TSA

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Hey there. This is a comics opinion of my own creation.



I've never flown. With what's happening in airports these days, I never will. Among my personal issues is a near-total mistrust of authority, & that's under normal circumstances. This developing TSA sitch isn't normal, but what if it becomes the accepted standard?

As many before me have, I try to ascertain where religious practices originate. One tradition's no pork/shellfish makes sense in a pre-refrigeration culture. With another tradition's three rinses of water over the body on the right & 3 on the left, it, too, makes sense when one realizes that a single rinse barely washes anything away; as a one-time floor cleaner, the first layer of water is applied to dissolve/absorb dirt & other substances; subsequent water applications then wash away the dirt-laden water.

So, with these new rules, where will our up-&-coming TSA agents come from? The standards set for the applications process for police, clergy, seniors care & daycare are acceptable if one assumes everyone is & remains reasonable & well-adjusted. And yet this is the tragic, human flaw that abusers find their way through in order to make contact with unassuming new victims.

Unless something changes, & quickly, this is going to become a worst-case scenario without ever seeing another bomb.

We are terrorizing ourselves with penetrating eyes & groping hand condoms.

Comments

[light-over-me.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but even if there are no pat downs at all, it's still an issue... because we don't really know yet if these body scanners are even safe (http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/airport-scanners-do-pose-cancer-risks/) for long term use. Especially for people who'd be using them all the time?? And if we start making passes for airport staff and frequent business travelers... and Muslim women...and whatever other group who decides to complain...what's the point? They haven't thought this one through at all. This not even getting into the privacy concerns, which are another whole can of worms.

[light-over-me.livejournal.com]

Right, the safety of the machines were evaluated by a government appointed commission...not by independent peer review. So basically, they are safe because the government says so. There are a number of scientists who've already come out with suspicions that they may not not as safe, and the radiation level is not as low, as we are being told.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

I agree (mostly). If one uses this chart (http://www.radiationanswers.org/radiation-blog/Airport_xray_scanners.html), persons are safe in terms of radiation exposure (which is why this is a piss-poor argument against the scanners).

But, if the numbers in the chart are accurate, then the math is wrong. One cross-country airline flight (4 mrem) is 400x that of one backscatter x-ray scan (0.01 mrem), not 40x. So they are even safer than you claim.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

The Transportation Safety Administration is dedicated to using the most advanced security techniques to ensure your safety, and works hard to give the traveling public what it desires:

http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/reading.shtm

In addition to providing up-to-date (out of date or cherry-picked) polls about it's new procedures, TSA provides polite euphemisms to avoid offense: "trained technicians who administer pat-downs" instead of a more descriptive term, such as "rubber gloved ass-probers who squeeze your family jewels".

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda torn on this whole thing. I think it's an abhorrent invasion of privacy but I think I'd be okay with it if it were able to guarantee no more bombs on planes with 100% certainty (which it doesn't).

Great comic, and welcome to our community!

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Thank-you.

[pattyoplenty.livejournal.com]

I agree, but the problem with this at the moment is they are only screening/patting down 20% of flyers. What's the point of this if they are so busy patting down a little kid and a terrorist goes right after him on the plane without being checked with another undies bomb? Either check everyone, or don't waste our time humiliating us. Random spot checking is useless if it could mean a bomb getting on board. Think about it, the terrorist has a good chance of not being in the 20%.

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

Great comic!
Ahem... Excuse me, is it a land of true democracy in a Constitutional Republic combined with true Liberty?

[ofbg.livejournal.com]

As I said before, it used to be, (still in the memory of most now living).

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

The talking heads who support these actions keep bragging about the great American way, but I see its proof less & less.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I second the commendation for the effort, both on the comic and dissecting the subject. Now thats what i was talking about.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for both the kind words & the encouragement to better take part in the community.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

I must say you caught the essence of the issue very precisely in this cartoon. Actually several major issues all in one. You're good you know.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's a tricky thing to not go off the deep end by way of exaggeration; I'm glad to have so much positive response to this one.

[mijopo.livejournal.com]

Wait, you're claiming that the new TSA rules will result in child molesters seeking out TSA jobs in order to molest children? Seriously? Let's not trivialize the actual real and potentially noteworthy issues here with irrational hyperbole.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

That's strictly your interpretation of what he must might have meant to say. Remember we had a conversation about putting additional meaning to people's words and I promised to point you at those occasions when you're at the brink of doing that? This is one of those occasions.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Hyperbole? Sure. But irrational? As I mentioned in the body of the post, one merely needs to remember news articles from the past couple of years in the realms of police, clergy, seniors care & daycare to see major problems in important, authoritarian industries when it comes to screening employees.

Are you suggesting the higher-ups in TSA have magic predator-identification goggles & a team of Rowdy Roddy Pipers that can instantly & with 100% accuracy recognize those people who get a thrill out of the physical intimacy that being an airport security agent provides?

And it might not be children at all - could be a fetish for bears, GILFs or ostomy bags (one unfortunate gentleman had his urine dumped on him); the 'kids' thing was an easily-recognized cultural touchstone for the purposes of the comic.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the community.

The Ancient Israelite prohibition on pork was a general Levantine area (the Severan Emperors didn't eat pork either, and they were pre-Christian Syrians) due to pigs not really being an efficient food source in the desert. If Israel's religion had originated in Northern Europe the taboo would be goats.

The problem with this is that the United States appears to want to have its cake and eat it too. Sure, there was no terrorism problem in the Soviet Union, but then the state had spies in people's soup and the overall quality of life was......poor at the best of times. To understate it. Democratic societies must have standards, or else we end up with a "democracy" that in truth is nothing but dictatorship with a thin veneer of the old system over it.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

Democratic societies must have standards, or else we end up with a "democracy" that in truth is nothing but dictatorship with a thin veneer of the old system over it.

Nicely put.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I hope you can find resolution for your personal issues.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Deep as ever.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

I don't think you get it. The shorter figure is a child who is being molested. And the taller figures are papists. It's funny.