CDD 18 Nov 2010 TSA

Lots of jokes about TSA groping, but think! It's no joking matter

by
Curt Dale

I've seen jokes and cartoons which are turning the TSA gropes and feels into a lighthearted matter. At first, I thought some of them are funny, and I maybe they are. But it's the kind of funny that I'll compare with someone who laughs when a person falls down. If we, as Americans, seriously look at this intrusion into our privacy, invading our space, we must see that it is taking away our precious civil rights. I heard a caller on a local radio talkshow tonight chastising flyers who are resisting this intrusion. He rebuked the citizen flyers because they are unwilling to allow themselves to be violated this way while our warfighters are defending us in battle. The argument was that we should be willing to give up this privacy or submit to this invasion of privacy as a way to do our part to stay safe. What a horrible argument.

I spent my 27 years in the military as my contribution to keep us safe from these kinds of intrusions. I would not have wanted one person to submit to such decadent humiliation out of consideration of me being in combat or standing alert to defend our freedom. I was doing it to defend against such outrages. That caller had no understanding of freedom or of its importance. My son is studying George Orwell's 1984, and he's asked me to review some of his papers. That has caused me to revisit Orwell's incredibly disturbing book. Wow! The parallels between that book which has been a prime demonstration of and probably the euphamism for overreaching government, is absolutely frightening.

Think of the "eye" which saw everything in 1984. Think of the "telescreens." Think of the "proles," defenseless and disregarded. I instantly equated the eye to the scanner at the airport, stripping us nakes of our modesty. I equated the telescreens to the monitor where a TSA agent was looking at every vestige of our physical being. I equated the person who is totally under the authority of the person officiating at the intrusive probing, feeling, scanning and dehumanization of US, the proles. Of course, the scanners, eyes, screens and other gadgets used today are incredibly more sophisticated and intrusive than anything Orwell could even envision.

No, there is no joke here! Make up all of the crude, or subtle, or risque combacks you can, and they will be incongruent when juxtaposed with the infringement on our rights and privacy.

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