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Title: TSA to Rummage Through Emotional Baggage As Well
Source:
EtherZone
URL Source: http://etherzone.com/2007/meek113007.shtml
Published: Nov 29, 2007
Author: Frederick Meekins
Post Date: 2007-11-29 23:47:36 by snoopdougg
Keywords: None
Views: 194
Comments: 10
On an episode of South Park taking aim at the airline industry, Mr. Garrison (still a man at that point) invented a mode of transportation where riders had to have a metal prod inserted into their backsides in order to avoid falling off the vehicle. The response of those enduring such discomfort and humiliation was that it was still less than what passengers had to endure at the airport. While the bit might have been a bit over the top in terms of propriety, it was pretty much on target in terms of how most Americans feel regarding the bureaucratic procedures implemented in the name of “transportation security” since September 11th. As fairly good natured people content with the social order even if they don’t like the way the process is handled, most Americans deciding to utilize this form of transportation simply keep their comments to themselves and bear with the frustration. However, according to a McClatchy newspapers article titled “New Airport Check For Danger In Fliers’ Facial Expressions“, it may no longer be enough to stoically endure these indignations but one must also have a smile on one’s face about it. A new specialty within the Transportation Security Administration known as Behavior Detection Officers (one could not devise a more Orwellian sounding division of the government if one tried) has been given the mandate to scrutinize those exhibiting unapproved facial expressions. If proponents of the theory get their way, certain facial expressions revealing whether an individual is feeling anger or disgust and, when taken together with heart rate, body temperature, and verbal responses, will be enough to get passengers shunted aside for further forms of interrogation such as having their baggage rifled through or being asked where they are going. While one may make a case as to why some voyeur with a badge may need to run his hand through your underwear bag, beyond the destination on the ticket it is no security officer’s business where anyone is going. Frankly, such intrusions into private affairs are enough to get anyone’s heart rate rising and a look of disgust scowling across their brow. Though this technology is promoted as a way to make terrorism prevention more foolproof, from comments made as to its accuracy, it sounds as if it will be yet another tool to curtail the liberties of everyday Americans while doing little to catch real terrorists. The article notes, “Different cultures express themselves differently.” In other words, 86 year old grandmothers holding their heads a certain way as they are ordered to hold their arthritic arms over their heads will get pulled aside for additional harassment even if they don’t make a single peep. However, if certain minorities more prone to violent geopolitical outbursts comport themselves in the same manner it can be dismissed with a “that’s just the way those people are anyway”. If the government is intent on stopping terrorism, there are signs to look for other than whether or not people have a giddy brainwashed look on their face. However, since political correctness has been deemed more important than survival, it is doubtful this great nation will survive much longer anyway.
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#1. To: snoopdougg, lodwick (#0)
(Edited)
AmeriKans can't even do any easy protest..the kind where all you have to do is not buy something for a few months, i.e. an airline ticket. Why? Because AmeriKans don't care and they've been sold a fraudulent bill of goods right before their very own stupid minds. To avoid travel by air for pleasure reasons would, after all, be way too hard on soft greedy AmeriKans.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition No. It's because, by and large, they're only of average intelligence and they've been programmed. People care but they're overwhelmed.
Mens hearts have waxed cold ... it doesn't take a brain surgeon to love ones neighbor as oneself.
"Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788. ME 7:36
Great post! I looked up the DVD on Amazon and it's about $80 ... ouch! Now I've got to do a sales job on the wife. ;-)
Republicans (Democrats for that matter) ....... HAD ENOUGH?
I don't think they have the kids reading Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm anymore. It's amazing Ron Paul has so many supporters since our entire public school system has become a brain washing assembly line. Maybe that's why the kids love Ron Paul: they've recognized it, and they're fighting back the best way they know how.
As marvelous as those two novels are, I have always considered Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to be superior in it amazing prescience ... especially considering it predated 1984 by almost two decades. Orwell's works are much more renowned, but if you're unacquainted with it, its a must read. I read them all in college ... early impetus coming from one of the best Profs I ever had. I agree they should be part of every High school reading list.
Republicans (Democrats for that matter) ....... HAD ENOUGH?
I haven't read all of BNW, but I've seen one of the film adaptations. What's interesting about BNW is that he may have actually been advocating some of the underlying assumptions depicted in it, or so I've heard. Perhaps he thought it inevitable, and felt that we should embrace the changes he was describing. The elite often think they can handle the responsibility of guiding humanity "forward" into a shining future with new technologies like behavioral/industrial psychology, pharmaceuticals, mass media, and collectivist political movements. I need to read his speech at Berkeley in 1962, "The Ultimate Revolution".
ping
Fox News Channel is the television version of Free Republic
I agree with that. I sense that a lot of folks feels something's seriously amiss, but the infotainment/diversion industry that is in near total command of the media befuddles the (usually) overworked individual, so he can never have the luxury of drilling down into the real root of the problems our political system has. And then their is the 30% that are just out of the discussion altogether.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" If ameriKans would stop flying in protest, I'll bet the TSA would disappear over night with the howls of BigBiziness airline industry execs.
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#2. To: IndieTX (#1)
AmeriKans don't care
#3. To: snoopdougg, christine, iconoclast (#0)
#4. To: IndieTX (#1)
Because AmeriKans don't care
#5. To: buckeye (#3)
#6. To: iconoclast (#5)
#7. To: buckeye (#6)
I don't think they have the kids reading Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm anymore.
#8. To: iconoclast (#7)
#9. To: snoopdougg, *libertarians* (#0)
#10. To: angle (#2)
(Edited)
No. It's because, by and large, they're only of average intelligence and they've been programmed. People care but they're overwhelmed.
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