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Ear to the Ground

Dear Abusive Travelers, TSA Workers Are People, Too

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Posted on Nov 22, 2010
Flickr / Michael Eyal Sharon (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Seriously, people, it’s not like John Q. TSA Worker woke up this morning jonesing to goose you. The union that represents the unfortunate patters-down says its members have been subjected to verbal abuse and even acts of physical violence since the new travel rules took effect.

It’s your privacy. They just work there.  —PZS

MSNBC:

Airline passengers aren’t the only ones complaining about the Transportation Security Administration’s new enhanced security procedures. Many TSA employees aren’t too happy, either.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents TSA workers, is urging the TSA to do more to protect its employees from abuse from airline passengers angry over the new security methods. The union reports that some members “have reported instances in which passengers have become angry, belligerent and even physical with TSOs (transportation security officers). In Indianapolis, for example, a TSO was punched by a passenger who didn’t like the new screening process,” the union said in a Nov. 17 statement posted on its website.

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By James Secord, November 24, 2010 at 9:03 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

TSA workers are people who are willing to fondle the genitals of loudly protesting children for 12 dollars an hour, without asking any questions or feeling any qualms about what they’re doing.

But, yeah, they are people.

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By john kulaya, November 24, 2010 at 2:24 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

TSA workers and their union will deserve respect when they refuse to carry out
criminal acts on the citizenry.  But I suggest all travelers politely resist and advise
them that their actions are criminal and you will file charges against them.

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By camille rose, November 23, 2010 at 10:29 pm Link to this comment

I saw in cnn that a poll said 2/3 of Americans are for the abusive tacktics. I don’t believe that. I think Cnn like the rest of them is propaganda to push the one world dictatorship.

The grunts that are at the end of this stream of police state do not deserve to be hit. They are the ignorants that need a job and do anything for the State that they think is “free market”.

Until the pack leaders of that are instigating all this are rounded up and jailed we will not see any changes. You have to go after the top.

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By magicats, November 23, 2010 at 3:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

How ironic that this pathetic “be nice, they’re just following orders” piece appears the same week as Chris Hedges’ latest wonderful essay “Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion.”  Hey, if Pistole and his top muckamucks want to show up at an airport for their share of abuse, they’ll receive it in abundance.  In any event, it is essential that everyone who recognizes this for what it is (or just feels uncomfortable with what they experience) protest in any and every non-violent, non-criminal way they can, starting with every possible effort (be creative, folks!) to make the T&A uncomfortable, whether it’s insults, sexual harassment, or just a statement of opinion, reaction, or the first thing that pops into mind.  If the T&A are sad at the end of the day, oh well!  To suggest that everyone just be nice to them is not merely a pathetic parroting of government propaganda unfit for Truthdig, it’s dangerous!

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By gerard, November 23, 2010 at 2:36 pm Link to this comment

Did you ever stop to think how many people are employed doing this kind of “work”?  And where else would they find jobs?

Look at the entire “surveillance” field.  How many jobs?  How much profit from makers of equipment—scanners, x-ray equipment, uniforms, record keeping employees, computers, electricity and on and on, endlessly proliferating?

How much money in salaries of top management, government and “private” enterprise.(Speaking of which!—how about a national campaign—a “private enterprise” if you will—to privatize
“privates”.)

And on and on.  Enough already!

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By 911truthdotorg, November 23, 2010 at 12:49 pm Link to this comment

F*CK the TSA and all this police state bullshit!

All of it based on a LIE

http://www.mediaroots.org/stop-the-airport-body-scammers.php

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By RickinSF, November 23, 2010 at 10:17 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

If the TSA rank and file don’t like their treatment they need to shut up and organize.

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Tesla's avatar

By Tesla, November 23, 2010 at 10:11 am Link to this comment

The TSA will allow this to drag out long enough to make
meaningless incremental changes to the system in order
to appear reasonable and sensitive to the public
outrage.

Then the American sheeple will settle, down fall inline
and wait for the next shearing.

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By Thomas Dooley, November 23, 2010 at 9:18 am Link to this comment

I must agree with the majority of posters. If TSA agents are getting their feeling hurt that’s just too damn bad. I don’t care and besides I don’t believe it.

What sort of people would do the job they are doing? Exactly what type of person would you guess is likely to be attracted by such jobs? The pay isn’t great, but they get to sexually grope, abuse, and boss around all the adults and/or children they could ever hope to fantasize about.

The acts they are performing are outrageous and their insistence that we must respect and like them while they degrade us doesn’t pass the laugh test.

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By azythos, November 23, 2010 at 6:20 am Link to this comment

What bullshit!
They “just” work here?

Working for the TSA means representing the TSA.

If you don’t want to become a murderer and be treated like one, you don’t enrol in the army.

If you don’t want to become a fascist pig and get treated like one, you don’t enrol in the TSA.

They’re getting punched by outraged citizens? Too little.

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By bogi666, November 23, 2010 at 6:02 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The Stanford Experiment in 1971 was a study with two test groups, one as prisoners and the other as their guards. By the second day the guards were abusing the prisoners just because they could.The experiment as to last a week and it was canceled by the 3 or 4th day because the guards abuse was out of control and the prisoners were breaking down emotionally and mentally, quitting the project. The results were totally unexpected and the project is heralded for its reality. This is an example of the TSA goons and it has to be on purpose because the results of the 1971 Stanford experiment are well known. The TSA is all about OBEDIENCE TRAINING OF ADULTS, and it is one giant Stanford Experience put into practice because the USG want to abuse and humiliate Americans for the sake of OBEDIENCE TRAINING and doing so in public only adds to the humiliation, by design.

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fearnotruth's avatar

By fearnotruth, November 23, 2010 at 4:28 am Link to this comment

follow up: seriously - it is a tough job - even if it’s a false-flag black-op (and you’d better believe they
know the score), those in the trenches may not know, but management does.

Their job is to protect everyone - so what if a MOSSAD agent plants the bomb, it’s still a bleeding bomb
and people will die, unless it’s designed to fizzle (e.g. the Underwear Bomber), but how do they know?
They tried to stop the Underwear Bomber, but his handler got him on the plane; and it’s all documented -
a real operation cock up, but only from the standpoint of the trail they left. Otherwise the MSM did their job and spun it out as scripted. TERROR THREAT NARROWLY AVOIDED!

Be afraid! Be always afraid! Be so afraid you’ll drop your drawers on cue, bend and spread your cheeks for the entire crew!

Nevertheless, terrorism is terrorism, whether it’s a false-flag, black op or the rare genuine fanatic, clever
enough to execute it like an agency-trained professional. Shut down the Global War Of Terror and this
ends. Thats the crux of it. Demand the truth. Demand 911 Truth!

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fearnotruth's avatar

By fearnotruth, November 23, 2010 at 3:59 am Link to this comment

...not to be puerile, or scatological but has anyone else felt any sort of Freudian (or perhaps post-Freudian) reaction to the name: John Pistole and the quote: “No Body-Cavity Searches” — in title case, and Courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor no less?!?!?    ...too rich to script!

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By Druthers, November 23, 2010 at 3:59 am Link to this comment

What are people supposed to do?  Tell the TSA employees that we know you don’t like doing this and we don’t like submitting to it but since we all have to bow down to Big Brother, “Let’s be friends.” 
Every prisoner’s first duty is to escape!

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By Doug, November 22, 2010 at 11:10 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Wow, classic straw-man arguments. So ONE passenger punched a TSO. (If there were more, it would be ALL over the news.) And a bunch of TSOs feel miserable that passengers called them names. Oh, boo-hoo.

Meanwhile, in the real world, 170,000 passengers were sexually assaulted by the TSA. And every person who went through the scanners had their naked images peered at by a stranger - scans detailed enough that a TSO was fired for getting into a fight about how small his penis appeared on the scan.

I’m not condoning violence or unwarranted verbal epithets against TSOs, but get some bloody perspective here. 170,000 sexual assaults is a far more serious problem than hurt feelings or even an a physical altercation.

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By OldManCA, November 22, 2010 at 10:48 pm Link to this comment

Exhibitionists are going to enjoy this. They will decline the x-ray so they can get
the pat-down, at least if they like the looks of the pat-down officer. 

Seriously, I do have compassion for the TSA rank and file, so long as they don’t
treat me rankly.

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By socalcde, November 22, 2010 at 9:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Like I tell the employees at the electric company, or phone company, or even waiters in restaurants; when you are the front person for an establishment that’s doling out crap, either get another job or be prepared to have it thrown back in your face, cause it’s going to be part of the job description.

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By RHNJ, November 22, 2010 at 9:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

God it’s been so long since anyone has touched me that I would really look forward to this type of search… male or female, doesn’t matter…

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By WhiteTrashInWasilla, November 22, 2010 at 8:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Gosh if we followed this logic we could say all members of the Nazi party were people too!

Of course angry citizens take it out on TSA personnel.  They are after all the jack booted thugs.  Unfortunately for them they are on the frontline of the war against our democracy.  I do not hate them, but neither do I want to suffer their abuses.

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By Jeanne, November 22, 2010 at 7:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Hey, doing what you’re ordered to do, if it’s illegal or unconstitutional, makes you a criminal. So I have no sympathy for anyone who gets yelled at for sexually abusing a passenger (and that’s what these searches are), especially when they’re groping children.

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By WILLIE JERKER, November 22, 2010 at 5:07 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

TSA EMPLOYEES ARE JERKOFFS, PERVERTS, TRAITORS, AND FILTHY LOW-LIFE SCUMBAGS.

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johnnyfarout's avatar

By johnnyfarout, November 22, 2010 at 4:59 pm Link to this comment

The TSA is part of the authoritarian structure of the War of Terror! They cannot keep you safe but they can touch your parts!You are an animal and you will be treated as one. “Bend over and spead ‘em… here comes my bullet!” —F.Zappa

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By Miko, November 22, 2010 at 4:54 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And if we keep up the verbal abuse, maybe they won’t
want to work there for much longer.  They aren’t forced
to do anything; quitting is always an option.  If they
choose to continue to working there, then the Nuremberg
defense gets them no sympathy from me.  As Thoreau
noted, “it is, after all, with men and not with
parchment that I quarrel.”  When the government can’t
find people to enforce its laws, I will cease to care
what it claims the laws are.

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By diamond, November 22, 2010 at 4:33 pm Link to this comment

Fitting that you should be discussing this on the day they killed John Kennedy. If they ordered everyone to jump over a cliff to fight terrorism, would you do it? I’d like to think most people would tell them to go fuck themselves but I think the brainwashing has been very effective and I think most people would jump. If they can get away with this, microchipping everyone should be easy.

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