Don't touch my junk
 

Okay, I know there are a lot of air travel savvy TFPers around here, so what do you think about the new security measures by the Transportation Security Administration? I won't quote an article because unless you've been trapped in a mine for 38 days you have been blasted by these reports everytime you go online just as I have. Have you been through the image screening machines? Do you opt out and go for the enhanced pat-down? If so, is the enhanced pat-down really that invasive? Personally, I want to get through an airport as quickly as possible, so I would go through the image screening machine and be on my way. But I've been reading about unpleasant experiences for some travelers and I feel for these people with unique circumstances who have had real issues. For those of you who travel often or know someone who does, what is it really like out there?

I'm looking forward to getting my nuts fondled by a minimum wage employee.

Gonna fight the man and avoid the scanner.

It is fucking ridiculous.

I went through security at O'Hare recently, and got pulled out for a "random screening pat-down." You would think that the bigass Jewy-looking sonofabitch with Hebrew on his t-shirt and a Star of David earring would not be the guy who apparently rings terrorist bells for TSA employees...but apparently you would be wrong.

Let me just say that I have had dates that didn't get as far with me as that TSA guy got. Nobody has ever touched me in those places without buying me dinner first, or at least a drink.

I actually had to warn the guy, "Hey, those are not explosives, and they are fragile!"

I admit that I find it a little ironic that we teach our kindergarteners and first-graders that if an adult does that to you, it's "bad touch," and you should run and tell your parents or a policeman; but now, apparently, if the TSA does it to you, you got nobody to run and tell about the bad touch, because apparently it's been sanctioned by Congress or Jesus or some fuck....

I am really pretty sure that if we've gotten to the point where we think national security's going to improve by pulling random travelers out of line in the airport and molesting them in public, we are in trouble. And I'm not even saying how much more so that's true when our travel cops are profiling rabbis to yank over and gate-rape them.... Seriously, you woulda thought that bastard was checking my circumcision scar....

Somewhere inside me, I truly believe that if, today, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were told that national security depended on their willingness to let some jamoke in a polyester uniform tug on their joystick and shoot craps with their nads for dice, they would cordially invite the person who told them so to take a flying fuck at a rolling tankard of nut-brown ale.

/rant

I have been "randomly" pulled for EVERY search I have ever had the grace of being in the same vicinity as.

I'll go with the x-ray thinga-majig. I'm more gung-ho about security than your average jesus freak. If there is a 0.000000000000000000000000000001% chance you want to blow yourself up so you can be united with your deserving 72 virgins, then I'm going to insist you be searched. I don't mind practicing what I preach and I'm no technophobe. That and I have never had a problem flashing random strangers so by all means, broadcast pictures of my penis to the internet.

i havent gone through the screening machine yet, and im unsure if i will.

ive got to weigh up whether id rather have my testicles fondled vs having my balls scanned in a machine.

either way its not enticing to me and id rather just avoid those airports altogether. The issue is that the US will lose valuable tourism dollars in an economy already suffering. Ive thought twice about coming to the states for these reasons, even though ive got nothing to hide.

ive travelled to nearly every continent, and ive travelled extensively in the middle east and parts of africa, and im yet to be subjected to such gross violations of my personal self that id get if i did fly to the states. it really would make me weigh up my options about whether i should be there or not.

I think the US needs to re-look at its aggresive border protection formula before the regular joe decides its not worth spending his hard earned money in a place where he's not welcome.

i read about some guy the otehr day that didnt want to be subjected to the search so he stripped down to his undies, and got arrested in the process.

either way, its a loss-loss to the USA if they go down this road.

Whether it is effective notwithstanding, I have a hard time getting all worked up over this issue. I'm not particularly bothered by the prospect of the scanners or the pat-downs.

Agreed. A big fuzzy placebo blanket of security and some high school graduate taking a picture of your tits is nothing to be worried about.

Apathy is the slow death of freedom.

should i look forward to seeing a picture of your balls in my inbox tomorrow morning then?

..you too xeryxs.

A co-worker of mine travels fairly frequently. She says the security patdown has gotten worse in the past year. She got the patdown treatment last week.

I fly maybe once or twice a year. If I have to travel for work, I'd do the scan if I had to. I do make it a point to make sure I have no metal on my person when I go thru the metal detector, so maybe that gets me out of the scan.

If I decide to go somewhere for vacation, I might decide to go somewhere that doesn't involve flying.

Nobody gets to grope me besides my wife :D

The new procedures are just more feel good nonsense. As far as I know, there is no security in the airport anywhere before the TSA checkpoint. So I've written to all my Congressmen and to Obama stating the TSA needs to fix their procedures.

Oh, I'm apathetic?

Rather, I think I'm not apt to jump on board the latest 'viral' issue of the moment.

And I said, 'whether it's effective notwithstanding.' Which means if it isn't effective that's one thing. Getting my panties in a bind over the scannings or the pat downs themselves, for me, is a waste of time.

I thought that the TSA was excessive before these new steps. I hope the backlash, which is now making front-page news, causes some effect.

If I have to choose today, I'd go with the junk touching, because I'm waiting for an independent test of the radiation levels from the scanners. If it turns out that the radiation levels are acceptable, I'll go with the nudie pix in the future.

Fortunately, I have no plans to fly until May 2011.

I think all businesses should adopt this. If you wanna buy a soda at the supermarket you must do one of two things: have naked pictures taken of you or get molested by a complete stranger. Wanna buy a tank of gas? Naked pictures or molestation. Case of beer = naked pictures or molestation please!

Of course you'd still have to pay for your product of choice, but at least you'll know you're not a terrorist.

Does anyone know if you can request and get a female to inspect you if you're male?

When I first heard about the scanners, my thought: "hmm, if the data from these scanswere collected, there might be some interesting scientific studies that could be done with these huge sample sizes." Yeah, I guess that would classify me as a twisted scientist.

My father travels a lot for work, he goes from one airport to the next all over the US, in and out of a different airport every few days, if not multiple times each day. I'm more concerned with people like him and the potential long-term effects of these scans on their health. Though I'm even more concerned about pilots and flight attendants who have to cope with these measures in order to get to work each day.

Health concerns about backstatter are essentially nonsense; you get more background radiation from the sun at the altitude of flight then you do in a 1000 scans.

That said, I've hired a lawyer through my work to see just what the legal ramifications of refusing the backscatter and then refusing the patdown, and then attempting to continue through the area to the planes. It's a Fourth Amendment concern for me, that we're allowing other citizens to violate our rights against unreasonable search and seizure, especially without warrant. I've seen people advance the argument that flying is a privilege and not a right, and that airlines are free to refuse me access since they are private companies. That'd be true, if it was a private company doing these invasive scans as part of the deal. But it's not - it's a FEDERAL ORGANIZATION (e.g. the Government) violating my rights. The argument from free enterprise does not stand.

These patdowns go past the (what I already consider somewhat extreme) "Terry stop" allowed to actual officers of the law.

So far he agrees with me, that because TSA agents are not comissioned law enforcement officers they don't really have the same authority to detain or arrest. Likewise, if they tried to physically restrain me, they'd expose themselves to litigation for assault or unlawfully detaining me. If I'm not "free to go", I am detained. There have been a few cases already where people have refused both, local PD has arrived and stated that they essentially don't have the authority to arrest you either.

Worst case scenario they escort me out of the airport and fully refund my ticket (they have to fully refund). I'd really like someone to challenge the authority of the TSA - after all, none of their 'regulations' are actually laws, they are regulations decided by an unelected undersecretary. I'm not comfortable with a citizens without checks and balances deciding how federal organizations like the TSA can violate our rights. I'm not sure I'd let them 'escort me out', because it would require force on their part to physically move me. Using force to move me would be assault, and it'd only be permissible if an actual officer of the law was arresting me for a crime. What crime, I don't know.

I'm still considering (with his counsel) whether I really want to be the guinea pig. I'd hope someone with deeper pockets and more free time does it first, but I'm considering doing the above for my Christmas flight back to Colorado if things aren't changed by then.

I am uncomfortable with the entire situation, but if I had to choose, it would be the full body scanner.

Hell, if it would get me through the airport and to my plane in 10 minutes I would consent to a full body cavity search.....lol....If performed by a Medical Professional that is....That being said I will go through the scan, just makes my life easier.

I just want to get through promptly, I'm fine with radiation, pictures, or groping. If there was a strip down naked, no wait line, I'd be in it.

I had heard the former head of Homeland Security (why do I get images of goose stepping soldiers every time I write that?) Micheal Chertoff has some sort of stake in the company that manufactures the scanners.
Has anyone heard anything more on that?

but guess who's exempt from these searches

so always remember, it's not about security, it's about control.......of YOU.

I think Tully said it best in the other thread.

Another successful terrorist attack involving air travel and we'll be up in arms that we didn't do more. I just want to get through the airport quickly. Minimal radiation and a faceless picture of my dick just aren't a big deal to me.

I didn't stutter.

When is it a cool time to bring up something that exposes the increasingly retarded state of our government?

DK-style hyperbole: Is it before or after the 3rd Amendment is overrun?

Putting everybody that rides a plane is a hospital gown after a cavity search would work, too.

I'm perfectly calm. Look at me. See me being calm? I'm so calm. Hell, I get paid to be calm. And I'm not wearing any panties.

I'm simply going to opt for the crotch-grope because it slows everything down. If a large enough amount of air travelers choose to go for the grope and it slows down the system enough, TSA might just have to reexamine their dog and pony show security measures and come up with something that isn't just a feel good safety dance. That's the Will of the People in action. And you may call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Acquiesce is an ugly word.

I think this whole thing is a win for taking the train.

I looked and it doesn't go to Hawaii. :(

No, but cruise ships do.

Can a cruise ship get me there and back for $600? If so, I gotta try to refund my ticket.

...

I wonder why The Bad Guys haven't blown up a cruise ship yet. I was really hoping to get groped as I went aboard a Carnival boat.

great, but what gives you the right to determine the 'reasonableness' of others sense of privacy and dignity?

---------- Post added at 10:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 AM ----------

and what plans do you have when big sis takes these policies to trains and buses?

security theater.
it's idiocy.

Probably because they all saw Speed 2 and realized how lame that idea was. Same goes for a train--hijacking a train just doesn't work so well. See: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.

...did you just reference a friggin' Steven Seagal movie as a pop culture joke in a serious thread?



My god, marry me.

...

I probably won't surprise you that I applied for jobs at TSA, huh? They'll take anybody.

...

I'm hoping to emulate a little When Harry Met Sally diner orgasm action when I get groped. Anybody else in?

It does seem that way: Like Pizza? Maybe You Should Work For The TSA - The Consumerist

I applied as well. did they hire you?

I am motivated, outraged, vocal about a lot of issues. I reject ideas and events on an almost daily basis. So you can get off your high horse, there.

There are many things that people could care about deeply as far as I'm concerned, but none of them, apparently, quite as compelling as someone maybe, sort of seeing you virtually naked. Sorry, but that and the viral bandwagon nature of this issue annoy me. Oh boy, people care about something. woo-hoo.

If the screenings are not effective, which I think I've heard, then fine. But personally I am not terribly motivated by this issue.

I'm totally going to save this one for later.

I can't imagine having anything more to say on the matter.

What about those of you who have children and travel by air. How do you feel about your child getting a pat-down from a TSA agent? Is there an age limit for kids to avoid scanners and pat-downs? There is no way I would allow my young niece to get a pat-down. That just seems so extreme.

Children under 12 reportedly receive "modified" pat-downs.

And here's yet another example of how all this invasion of privacy is worthless (skip ahead to the 1 minute mark)...

My TSA Horror Story

+ bonus
—

The official TSA line on the controversial YouTube video allegedly showing the strip searching of a young boy by a TSA agent.

Luke Tait, who shot the video, claims in the video’s description that the boy’s father was “enraged” and pulled his son’s shirt off after becoming flustered by a prolonged pat down. The TSA says no complaints were filed.

I look forward to having someone have to fondle me. I'll just smile and nod the whole time.

I travel every week. I feel more violated when I have to pee in the Philadelphia airport. the entire bathroom is covered in mirrors that start just above my junk so basically anyone that walks in can see four of me. Don't understand why southwest won't put up privacy walls in any of their teminals either. You walk in a bathroom there and it's like your looking at a funhouse mirror of neverending cocks.

So some anonymous TSA person looking doesn't bother me. It was a bit strange when a TSA employee smiled at me afterward. I spent the next five minutes trying to figure out what that meant. That's really the only thing that bothers me about it. There's alot of people working for the TSA that don't r eally take their jobs seriously and look like they could use a good use a good internet joke at the expense of someone else to brighten their lives.

It appears, that once again, apathy has won the day.

Reports from SeaTac airport in Seattle on Opt-Out Wednesday- More reporters than protesters. 4, that's right 4, protesters showed up to hand out pamphlets.

One chip at a time, our rights, our dignity and our freedom are slowly going away. As disturbing as that is, and as disturbing as the ever growing correlation between our loss and politicians gains is, it's the incredible degree of apathy that disturbs me most. Do people really have to be in chains before they realize somethings wrong???

Fuckin' amazing.

Don't worry, it's just another viral issue. Ya know, like racism, sexism, poverty, war, etc.

This too shall pass. Ignore the state of your panties. Continue drinking your latte.

...

4 protesters? Hmm, would you say that's about on par with those that turn out to vote?

Apathy has nothing to do with this. This procedure is not government overstepping its bounds for the sake of governmental control. Its about keeping keeping us safe in an area that is currently the #1 prime target of terrorists. Whether or not this procedure is effective, worth the cost, or would be better left in the hands of a private company (with some amount of oversight from the government) is debatable. But I need to get from here to there, air travel is the only way to do it and this is an effort at making sure my plane is blown up on the way. Not one single one of my individual liberties is threatened here. Its hysteria to suggest it is.

That this procedure has been put in place and hasn't affected my travel time wise or delay wise, I'm happy with. Some fuckin group of protesters start doing that....I"m going to have an issue and my generally relaxed temper will be tested.

I have heard that there is some consideration to exempting muslim women from this new procedure. That bothers me.

---------- Post added at 04:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 AM ----------

an afterthought, i'll feel my individual liberties are being threated when TSA employee toothless sally with a note pad starts asking me for pictures of my family, what I had for breakfast yesterday, or anything that has nothing to do with why I'm travelling.

As it is, this screening is nothing more than a moment in time whose purpose is clearly security driven.

I think we should all strive to sport wood before getting fondled.

Opt out day was an idiotic idea at best.
Disrupting the herd is never good.
The only truly effective way would be to boycott air travel entirely.
Once the airlines bottom line starts being affected, the TSA will change their tune because suddenly their jobs and government funding would be at risk not to mention any sweetheart deals between the government and whoever makes those mightily expensive scanners.
This is Amerika. Protesting does no good. Cutting into profits works every time.

Sheah, okay.

Nobody will boycott air travel. It's too fast and too cheap.

I'm going to Chicago and Hawaii for less than a $1000 and a day of travel.

I can't beat that with a car or a train or a boat or the freakin' space shuttle.

Hah! Says who? And unless they're CIA or Department of State, they're probably (more) wrong.

The Bad Guys did a great job disrupting our way of life initially. Now we're just furthering it.

Get a grip fotzzie. America is spelled with a "c", and you are part of the herd.

Never said a boycott was doable, just that it would be the only way to get the airlines attention.
Getting all uppity about something is great on the web but once the sheeple have to actually sacrifice something...another story altogether..

And there we have it.

So, does anybody want to take a stab in the dark and try and figure out the timeline of foreign and domestic policy decisions that led to this state that we are in? And it started well before 2001...

I bet Glenn Beck would come up with a very different path from me.

There were plenty of people prepared to opt-out, they just never got a chance because it seems TSA turned a lot of the scanners off: Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide

To anyone paying attention, this is a tacit admission that it is all security theatre and doesn't make us substantially safer. To the majority of the public, it's a great way to manipulate the headlines to make it seem like people aren't that upset after all.

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...8/original.jpg

I really couldn't disagree any more with this. What made 9/11 so successful was the totally unprecedented nature of the attacks. They've changed the way we think about war and security primarily because before they occurred we wouldn't have been able to imagine what went down as a possibility.

This is definitely a case of the government overstepping its bounds not only for the sake of implementing control but as an attempt to cover up its glaringly obvious inadequacies: it is simply too slow to action and incapable of thinking as creatively as those who have a stake in blowing shit up.

Calling this nonsense out for what it is isn't hysteria - it's what you're supposed to do.

i'd be all over this.


but i don't plan on crossing the line any time soon...........


i'll stay here and let my wife fondle my balls.

It would be awesome if we could get this same sort of widespread, concerted reaction about other important stuff. Like starting wars.

I am neither apathetic or acquiescent. I just find it kind of pathetic that the issue that makes the country go wild with outrage is the prospect of some 'former pizza delivery guy' giggling at their small penis or ogling their boobies. The whole thing, including comparing pat downs to molestations, smacks of the same old reactionary nonsense that sparked the outrage about Janet Jackson's superbowl tit flash.

I understand completely concerns about illegal searches and being misled into thinking that this makes us more secure. Much like illegal wiretapping and infiltrating activist groups and 'free speech zones.' Starting unjust wars. But you don't get the same amount of public outcry about these things. Why is that?

this is indicative of traditional and patriotic american apathy. people tend to not really care about things unless it impacts them or affects them directly. war against another nation doesn't affect a person directly, wiretapping doesn't affect a person directly, but the possibility of naked pictures or being felt up does indeed affect a person directly. It's a shame that most people have this apathetic outlook, but there it is.

Every day people have their habits, opinions, and desires observed, recorded, and tracked. It's become normal, and much of it happens automatically and below the surface, invisibly via data collection.

Most people seem cool with that.

But in a post-9/11 world—where terrorist activity rears its ugly head every so often—people are now having their bodies investigated for items that may pose threats to those embarking on air travel.

And that's equated with sexual deviancy and an invasion of privacy beyond what is acceptable and decent.

It seems like some kind of American neopuritanism to me.

right. this tends to be my thinking, too. it's less about trampled rights and more about fondled nuts, aka 'the ick factor' involved in this issue.
which is why I refuse to get all 'woot, woot' with people on it.
once the issue has lost it's 'sexual' attraction (double entendre there), it will become the much-ignored ACLU's battle and people will go back to business as usual as if it never happened.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've been offended by the actions of our government for as long as I can remember. The corruption, nepotism and lying having become 'business as usual' long before I was born.

I get the impression from some of you that we should just except all of this and more. I simply don't understand this line of thinking. Were we not founded as a nation because our forefathers were fed up with this kind of Idiocracy? Didn't they take on the most powerful nation on earth to guarantee us freedom from these things? Why is it okay to accept these things today, because it's more convenient? Really?

Why is it okay to stand up for the rights of others but not your own?

Why is it acceptable for an organization to exist within our government that has no oversight and requires no 'due process'?

Why is anyone who points these things out called a radical, reactionary, a neopuritan or conspiracy theorist?

Why is it okay for a former government official to profit from an exaggerated threat?

Why is okay for public servants to receive a pension equal to their salaries for life, from our tax dollars, while looking at the largest deficit in history?

Why is okay when the media reports on celebrities newest drunken debacle while ignoring real news?

Why is it okay for a comedian to have higher news ratings than an actual news agency?

Why is okay for oil companies to report record earning while claiming a shortage and pushing fuel to $4 a gallon?

Why is it okay for corporations to report record earnings during what the 'President' has called the worst depression since the 1920's and unemployment is in the double digits?

Why is it okay for the government to bail out corporations with our tax dollars after years of profiteering and poor business practices?

Why is it okay for the government to pass a law that hasn't been read by those voting one it?

Really, how long of a list do you want? We've let all of these things happen, said and done nothing to stop it. And this is all okay?

The most charismatic leaders through out history have always been the most destructive to their own nations and others (this is not a jab at Obama in particular), all operated under the guise that 'it's good for you'. The populous bought into the story through the controlled media and saw nothing but rainbows and unicorns, until the blood shed obscured their vision.

Why is any of this okay?

Why is it okay to spend billions on ineffective machines and initiate violating 'pat downs' when the current equipment and a few Dogs would be more effective and less expensive?

Why do you just accept what you're told and not find the facts for yourself?

/rant


...
..

I'm with ya, brother.

This is what the end of empire looks like.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc...8ifto1_500.jpg
A TSA agent displays a laminated card printed with the text of what agents are
required to say to any passengers who opt out of full-body scan security procedures,
on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle.
-- (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

- - -

personal note: (I'd add my own two cents to this hovering argument, but it's nothing new. These procedures have been building up for the past few years, and the full-body "naked" scanners have been progressively popping up in N. America since late 2004. Nothing new. Oh... well, these "enhanced" screenings, though, where were they six weeks ago when I last traveled back within the states? It's seems to only be coinciding with the holiday rush, if only to a casual observer like myself.)

So according to current reports, TSA has shut down the Pornotrons to facilitate faster processing to the gates.

Isn't this considered a 'peak' time for attack, when the airports are most crowded and planes full? Why then, would they turn off these machines and forgo pat-downs if they are so effective?

Does anyone else see the contradiction here? Or is this just another way to 'keep us safe'?



..
...

---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------


I see this as one of the great misconceptions in the world today. The American people do not want to be an 'Empire'. Our government wants to be Imperialist, they do not now, nor have they for some time, speak for he people. They may operate under the guise of a Democracy or a Republic, but in fact, that system failed long ago and only the structure remains; Leading most Americans and the majority of the world to believe it's still intact.

So go populate the Northern Territories already would ya. :)





..

does the TSA actually have a demonstration on what the pat down consists of? has anyone seen what sort of patdown the TSA is giving?

i think people could make a better decision if they had that sort of information.

im all for making flights more secure. i just dont want to be groped in the process or have someone see my junk on a scanner.

I spent a semester watching people get processed at a jail. The "pat down" they had there was enough to make you want a cigarette afterward.

"Karate chop and a firm swipe" was a term used for the groin search. Something tells me TSA is half-assing this search and people are still whining.

Three things.

opinion: (on the nose)

“The whole Homeland Security policy has been delusional from the day after 9/11. It has been predicated on the idea that everybody is a potential terrorist, therefore everybody needs to be screened. And yet, repeatedly, every terrorist attempt since 9/11 has been, predictably, the work of readily identifiable terrorist cells. The provocative advance of full-body screening, for example, was accelerated not by an intelligent prediction of the nature of the next attack but by a familiar knee-jerk reaction to the last one, the underpants bomber. But, hey, he wouldn’t have been picked up trying to board an airplane here—he had found weak points elsewhere (Nigeria, the Netherlands) to exploit.”

[source.]
- - -

political commentary: (i.e., cartoons)

The Airport Security Cartoons and Comics - from the Cartoonist Group
The New Yorker's airport security cartoons from 1938-2009 - Boing Boing

(the thing is, since the last thread about the TSA popped up a year or two ago, I've been searching for this ONE particular Playboy cartoon off-and-on since then; it's possibly circa 2002-04, it was published in the magazine, and if I'm anywhere close, I'm guessing it was illustrated by Doug Sneyd, but I have not yet found it. Frustrating, I tell you.)

- - -

trinkets:

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc...pwi0o1_500.jpg
To unlock your badge, all you need to do is check in at any airport and include something like “TSA,”
“grope” or — my personal favorite — “Don’t touch my junk, bro!” in your shout. Safe Travels.

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc...8ifto1_500.jpg
Activist Lori Lamb distributes stickers to travelers to protest against TSA’s new
security procedures at Los Angeles International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010.
Holiday travelers dismayed by airport body scans planned protests at bustling airports
Wednesday, while the head of the nation’s transport security agency urged passengers
to comply with searches to reduce the possibility of delays on one of the busiest travel
days of the year. --(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)


http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc...vr49o1_400.jpg
by Evan Roth

the old statement that those who give up liberty for security deserve neither is becoming much more relevant lately- freedom is not free, and neither is it safe- anyone who wants to live in a nice safe cocoon can join the rest of the sheep, as for me, fuck the screenings, they are security theater at best, and serve the terrorists goals in any event.... they dont have to blow a damn thing up to make us less than we were, we are going to do it to ourselves.....

if they were to put out the real news.........we'd all know that we're getting fucked in the ass then.


they have to side track us with the drunken debacles and reality bullshit.


media mind control............they give you what they want you to see...........another reason i'm glad i don't watch TV.

Yeah, I get why they do it. :thumbsup:

I'm just wondering why it's okay with the masses that they do it.

Maybe I'm just an off balance optimist, but I refuse to believe that people actually believe all the garbage they see on the news and are completely unaware of the real world.


..

I really don't have the time to flesh this out entirely but I want to add that there is no real world, no sheeple, no lemmings or lambs being led to the slaughter or any of that condescending bullshit. We're all immersed in the illusion and while some of us may have more defensible reasons for being so immersed, none of us have been gifted with anything close to clarity. Life isn't Fight Club or The Matrix - there is no one to awaken and doing away with this kind of nonsense is absolutely imperative to changing the world with your ideas.

I've recently seen some really interesting and self-critical things come from the very same media machine which seems to love painting extreme cases and the ideas that follow from them as the whole of public opinion. Jon Stewart's recent rally most easily comes to mind.

Ultimately, such an argument falls into the same trap it argues against. Regressive.

- -

I mean, how easily could you go about your day if every single time you removed a dollar from your wallet you were forced to come to terms with the death, slavery, misery and sadness underlying it? It's quantifiable. When your entire way of life is bound by a series of illusions how does this kind of stuff not make sense?

I'd bet none of this makes sense outside of my head.

More like Cogent_Skafe.

Thanks Skafe... well said.

Thanks from me, as well. You've tapped into a mainspring of truth there, skafe.

I'm not really sure what to say to that, but it does explain a lot.

---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 PM ----------

Oh and would you please ask your illusion to stop fondling peoples gentiles.

A friend of mine had a good idea.

Go for the 'aggressive pat down' and while they are doing your crotch you moan and start getting into it. Telling them to press harder.
Optional: Take a friend and have them yell "I've got some singles!" once the moaning starts.

edit: Not sure if anyone posted this before (yeah I'm too lazy to read the whole thread...)

In my early twenties I worked as an airport security screeners. Long before 911. It was ridiculous. My training consisted of a 3 hour training watching a video, taking a test with 20 other people, all of us failing, rewatching the video then having the tester telling us what answers to circle! I started the next day, scared to death! The machines showed nothing clear. And worse, depending on which type of machine, you could lay something down or stand it up and it would show or not show something. We hand patted people too but we were so scared it was stupid. We barely touched them. We were kids! And our focus was distracted by the damn men around us. Cops, pilots, controllers, maintenance, etc. Even the travelers! Every one wanted to have sex with us! I couldnt believe how predatory the airport was! What an education it gave this country girl! We had guns, rifles, ammo and even a bomb leake thru our gates. Nothing happened to us. They couldnt tell which screener let it pass so we didnt get in trouble. And really, no one was much too worried. Security wasnt a big issue back then. At least no one seemed to think so where I was standing.
Now, I am all for security measures because I stood behind those machines. Look at my nakidness. And I dont say that because I am bawdry. I say that because I dont want problems for me or anyone else. Handle me if you need to. Open my luggage. take off my shoes. Hell, take me in a room and disrobe me. Do it ethically and with proper guidelines but hell yeah. And as for kids..."modified measures"? I remember how they used kids in vietnam. I also want to protect children too. I dont know what to do here. I hope someone figures that out.
Security at airports has been a joke in this country. We are going to bumble our way thru stupid ways until we figure out the right ways...

The problem, tasineah, (or at least one of the problems) is that there's no reason to bumble our way through stupid ways until we figure out the right ways. Plenty of other countries have gone through this, and plenty of people in the US have also made serious suggestions regarding things that would actually make us safer, as opposed to making us feel safer.

For one thing, 9/11 was a failure of intelligence, not airport security. Yet we still haven't fully implemented the recommended changes to close that hole. Furthermore, the underwear bomber that is being used as an excuse for these machines? He still wouldn't have been caught because he went through a security hole in a different country.

If we're relying on airport security - people who are recruited off the top of pizza boxes with promises of "x-ray vision" - to stop a terrorist attack... we're all fucked, no matter what advanced technology they're using to invade our privacy without probable cause.

I totally agree about how security people are recruited and trained! I had NO training to speak of and I doubt its any better. I did get minumum wage. No benefits. What do you expect for that? People took the job to land the pilot or the controller...not for the pay. Girls quit once they got the apartment paid for and the credit card from the man with the wings..

I'd also like to note, as I mentioned to my sister-in-law last night when we had a discussion on this topic, that I visited London after the London Underground bombing. I still didn't have to go through metal detectors, let alone virtual strip searches or full body pat-downs. We can be secure without all that shit - in fact, the only effective way to be secure is to catch plots before those points.

Now here's what really pisses me off. I agree with the protests, but I feel like I've been played by the organizers.

TSAstroturf: The Washington Lobbyists and Koch-Funded Libertarians Behind the TSA Scandal | The Nation

I don't know enough to critique this article, but the summary is that the protest was planned out ahead of time with the intent to get airports to opt-out of the Federal screenings, so that the private screening companies organizing the protests would be hired.

We had the shoe bomber. Now we have to take off our shoes.
We had the underwear bomber. Now we have crotch groping.

Wait until someone sticks a load of C4 up their ass.

you know what I find incredibly hypocritical about articles like this now? is that news articles like the brady campaign protest against guns in starbucks, or open carry walks, or anything else that some group of people find reprehensible is almost ALWAYS funded by a wealthy source. gun control groups are usually funded by the joyce foundation, in turn by george soros, but NOBODY seems to find them as 'astroturf' groups.

it's plain bullshit and just a way for people to blind themselves to the fact that the emporer has no clothes.

I believe and act not based on the words of others, but the actions that they truly take. I did my part of letting the TSA know I wasn't interested in the new scanners and the pat downs. I'll be traveling this weekend and I'll have first hand experience at the "molestation process," but so far from the twitters and facebook posts, it doesn't look like it was as invasive as the alarmist media made it out to be.

No one is talking about the passengers with trauma, molestation, ptsd, and how this will affect them. I had over this week a few Psychiatrist who were discussing how this can really harm and affect such people.

The same argument holds for the NRA.

Cynth: From what I've read, it seems they've scaled back the use of body scanners and toned down the process in the interest of PR. As I commented earlier, I consider this a tacit admission that these security measures are of little importance and therefore not worth the invasion of privacy they represent. Worse yet, with the miniscule attention span and general apathy of the American public, they'll just escalate the security measures more slowly to avoid scrutiny and we'll probably end up in a place even worse than we are now.

which is why i'm not a member. :orly:

I took my first flight ever two months ago. Left from a tiny airport and got a gentle pat-down after going through the scanning device. I can't tell, if it gave any signs (I didn't hear any noise or see any light) or did they just feel like picking me for inspection, I was too nervous already to take notice what happened around me and a bit embarrassed for having to even undress my belt in front of everyone.

I still had my boots with long zippers on and something I hadn't thought of in advance: the medal pieces in my bra, that could have caused the alarm - if there was any.

Like others say, the long queueing is enough to want you to get through fast.

I miss the old days of showing up 20 minutes before your flight with a wad of cash...

Personally I really couldn't care less about pat downs and body scanners if somebody wants to get paid to fondle my balls and look at pictures of my ass... I understand why it upsets some people but the invasiveness for some reason just doesn't bother me. I don't like it but I'm not going to get worked up because some security guard got his hands a little to close to my crotch during a clothed pat down. It is what it is.

Having said that the security procedures are getting ridiculous. What bothers me is there seems to be no real checks and balances in place rather we have an alarmist, knee jerk body that constantly changes the procedure every time something happens that they didn't foresee. It doesn't matter how invasive, time consuming, redundant or pointless the procedures are it just gives us a sense that we're fighting the good fight against terrorism. At some point we as a people need to be able to say enough is enough and just accept the risk and move on.

I have to wonder if we are just one major terrorist threat away from having to fly naked with no luggage.

Maybe going through dressing room, leaving all your belongings to travel in hold and wearing at least a hospital gown. At the other end hoping you get your own back.

Land of the free.

First we said terrorists will adapt, now we say this screening will stop them, and the fact that the small amount of PETN in the underwear bomber would most likely have been detected I still have yet to figure out why we should endure the radiation.

How about we spend this money on security for the freight, luggage?