Hey guys. This is more of a personal opinion/advice thread.
I’m taking a flight to New York to see my family for Thanksgiving next week. I keep reading more and more things about the new TSA procedure if you opt out of the naked scanner - not to mention that they have naked scanners in the first place - and I really don’t know what to do if they “randomly select” me for it. I’m extremely against all of those procedures, but my parents paid like $300-$400 for me to visit and I’d really like to see everyone. I would of course pay them back if I were to get kicked out of the airport, so it will be my money in the end. Not too important, I guess.
I know I’m getting ahead of myself because they might not even choose me, but I’m just thinking about the worst-case scenario. I’d like to just blank out for a few minutes and get the scan done with if they choose me so that I can see my family, but I feel like I’ll be giving in to something I hate. If I comply, I’m basically giving them permission to do it to others, and I especially hate when I hear things about it happening to kids. It’s like I’m living the “First they came…” quotation to a much lesser degree.
Assuming I get chosen for the scan, would do you all personally think I should do?
Go through the groping system to see my family.
Stick to my values but spend Thanksgiving by myself eating McDonalds.
Tough question Brian. My first instinct is to tell you to buck the system. If I did though I’d be a hypocrite. I fly a lot and I’ve allowed them to pornoscan, grope, do saliva tests and toss my luggage Sometimes I feel like they single me out because I so obviously don’t fit the profile. “Look here we jerk around anglo saxson middle aged white guys too”. If you raise a stink at the airport It’ll probably be fruitless. You knew the drill before you went and you’ll probably come off looking like a nut job. You could try and get a refund and use alternate transportation ie: Amtrak or Greyhound. Or you can do as I have and allow the process. At the very least though you should send a letter or email to the carrier and lodge your protest. Then bitch about it on a few websites.
I think it really depends on how much you dislike getting groped by a government employee. I wouldn’t like it, but it’d be better than having to cancel my ticket and sit in a greyhound for who knows how many hours. Different people, different preferences.
But who knows, you might not even get ‘selected’, if this happens anyway you can wear a t-shirt showing your disapproval of the system, or make the government groper feel uncomfortable as well by softly moaning while he’s touching your privates. Banana in your pocket should give him a good scare too.
Just do what Spinal Tap did: Get a very large cucumber, wrap it in tinfoil, and stick it in your underwear. Or fill your pants with Beanie Babies.
Or wear tear-off excercise pants with extremely skimpy hot-pants underneath. Whatever is the shortest/most revealing you can get away with without violating the airport’s dress code. Maybe write HOTPANTS FOR SAFETY on them or something. Before going through the patdown/scanner just remove the long pants. The uglier and/or more overweight you are the better, ha. Just go totally absurdist. When all else fails and you have to put up with it, I feel that it might be better to make the procedure a public laughing stock rather than trying to foil them in some way or letting them disrupt your plans. There are multiple forms of protest rather than just stoic refusal.
Also, I know that a few of the libertarians in my area always pack a couple Campaign for Liberty brochures in thier checked luggage with a sign reading “Hello TSA employee, please take one” or something like that. Never know, you might convert one. TSA employees, like most government workers, are after all just normal people.
You can’t get on a plane without screening, so pretty much your only option if you plan on flying is to fight some kinds of screening, like the full body scanners. If you plan to do so, show up early. They will make it a pain for you and take their sweet time doing so.
If you absolutely don’t want to get screened in any way then rent a car.
This sort of thing is hard, because the state doesn’t give you many options: either comply or your life will be greatly inconvenienced or hellish at worse – and I’m inclined to not being a martyr in acting against the state or for libertarianism.
If you’re married and have a kid (like me) you’re dragging them into it as well, and if they’re not willing to go be affected by your defiance, it doesn’t seem very libertarianish. Something to think about.
“2. Stick to my values but spend Thanksgiving by myself eating McDonalds.”
Another thing to think about is your hierarchy of values. What do you value more: making an example of yourself for libertarianism or not putting your loved ones (unwillingly, again) through some stress and maybe embarassment, not to mention missing out on some awesome food/comraderie?
If they influence your decision, they are controlling you.
Pick your confrontations wisely. If you do not see your family because of them, they are stealing a part of your life. However, making sacrifices for liberty can bring you happiness too. Calculate your decision so large benefits result. i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott
Last night arriving in Toronto from London I was picked out of the long line at customs to have a full baggage check. That is the second time now. It seems that being a young looking man travelling alone puts you on the shit-list.
If everyone said FU to the scanners, we could fight the system. But you don’t control what everyone else does, so it makes more sense to defect. Its a prisoner’s dilemma. Get used to it. Free markets are a prisoner’s dilemma.
I’m planning to take the path of least resistance and just roll with it. They can squash you like a bug for no reason.
Oh, the mandatory porn scanners and all the other TSA perverts at the air port are the result of a market failure. I have long suspected that you don’t distinguish between a free market and a prison. The above confirms my suspicion.
Suppose… In a totally free market devoid of government mandated groping or naked scanning… An airline #1 decides to start using the body scanner. Now, this body scanner might be offensive to some people, but since nobody is forcing you to use it, you may freely use another airline #2 and not go through the procedure. However, you give up the assurance that the guy/girl sitting next to you may have a bomb in their shorts… shoes… pen wells… or vagina. Who knows where people will try to hide explosive or otherwise harmful devices (think drug mules). Which airline would you choose?
If you are the type of person who would choose the assurance posited with airline #1 , then I would fly to see your family and allow them to scan or grope you. If you would have chosen to fly with airline #2, then consider how much your family means to you. Maybe ask for a pretty lady to do the grope
Well, assuming we’re in a free market means that the government either doesn’t exist or doesn’t really involve itself in anything, in which case there’s a better chance that no one wants to blow up planes in the United States so that the government leaves the Middle East. And a free market implies I may be able to bring a knife on board so I can chop up someone if they try to attack me or anyone else.
I may have to ask for a pretty lady to do the groping, though.
“in which case there’s a better chance that no one wants to blow up planes in the United States so that the government leaves the Middle East.”
Be careful with this. Little chance doesn’t mean no chance, and no governments doesn’t automatically mean people will stop killing each other for x reason.
