Misplaced Anger and the TSA

Those of you who have been following my blog for the past two years know that I'm pretty much done with online forums, except for one. And I don't really post there all that often, but every now and then I do if the subject sparks my interest.

Well, something was posted there yesterday that sparked my interest, so of course I replied...and at the end of the reply I thought to myself, "Hmmmm, I see a blog entry coming here." So here it is.

The post concerned the ludicrous "security" procedures that a group of returning servicemen on their way home from Afghanistan had to go through because they were flying on a commercial airline. All of them were carrying weapons (all unloaded, of course, and NO ONE had any ammunition) and they all had gunpowder residue on them which means they all failed the "screening test" for explosive residue. Well, DUH, of course they had explosive residue on them - they just came from a war zone, stupid! But anyway, along the way one of the TSA screeners made one of the servicemene surrender his nail clippers because "they could be used as a weapon to take over the airplane." And this directed to a guy carrying a rifle, who replied, "THIS is a weapon!"

OK, on the serious side, you can't do much damage with a pair of nail clippers, and unless you use it as a club to beat your way into the cockpit the rifle isn't much of a weapon either, since no one had any ammo. But that's not the point. The point is that the ire of the people involved was focused on the TSA screener, and that's what prompted my reply.

Rather than repeat myself, here's my reply cut ver batim from the forum:

"Stop blaming the TSA employees, because it isn't their fault. First and foremost, THEY DON'T MAKE THE RULES. They just enforce them, and from the conversations I've had with a friend of mine who works with the TSA at Columbia Airport, THEY think some of the rules are pretty stupid, too - but just like the police, they don't get to pick and choose what rules they enforce and upon who.

If you wanna blame someone, here's the list for you:

First blame the people who screamed bloody murder about the FAA and the Feds "not doing enough" to prevent the 9/11 attacks.

Then blame the politicians who screamed bloody murder about the FAA not doing enough.

Then blame the people at the FAA who screamed back about them not having the people nor the authority to do anything about an attack that NO ONE had thought possible until it actually happened.

Then blame the people at the Department of Homeland Security who came up with the TSA concept.

Then blame the Congress who passed the laws creating the TSA and their rules.

Then blame the politicians and administrators who keep coming up with more and more things that they say you can't take on a plane because it could be used as a "weapon."

Then blame the administrators who failed to take into consideration that military folks who carry weapons sometimes travel on commercial airlines, and should be exempt from some of the rules.

See where I'm going with this?

What happened to our country while this serviceman was gone wasn't NObama, as much as I'd like to say it was; what happened was a collective "sticking of heads up asses" by designing this program that is so widespread, so massive, and so complicated to administer that it's doomed to failure from the start. And every "improvement" that they come up with, like the full body scanners, just seems to make it worse.

But on the other hand, the moment the TSA stops doing this and we lose another airplane to a terrorist attack, who do you think is gonna be screaming the loudest?

There's plenty of blame to pass around as to just what the TSA is doing, but the last folks you want to blame are the ones who are working the gates. These folks are paid MINIMUM WAGE, they work lousy hours, they work with borderline morons because that's what you get when you pay minimum wage, they have to enforce rules that they themselves think are stupid and/or a violation of your person, and on top of all that they have to put up with angry passenges who take their frustrations at the system out on the TSA person standing in front of them.

Kinda like you take your frustrations out on getting caught speeding on the cop. You're mad and he's handy.

One of the LAST jobs in the world I'd ever do would be that of a TSA employee, for two reasons: the pay is shit, and so are the passengers. I don't suffer fools well, and I'd get fired within a week because I'd tell some fat, slovenly, holier-than-thou first class passengers to stick it up his ass."

As I've said before, the two things in life that everyone wants but that are both inconvenient are safety and security. After the 9/11 attacks everyone was screaming for more safety and security, and these same people are the ones who are screaming now about the new security measures and the full body scanners being "inconvenient" and an "invasion of privacy." (I've already addressed that, so I won't repeat myself.) But I can guarantee you that it'll be these very same people who will be screaming if we relax our security measures and lost another airplane to a terrorist attack.

When you get right down to brass tacks, if you want to blame the people responsible for all this, blame the Muslim radicals who staged the 9/11 attacks to begin with.

Just don't blame the TSA screeners who are, after all, just doing their job. It's a lousy, crappy, shitty job, and I applaud them for doing it.

IHC