It's the TSA. Get Over It.

So recently I've been reading a lot of threads created regarding the horrible misconduct of the TSA, along with some of the horror stories of young children being "molested", old people urinating themselves, and just pure hatred towards their policies.

Let me ask you something. Have you been programmed? It's a question you should be asking yourself when you wake up in the morning everyday, that is, if you are a TRUE conspiracy theorist.

Here is a list of a recent TSA threads:
TSA: Travelers Who Refuse Scanning Can't Leave, Will Be Fined
[Important] TSA and Venereal Disease and YOU!
TSA gropes young boy's testicles while he is strip searched in front of everyone
TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine
TSA chief says no change in screening policy

Browsing some of these TSA threads has me wondering why any of you really care?

There are alternate methods of transportation and so many of them:

1. Renting an Automobile / RV / Motorcycle
   
2. Purchasing a Bus Ticket
   
3. Purchasing a Train Ticket
   
4. Purchasing a Boat Ticket
   

I always believed that one of the real burdens of conspiracy theory research was remaining off the grid anyways.

Enter the Program

What a lot of you don't understand is that flying has been programmed into so many minds already as the ONLY way to travel! Anyone who watches a decent amount of TV sees atleast one footage of a flying airplane, or a flight taking off, or landing, or one skyline with a plane in decent view. Anyone who browses a commercial website atleast a few times a day will see an ad or article regarding cheap flights or a story about a flight. You see commercials almost everyday about a fella who just happens to have major points saved up on his credit card who uses them to do what? FLY!!! Almost every modern day action movie has atleast one jet scene in it, whether it be an F-22 or 757. It's subliminally programmed into our minds that FLYING is the only cool way to go.

TPTB know this and use it to their advantage. It's all about information collection, analysis, and learning new methods of control. Just think about how they know what every inch of a body-scanned looks like and believe me, if you think the information isn't being saved, you've got another thing coming. The TSA has already been attacked on multiple scales for having data-saving technology in these machines, but they always seem to be missing the "medium" only used during testing or so they say.

My Overall Point

We KNOW the TSA is screwed up. Does that mean we should be posting a new article everytime some youngster gets his privates touched? Does it mean we should state everytime some old guy is upset about his experience in the search? This is information the world already knows, otherwise you wouldn't have a source to post it from. We are supposed to be an underground group of people who discover things that haven't already been discovered because they've been COVERED UP... the TSA doesn't need COVERING, it's Government Backed, it's full-proof. If it ever does fall, it will return as something with a new acronym, so beef up and move onto things of more interest, things we don't already KNOW.

Shikamaru, One of my favorite characters... I just think it's troublesome for them to be so touchy on a person's body. You have a point though.

Yeah, because I really want to spend 5 days of my 7 day vacation driving to visit my family halfway across the country.

In the Winter.

Alone.

Yes, I'm so ridiculous because I purchased these non-refundable tickets BEFORE the TSA announced their policy changes.

You are right, I should just lose the money on the tickets, spend additional money on gas, and blow almost my entire vacation on driving alone in the Winter. That sounds perfectly reasonable.

Hello there. I personally am not from the US but I can sympathise with those needing to use air travel regularly, and I do not agree with the estimation that there are other forms of travel get used to it. This is an incredibly counterproductive attitude to have.

I have to fly if I want to see my family and vice versa. A boat is out of my price range, so I have to use budget airlines. There are no trains over to Ireland or taxi services, land bridges etc. You could use the lame argument that I could have stayed at home and not moved. But this does not take into educational, or vocational migration, which in the current economic circumstances is unfortunately essential. I also believe that your mind expands and grows the more you travel.

Luckily for me the UK airport security measures are currently not as ridiculous as the TSA are enforcing. But it appears to be only a matter of time. After all there are now invasive scanners in Manchester and Heathrow airports.

It is particularly likely considering there are plenty of people in the US who seem to be OK with these security measures. This actually weakens the stance here as well. It is not just about America, a country which used to be considered a global symbol of freedom.

If all airport users were against these measures, regardless of nationality we would stand in a better position to abolish them. But as apathetic individuals like yourself will almost certainly be the majority, like I said it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world is exposed.

I think people should stop crying about the TSA, its pathetic.

Either that, or dont complain when an aircraft gets blown up. You cant have both!

Originally posted by harrytuttle
Yeah, because I really want to spend 5 days of my 7 day vacation driving to visit my family halfway across the country.

In the Winter.

Alone.

Yes, I'm so ridiculous because I purchased these non-refundable tickets BEFORE the TSA announced their policy changes.

You are right, I should just lose the money on the tickets, spend additional money on gas, and blow almost my entire vacation on driving alone in the Winter. That sounds perfectly reasonable.

Thanks for replying to questions I didn't even ask. I'm not telling you to do any of these things. What I am saying is that, hey if this is the only reasonable method for you, deal with the consequences of giving your government too much control. It is WE the people who ultimately determine the outcome of any piece of land on this planet. Whether by brute force or. FAIR voting system. If you want to deal with the TSA, then deal with he outcome. Don't complAin about t. You had a choice.

And this too shall pass...

One of the fun parts of being on ATS is that every so often a subject comes along, spawns 10,000 hyperbolic threads, and then fades away, again, after a few weeks into such a level of obscurity that one can scarcely even remember what the actual subject was. The knee jerk reaction of today is the unsearched thread subject of tomorrow.

Ground Zero Mosque anyone...

~Heff

Originally posted by ShikamaruThere are alternate methods of transportation and so many of them:

1. Renting an Automobile / RV / Motorcycle
   
2. Purchasing a Bus Ticket
   
3. Purchasing a Train Ticket
   
4. Purchasing a Boat Ticket
   

I always believed that one of the real burdens of conspiracy theory research was remaining off the grid anyways.

Don't worry. Homeland security will no doubt be expanded to include all-encompassing checks on these other modes of transport soon enough.

Can't have passengers on boats bringing explosives into harbours and busses, trains, trucks and cars entering heavily populated areas are a real terror threat.

Besides, think of the jobs it would create to have TSA roadblocks on every highway and dirt road in America! Woot.

reply to post by Shikamaru


Pretty naive post honestly. Presuming that because the information is "well known" its not obsolete and irrelevant. Pretty sure Slavery was well known and common for many years, imagine if it was ignored because its well-known and no one "complained" or brought up issues around it?

The squeaky wheel gets the geese or gets changed, sometimes you have to keep bringing atrocities to the forefront of peoples attention for them to finally step up to the plate and do something about it. Otherwise it will fall to the wayside as a normal occurrence and part of "life". When in reality if people just stood up for themselves and learned how to just say "NO" that wouldn't have to be accepted as a "part of life".

Air travel is the most practical form of travel because its the least time consuming. Especially when we live in such a fast-paced world where getting 2 weeks off for vacation to visit friends and family or whatever is tough enough as it is, let alone using a week of it just traveling to your destination, you would have to turn back around and get back to the "JOB" before you could even enjoy yourself, hence it NOT BEING PRACTICAL.

And as far as just letting this "issue" go and accepting it for what it is, do you really think it will stop with airlines? Are you naive enough to think that if everyone just started taking commercial buses everywhere that eventually this newly "accepted" norm wouldn't be adopted for ALL transportation?

You give an inch, and they will take a mile.

Freedoms are being stripped of people and now is not the time to just "let things go" and "move on" to the next atrocity that could of been avoided initially if people had the spine to stand up to BS...

I have worked in a correctional setting for the past 5 years and it is absolutely amazing to see the parallels being drawn between prison management and civil/societal management.

For example, in prison they have this thing called "controlled movement" where there is this perception of free movement throughout the "prison grounds" when in reality every prisoner is being watched and directed with locked and unlocked doors. A common practice to rout masses of inmates to a location without having to tell them is what we referred to as "path of least resistance". We would set up "random pat down areas" where we didn't like STG's (gangs) to hang out. We never had to tell them where to go or what to do we just let them chose their own path that was easily predictable because they always chose the path of least resistance.

I see this same concept used all over the world ever day to move people around and create order. The line between between Prison function, and real life is getting thinner and thinner. The inmates at least know they are incarcerated, people are completely clueless to this though, its that illusion they give you.

You do realize the government has the power to effectively shut down transportation on any significant level to the majority of the populace as they see fit?

Sorry for the rambling rant there at the end but things like this TSA issue need to be addressed and they needs to be constantly brought attention to until ultimately they are fixed, and I'm not talking about a compromise here where the government comes up with a "solution" that is also not acceptable but people say "ok" because at least it will change the current problem. Like "chipping" people with all their info to expedite travel and searching procedures.

I'm travelling to Florida to stay with my mother outlaw over christmas and I'm considering showing up to the airport in my boxers and flip flops. This way, I don't need a pat down, I don't need to take off my shoes and, I'm guessing, nobody, in their right mind, will want to pat me down.

this is one of those increasingly more common conundrums we face in society. We want to be safe, we want to fly like we did 20 years ago, with no fear of an attack etc but we also want to be able to board the plane without having to remove our shoes, get groped, turn on our laptops etc.

we can't have it both ways and, if we're safer as a result of pat downs and nudie cams, so be it.

if the TSA wants to photograph my junk and then grab it to confirm that what little junk I have is mine all mine, and, in return, my flight arrives in Florida 3 hours late and intact, so be it.

I just need to remember to wear clean drawers.

no, wait, no drawers. let em have their fun.

Originally posted by Pryde87
I think people should stop crying about the TSA, its pathetic.

Either that, or dont complain when an aircraft gets blown up. You cant have both!

Well, think about it. If the TSA is doing this to prevent "terrorists" from blowing up an aircraft, then why stop at airports? Why not just do this to EVERY SINGLE PERSON who comes across our borders. Why not have checkpoints at every state line full body screening every single person in every single vehicle. Why not have X-Ray scanners for every car that travels the roadways?

Where does it end? Shouldn't we be screening only those who are the most likely to be terrorists instead of 80 year old grandmas and 3 year old toddlers? It's absolutely ridiculous.

I mean, I can walk down the street every day and tell you who the neighborhood drug dealers are. Which apartment complexes are riddled with drugs, yet the cops don't ever arrest any of them.

Yet they are so scared of someone blowing up a damn plane...please. It's not hard to figure out. Terrorists are the enemy, but who are the "terrorists". We know where every mosque is, there are watch lists, they know who might be capable of such things. But they do nothing about it, rather they make every law-abiding citizen suffer because some jerk stuffed a failed bomb in his underwear....

...but where's "Homeland Security" when every day I walk down the street that's overtaken by drug dealers, hookers, and gangs??? Will they begin a Gestapo-like tactic of searching every single home to make sure that every single American is compliant with the law? Cause I guarantee you, if they did...just about everyone i've ever met would go to jail.

Welcome to Nazi America.

Originally posted by Pryde87
I think people should stop crying about the TSA, its pathetic.

Either that, or dont complain when an aircraft gets blown up. You cant have both!

Yup, you are correct. You cannot have both. I vote for giving citizens their freedoms back and risking the 1 flight incident due to militant loonies every 3-5 years.

As for the OP.. simply put, I cannot go to a client's office in NYC from Dallas by car. Just cannot work from a business point of view. And there are no trains that run there from Dallas. and Bus is worse than a car from the time and money point of view. That leaves flying.

Originally posted by AutOmatIc
Shouldn't we be screening only those who are the most likely to be terrorists instead of 80 year old grandmas and 3 year old toddlers? It's absolutely ridiculous.

then the "terrorists" would sue the TSA for racial profiling.

you have to do this in a manner that encompasses all passengers. For fairness and to ensure that those crafty terrorists don't use women, children, the elderly etc.

Originally posted by Crakeur

Originally posted by AutOmatIc
Shouldn't we be screening only those who are the most likely to be terrorists instead of 80 year old grandmas and 3 year old toddlers? It's absolutely ridiculous.

then the "terrorists" would sue the TSA for racial profiling.

you have to do this in a manner that encompasses all passengers. For fairness and to ensure that those crafty terrorists don't use women, children, the elderly etc.

How? How could they sue for racial profiling? I mean, don't we classify everything by race, age, and sex? Check this out:

www.fbi.gov...

And when you fill out any kind of paperwork for the government you are required to check the appropriate "race" box. We are sorted by race, age, and sex...among other things. So no, I do not believe it would be racial profiling to sort out the most likely candidates first, considering that our armies are occupying middle eastern lands, which are predominantly Muslim. So why not profile? It's not like a White Christian 80 year old grandmother who works at Wal-Mart, goes to church regularly and has a clean police record will blow up an airplane, as opposed to the Muslim middle aged man who recently immigrated here from Afghanistan and went to flight school. We really need to use our brains here.

Originally posted by Crakeur
you have to do this in a manner that encompasses all passengers. For fairness and to ensure that those crafty terrorists don't use women, children, the elderly etc.

Passengers, smasshengers. They should be checking every vehicle on all the roads too. Every little burg and city should feel safer knowing that no car or truck bombs are headed into their suburbs or town centers. Even somebody driving to the nearest Walmart is a threat to everyone shopping there. Stop them. Search the car. Grope the kids. For the love of all that's holy... keep things safe!

Stop every vehicle. Search every passenger in ALL modes of transport. Make the TSA bigger than the combined police forces. Pull all troops out of foreign lands and use them to help get the population of America under control.

(especially teenagers and the elderly)

reply to post by AutOmatIc

Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. make a traffic stop or arrest). The practice is controversial and widely considered inappropriate and illegal.

from:
en.wikipedia.org...

I don't know if it is, actually, illegal, for law enforcement to do it but it can be deemed harrassment, as well as discrimination and you can be sued for harrassment and discrimination. The same organizations and rights groups that always crawl out of the woodwork will do so, creating all kinds of issues for the TSA who are, really, just trying to keep the flights safe.

I'm not saying I want some dude's hands in my pants (not midweek at least) and I certainly don't want to have someone pat down my daughter. I also agree that the odds are pretty good that my 8 year old daughter isn't a terrorist but I fully understand the damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario and all I want is to get on a plane that will land at the airport I wanted it to land at, within a reasonable amount of time, without incident.

if this means suffering a scan or a pat down, so be it.

Seriously, is there anyone who would rather do a quick stop in the empire state building over a pat down?

reply to post by Shikamaru


Has the term "sheeple" ever crossed your mind? Baaaaaaaa to you.
2nd.

reply to post by Crakeur


Yo! *raising hand*

I would much rather take the risk of having to fight off a terrorist and possibly losing than to have an intensive and intrusive search every time I try to get on a plane.

reply to post by rogerstigers


which is why there should be two sets of planes. one for those of us who don't mind, and one for those that do.

reply to post by Crakeur


heh.. that would be an interesting social experiment. See which one does better and if there is a differance in the level of incidents that end in fatalities.