I saw this show yesterday and while I admire the homage they're paying to these workers, the overt dramatization made me angry. I live in a border city, it's really not like there's an illegal alien waiting to jump the fence every three meters. They made it seem like all the cars in line at the international bridge were full of criminals trying to cross a) illegal aliens, b) drugs, c) both.
I'm just afraid that it's feeding into the xenophobic fears of more than one loony out there.
There is a jerkwad that works at LaGuardia who has this total Gestapo approach with the smirking and everything. Some of them seem apologetic because they know it's a hassle and you're no threat. Others like jerkward boy are getting off on the POWER OF MAKING PEOPLE TAKE OFF THEIR SHOES. Oooooooh.
I told him that one time and almost got thrown in TSA jail. Me and all the nail clippers would have had a long night.
Mousy middle-aged TSA agent lives out his humdrum life mindlessly confiscating harmonicas and tubes of KY. Then one day he confiscates what looks like a plain black velvet box and for no reason takes it home. The next day he finds his every move watched by one set of men in black Cherokees with DC plates and another set of men wearing turbans. Then ...
...since this site is mainly concerned with historical accuracy... ahahahaa!
I will say that these TSA people are just gifted at making you feel like ur doin it rong at the airport. I'll give them that. That and the world-weary, irritated, under-appreciated expressions they wear are evidently an important part of the 'security-screening' process.
I'd like to thank the TSA for stealing all my good toiletries over the holidays. They didn't go for none of that drugstore stuff, oh no! Only the $30/above stuff I can afford to purchase once a year and make last as long as possible. Good work!
I love how the guys cries that he's "responsible" for all of the people at the airport, but no one has taken any responsibility for the security failure on 9/11.
I did like the Swiss "belly dancer" at LAX who was falling out of her blouse. Too bad she got deported.
@Blucheez: Or all the post 9-11 failures. Check out the Atlantic article referred to in posts above. The whole thing is a complete joke that protects us from yogurt and lip gloss, but misses the forged documents and ingredients used to make knives. The TSA is obsessed with the trivial because more substantive dangers are far beyond the competence of its witless employees and managers.
All I know is that when I cry after being asked to remove my shoes, those dicks don't show me any kind of sympathy at all, so I STILL hate that motherfucker.
Just beacuse you can cry on cue doesn't mean you are not an authoritarian, jack-booted thug. Some of us are willing to forgo a little safety in exchange for not being flt up at the airport. Assholes.
What if your kid jumped off a building and died because he THOUGHT he could FLY, would it be your responsibility to go get those imaginary friend terrorists who told him he could?
personally I don't really understand what everyone moans about.
It's not hard to take off your shoes and not that difficult to either pack your makeup etc in your main luggage or put in it a plastic bag.
Every time I travel I get irrated by idiots who are apparently incapable of either reading the signs or somehow think they are immune to the requirements. It's hardly that difficult.
Are those instructions pointless, in some cases yes they are over the top but christ stupid people who can't follow basic instructions and get annoyed that they have to obey them are frankly more pointless.
@emilyanne: My last airport checkpoint had a huge sign, with pictograms, spelling out the electronic devices that needed to be removed from cases for inspection: video cameras, gaming consoles, DVD players. Nothing about laptops. I ask the nearest TSA, "Do you need my laptop out of the bag?" Yes, she says. Okay, why not put it on the sign then?
The terrorists win when we bog ourselves down and erode our own souls by lining up like shoeless cattle to add EVEN MORE indignity to the extraordinary rendition that is modern air travel.
Try flying out of DCA. It's absolute bs to have to get almost naked in order to board a plane. If you're flying out of podunk Idaho it may not seem like that big of a deal to have to unpack everything you meticulously stored in your carry on, but doing it with hundreds of others takes too much time for the "safety" it provides.
@Sproing: The flipside to all this is that there hasn't been a bombing of a US-based airliner in probably 30 years now (most of these security measures were in place pre-9/11). People forget that that was not always the case. Bombings and hijackings of airliners used to be almost an everyday occurrence, or at least it seemed that way.
I'm not arguing that some of the TSA's security policies aren't ridiculous, but the answer isn't to get rid of airport security. The answer is to come up with less ridiculous policies! Personally, I don't think x-rays and luggage inspections are all that ridiculous considering the fact that dozens of airplanes have been blown out of the sky with luggage-based bombs in the past. If they want to search my bag, so be it. As long as they do it respectfully, don't steal any of my stuff and don't break anything.
As for the shoe thing, I mean I'd call that ridiculous myself if a guy hadn't been caught within 10 seconds of blowing up a plane with his shoes. I mean I wouldn't have believed it was possible either if it didn't really happen.
The liquid thing is ridiculous as currently enforced. I do think it should be pretty obvious that someone could easily bring a bottle of nitro on a plane and blow it up, so I understand the restrictions to that extent. But I don't see how allowing as many liquids as you want as long as they're under 3 oz and in a clear plastic bag is helping anything. You may as well just not have any restriction at all. What's to stop someone from bringing 15 little bottles of nitro and combining them into an empty wine bottle or something he's got in his carryon?
I don't agree that just the idea of having security is "letting them win". I think like anything else, it's a question of degree and common sense. There's obviously a limit. But to say no security is acceptable is frankly ridiculous. Why not just get rid of the police and military too, then, while we're at it? Nobody needs protection from anything. Just let anarchy rule.
If you believe in some security, then it's just a question of where you draw your line in the sand. And that's different for everybody. But there are no absolutes. It's just about having practical policies that actually are necessary and that work in the real world.
@badasscat: I believe in security too and don't mind taking my shoes off or remembering my plastic baggies and all, but a lot of the attendants are like mall cops who simply want to take shit out on people to show the POWER OF THE BADGE. It's much, much worse at small airports than big cities, because the dudes have giant inferiority complexes and really enjoy abusing their roles.
It's not the rules, it's the a-holes. The rules are completely fine, though cough cough horse? barn door???
But making a big show of forcing someone to throw out an expensive lip gloss because it is STICKING OUT OF the plastic bag is just being an a-hole who resents people for having an expensive lip gloss. Tell me how this helps keep us secure. While I was being screamed at for having a protruding lip gloss, five guys with Semtex could have strolled right by me, and I'm not kidding.
@aedude01: having never been to Idaho I can only take your word for it. But given I fly out of the biggest hub airport in Europe and one which is busier than JFK, the airport I fly into, I call bullshit on your argument. If people just did it and didn't whinge about it it would be fine. What makes it inefficient is all the idiots moaning on and not being properly prepared. And quite frankly coming from a country that had bomb scares long before yours I'm on the side of checking these things.
@Sproing: also to be honest given that just about every major airport does ask for you to take the laptop out again I'm sort of surprised as to why you'd think you didn't have to. I don't know maybe it's because I travel alot and through big airports but really I just don't see why everyone finds it shit. Shit is the way the people at immigration at JFK behave. The security checks, no so bad really.
@Moff: yeah that's an interesting piece but to be honest, and at the risk of irritating people still further, security at most US airports is a joke in contrast to say Heathrow or Frankfurt. I've flown internally in the US without being asked for id when I'm clearly not an American. And the UK are horrible to you - you have to taste the baby formula and food, they don't do that to you at JFK.
@stew: on the other hand you I entirely agree with. And in contrast to the silly man with the podunk Idaho reference you're right, I would imagine it is much worse in smaller airports (I can't bet on this because er I've never been to any small US airports)
This article really says all that needs to be said about the TSA (which is that they are a totally ineffective waste of money and source of aggrevation):
@Iceland_Spar: Terrific article, I think my jaw actually dropped and it was the main reason my blood pressure was so high the last time I waited in line for the metal detector for an hour.
01/07/09
I'm just afraid that it's feeding into the xenophobic fears of more than one loony out there.
01/07/09
01/07/09
I told him that one time and almost got thrown in TSA jail. Me and all the nail clippers would have had a long night.
01/07/09
Mousy middle-aged TSA agent lives out his humdrum life mindlessly confiscating harmonicas and tubes of KY. Then one day he confiscates what looks like a plain black velvet box and for no reason takes it home. The next day he finds his every move watched by one set of men in black Cherokees with DC plates and another set of men wearing turbans. Then ...
Call my agent!!!
01/07/09
01/07/09
01/07/09
ahahahaa!
I will say that these TSA people are just gifted at making you feel like ur doin it rong at the airport. I'll give them that. That and the world-weary, irritated, under-appreciated expressions they wear are evidently an important part of the 'security-screening' process.
01/07/09
01/07/09
01/07/09
I did like the Swiss "belly dancer" at LAX who was falling out of her blouse. Too bad she got deported.
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It's not hard to take off your shoes and not that difficult to either pack your makeup etc in your main luggage or put in it a plastic bag.
Every time I travel I get irrated by idiots who are apparently incapable of either reading the signs or somehow think they are immune to the requirements. It's hardly that difficult.
Are those instructions pointless, in some cases yes they are over the top but christ stupid people who can't follow basic instructions and get annoyed that they have to obey them are frankly more pointless.
01/07/09
The terrorists win when we bog ourselves down and erode our own souls by lining up like shoeless cattle to add EVEN MORE indignity to the extraordinary rendition that is modern air travel.
01/07/09
01/07/09
Try flying out of DCA. It's absolute bs to have to get almost naked in order to board a plane. If you're flying out of podunk Idaho it may not seem like that big of a deal to have to unpack everything you meticulously stored in your carry on, but doing it with hundreds of others takes too much time for the "safety" it provides.
01/07/09
I'm not arguing that some of the TSA's security policies aren't ridiculous, but the answer isn't to get rid of airport security. The answer is to come up with less ridiculous policies! Personally, I don't think x-rays and luggage inspections are all that ridiculous considering the fact that dozens of airplanes have been blown out of the sky with luggage-based bombs in the past. If they want to search my bag, so be it. As long as they do it respectfully, don't steal any of my stuff and don't break anything.
As for the shoe thing, I mean I'd call that ridiculous myself if a guy hadn't been caught within 10 seconds of blowing up a plane with his shoes. I mean I wouldn't have believed it was possible either if it didn't really happen.
The liquid thing is ridiculous as currently enforced. I do think it should be pretty obvious that someone could easily bring a bottle of nitro on a plane and blow it up, so I understand the restrictions to that extent. But I don't see how allowing as many liquids as you want as long as they're under 3 oz and in a clear plastic bag is helping anything. You may as well just not have any restriction at all. What's to stop someone from bringing 15 little bottles of nitro and combining them into an empty wine bottle or something he's got in his carryon?
I don't agree that just the idea of having security is "letting them win". I think like anything else, it's a question of degree and common sense. There's obviously a limit. But to say no security is acceptable is frankly ridiculous. Why not just get rid of the police and military too, then, while we're at it? Nobody needs protection from anything. Just let anarchy rule.
If you believe in some security, then it's just a question of where you draw your line in the sand. And that's different for everybody. But there are no absolutes. It's just about having practical policies that actually are necessary and that work in the real world.
01/07/09
It's not the rules, it's the a-holes. The rules are completely fine, though cough cough horse? barn door???
But making a big show of forcing someone to throw out an expensive lip gloss because it is STICKING OUT OF the plastic bag is just being an a-hole who resents people for having an expensive lip gloss. Tell me how this helps keep us secure. While I was being screamed at for having a protruding lip gloss, five guys with Semtex could have strolled right by me, and I'm not kidding.
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[www.theatlantic.com]
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