Find The Boots

Rantings from a few corporate types about life, technology, travel, guns, politics, and everything good in the world.

Reader Mailbag

Saturday, September 16, 2006

It occurs that we're going to get one of those internet emails soon that says "Kids graduating today have never received a paper Happy Birthday card...." Anyway, reader TF sends us the following post from FlyerTalk, reprinted here in its entirity since we're all too lazy these days to click on a link.

The background is that a bunch of whinging frequent flyers think it's a violation of their civil liberties to take off their shoes and not carry a gallon jug of water on an airplane. And therefore they delight in taking it out (verbally since they're probably chickens anyway) on the TSA minions. Here is the response from a TSA person, AngryDan, lurking on the board:

Uhm...I know that this may come as a surprise to you but making an ass of yourself and delaying your fellow passengers does not make you a freedom fighter.

There are effective protest methods out there. For one you can write your congressman or the airlines. This method has changed TSA policy in the past. The pat down procedure was modified because of public pressure primarily from female passengers. Despite recent changes, the TSA as an organization has responded to the shoe screening concerns.

Believe it or not we do have an established practice for addressing government policies you disagree with. It's called an election. If this matters enough to you, find a candidate who opposes TSA policies and support him. If you truly believe in your ideas, you should let them stand the test of an election.
You could refuse to fly. And you could send a letter to the airlines telling them that you won't fly.

Or better yet, you could buy a ticket and refuse to cooperate with TSA at the checkpoint. Make a statement saying that you won't comply and attempt to
bypass the screening process. When you are arrested, challenge the constitutionality of the law in court. You may not win. But you have a moral obligation to fight unjust laws. Think of it. You would be like Ghandi or Martin Luther King spending time in jail opposing an unjust law. Please do this!
I believe in the TSA. I don't believe in everything the TSA has done.

But I believe in the TSA enough to make a career out of it. If you oppose the TSA's policies you should stand behind your beliefs enough to do something besides make an ass of yourself. Truly stand up for your beliefs.
The other day, someone compared me to a NAZI stormtrooper for not allowing him to carry his Old Spice through the checkpoint. I had so many thoughts. First of all, if I was really comparable to a NAZI guard then I don't think he would be able to insult me with impunity. I smiled and offered him a complaint form. I don't think the NAZIs had a complaint forms.

Secondly, don't you think that if you really believe that the TSA was comparable to an organization that committed genocide that you have some obligation to do something besides delaying flights. I am forced to conclude that you don't really believe what you say, or that you aren't really willing to stand up for your beliefs. Either way we end with the way this post started.
You are just making an ass of yourself.

You tell 'em!

0 Comments:

Find The Boots

An executive goes on a business trip. When he arrives, it's raining cats and dogs. To avoid ruining his shoes, he purchases a pair of galoshes for $15, which he expenses under "Misc." on his expense report. A week later, the accounting department rejects his expense report, with a post-it note that says that the company does not reimburse for items of clothing. The next trip, the executive turns in an expense report without the galoshes, but with a post-it note that says "FIND THE BOOTS!".