Maybe you’ve heard the rumor that the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA are making lists of dissidents who oppose TSA policy. The rumors come from some pretty fringy sources (Canada Free Press and a survivalist site, Freeze Dried Food). I wouldn’t put this past the DHS, but if there’s any truth to it, they’re at least not very efficient. A few moments ago, I found myself inadvertently in the Rapiscan line at the Columbus airport. I stepped to the side, gave the officer a sunny smile, and walked through the old metal detector as if I belonged there.
So either the DHS isn’t wise to me, or they just can’t be bothered with someone who blogs under the name of a cherry tomato.
The older gent behind me in line took the same path. We’d chatted while waiting and agreed that we opposed the body scanners on principle. I suspect that there’s an awful lot of quiet opposition like his. He would have gone through the scanner if pressed, but he didn’t like it one bit. We had a nice time grousing about taking our shoes off, too.
The TSA did get to me earlier today. I lost my last hour of sleep to a freaky dream where I was first placed inside a chamber that irradiated me, then informed that I couldn’t board because my body temperature was elevated. Oooh, biological warfare – we’ve finally got a defense. Then I snuck into another line, hoping to still pass. There, my iris was measured. At the end of the exam, I got a poof! of air into my eye, just like eye doctors used to use. I recoiled, and was again pronounced “suspicious.” During all of this, my luggage kept fading in and out of sight, until finally my laptop disappeared. I woke up with my heart pounding.
Paranoid, much? And if yes – is it me, or my country, who’s losing it?
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
Sungold, it’s not you; it’s your country.
As for lists, who knows? If Nixon was able to do it, why not DHS? I suppose that’s an argument for not writing under one’s real name, but you can see which side I’m on in that regard. I think it’s important to speak, and speak publicly. If that’s not American, I don’t know what is.
My understanding is that TSA’s plan is not to have EVERY passenger go through the Rapiscan, but just 1/x, where x is a random number (perhaps related to how busy the airport is? Just my theory).
On our recent flight out of SFO (Thanksgiving weekend, no less) I saw no sign of the scanners, though I had heard they were installed at SFO. To be fair, I’m not sure I’d recognize one even it were right in front of me. More telling, I saw only one person (out of HUNDREDS of passengers) getting a grope-down. The rest of us proceeded as per the old usual, through the Xray machines.
Travel safe, my friend.
krs,
Yes, and that’s also how the TSA is coercing compliance: “Not everyone’s going to have to go through the scanners, and not everyone’s going to be groped — only a few here and there — chosen by us at whim.”
So people can continue to say, “oh, well, as long as it’s not me who’s getting it!” I’ve already heard this, from friends, even from journalists. The sentiment is that it’s okay if OTHER people get abused, as long as most people don’t. What a noxious, indefensible position. Do we really need to look at history to understand why this is so dangerous?
As for Thanksgiving weekend, as has been abundantly reported — and as was reported even BEFORE the Thanksgiving rush, by reputable sources such as National Geographic’s Christopher Elliott — many scanners were simply turned off, and where they were operating, thousands of people were simply ushered through the metal detectors. The TSA didn’t want a public relations disaster on its hands. So they beat the Opt-Outers at their own game. It was masterfully done.
And it’s further proof — as if further proof were needed — that the scanners are a sham, that the whole shoe-removing, shampoo-discarding, belt-dropping, boob-feeling security theater is a sham — it’s not about security, it’s about control. If the scanners are so essential, then why isn’t every single person — 2 million air travelers a day — being put through them? Because they’re bullsh*t. Because they’re a billion-dollar boondoggle. And because their only function is to condition a populace to ever-more-coercive measures.
It’s been a said a hundred times but I’ll say it again: we are the frog in the slowly heating pot.
I was a bit tongue-in-cheek in this post. Clearly tomato-and-cat themed blogs are not the highest priority of DHS computer geeks while our Greatest Nation in the World is UNDER ATTACK by ZOMG the terrorists of Wikileaks!
I did think there was a reasonable chance of extra screening because I was traveling alone, I looked shifty after my paranoid dreams, and hey, who wouldn’t want to see my tits?
I’ve arrived safe and sound in Placerville, KRS. Sure wish I could slip down to the Bay for a visit, but it’s been a good – and very intense – week. I’m so glad it worked out last month, even if we moderated our debauchery.
Lisa: Ribbit. Ribbit.