!
Everyone thought it was so neat but it isn't. It is really just a glorified waitress job. They used to serve meals when she worked.
Snoozy, who refuses any kind of X Ray unless absolutely necessary!
That's it....
I am DRIVING from Colorado to North Carolina for Xmas, next year....
At least, that way, I'll end up with a car with steel-studded snow tires in the North Carolina mountains....
I don't like black ice... and yeah, I know... Steel-studs don't do much on black ice, but they're better than nothing...
Zid
[Oh, and there's a comment on Metatron's thread about people becoming addicted to 'twittering/tweeting/texting', regarding excessive viewing of porn rendering men impotent... Can you just imagine what it would be like, looking at all those flabby, out-of-shape bodies (and I'm one of them, by the way...), and THEN trying to get excited about sex???
Pity the poor guys running the x-ray machines... ]
There are many women who would have a problem with this. There are rape and sexual abuse survivors with PTSD who likely would have an issue with such touching. And parents upset to see their children touched in their private areas. What is interesting about the OP is that in some places TSA agents are using coersion to make people who don't want to the pat-downs to be subjected to them. The TSA says that if you decline the pat-down or the scanner, you will not go through security and will not be allowed to travel. But this man was told that if he left the airport without subjecting himself to the procedures, he may face a civil lawsuit and potential $10,000 fine.
Berengaria and JeffT....Don't worry, you'll be protected from the rape survivor who balks at having her genitals handled, but you might want to worry about the terrorist who conceals plastic explosives in his rectum. That's how a real terrorist who wants to sneak it past security would do. After all, that's what drug mules often do, and they're only given body cavity searches with probable cause. And we know that Al Qaeda bombers are doing this very thing. So why isn't the TSA also doing random body cavity searches? These new enhanced pat-downs are a reaction to the "underwear" bomber, after all. Is the slippery slope going to keep going or are we all going to have to expect to get our anuses and vaginas randomly searched when we go to the airport? Where do we draw the line? Many people feel that these new procedures cross the line. But there should be no line drawn when it comes to passenger safety, right? So that should mean that if you have a problem of having a TSA agent violate your anus or genitals, don't fly! There are plenty of alternatives, I'm sure, for travelling between New York and London on business. Just take the bus, train, or walk. Or maybe White Star Line is still around as an alternative.
The simple fact is that the TSA has chosen the most humiliating way to screen passengers.
------------ sammieswife
