That children are now being conditioned to allow strangers to shove hands down their pants, that young women are subjected to genital inspections before being allowed to pursue their careers, that innocent people are adopting poses of humiliation and surrender in response to barked commands.
I'm not a big fan of the TSA, but whoever wrote this is living in a different version of the U.S. than I am. Statements like these are very dangerous because they sensationalize the topic to a point where most people will easily dismiss the author. This gives the opposing side exactly the ammunition they need - they can now dismiss the author, and, unfortunately, all TSA opponents by association.
The TSA might be a waste of resources and a step in the direction of a slippery slope of loss of freedom, but that's all it is. Wrapping it in some sort of unskillful pedophilia scare tactic doesn't do anyone any good.
In SFO, I haven't seen any of this and security seems pretty much unchanged, but recently going through San Diego was a completely different experience. There they were searching passengers and using full body scanners on children. I overheard a mom telling her kids, "just do what they tell you" waiting in line to be searched, and being a dad, was immediately sick to my stomach thinking of what these kids were learning. If you don't have children you have no idea that simple statements like that can become rules in a child's brain; rules that are likely to get applied out of context.
Just curious, how would you answer a 3-6 year old child as to why it is ok for a uniformed stranger to be touching them?
I agree to the extent that it's a misrepresentation of what is actually going on. It is not, however, a misrepresentation of what the regulations and laws regarding the TSA allow. The fact that they're not doing it, even though it's well within their powers, is simply a political calculation not an actual check on the power.
Thanks for the link. I now understand what prompted you to write what you did. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I now understand your view. I won't comment further, as I think our worlds are too divergent to change either of our though processes via online discussion.
I'm not a big fan of the TSA, but whoever wrote this is living in a different version of the U.S. than I am. Statements like these are very dangerous because they sensationalize the topic to a point where most people will easily dismiss the author. This gives the opposing side exactly the ammunition they need - they can now dismiss the author, and, unfortunately, all TSA opponents by association.
The TSA might be a waste of resources and a step in the direction of a slippery slope of loss of freedom, but that's all it is. Wrapping it in some sort of unskillful pedophilia scare tactic doesn't do anyone any good.