TSA screeners point of view on pat downs

I sympathize, but at the same time IMHO the verbal abuse must continue. You need to squeeze the TSA from all possible sides - passengers, their own employees, and the airlines for any meaningful change to occur.

I also find it somewhat disheartening the number of comments that fall back on the "I am a professional, I don't decide policy" argument - which to me smells a little too close to "just following orders" to be comfortable.

Now that the Godwin wall has been broken, I found this tidbit interesting:

> "Do people know what a Nazi is? One can’t describe me as a Nazi because I am following a security procedure of designed to find prohibited items on a passenger’s body. A Nazi is someone with hatred and ignorance in their hearts, a person who carried out actions of execution and extermination of those based on their religion, origins or sexual preferences."

The problem with this statement is that the security procedure will not find prohibited items on a passenger's body.

Secondly, a "Nazi" in the average case is just a guy trying to survive in a nation gone completely mad. What, does anyone seriously believe that every German soldier in the war was filled with "hatred and ignorance" and gleefully executed Jews and gays? I'd argue most were not so much different than you and I - people just doing the only job available to them, morality be damned.

So, at the risk of being inflammatory, I'd say they are like Nazis, or rather that the situation is rather like what the Nazis faced: a lot of batshit insane policies instituted by megalomaniacs blindly being followed by an army of dutiful people, many of whom take pride in the fact that their professionalism prevents them from rebelling from a clearly immoral act. In fact, many German soldiers were able justify their participation by believing that they were protecting Germany, not the Nazis. Sound familiar to any of the comments on the page?

I realize that for many TSA screeners, their career prospects are not exactly widespread, and asking them to quit and starve just to appease their moral conscience is unrealistic. Nonetheless, this does not imply the inverse - which is that just because these people are human, have feelings, and are following unpopular policies, doesn't excuse them from criticism, even particularly harsh ones.

Yes, you have feelings. Yes, you are human like the rest of us. Yes, you are only doing your job. But despite your best intentions, you are still molesting me. Doing so with orders shifts the moral responsibility somewhat, but doesn't change what you're doing still.

FTA:

“Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me, said in my presence as I patted passengers down. These comments are painful and demoralizing, one day is bad enough, but I have to come back tomorrow, the next day and the day after that to keep hearing these comments. If something doesn’t change in the next two weeks I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this taunting. I go home and I cry. I am serving my country, I should not have to go home and cry after a day of honorably serving my country.”

--anonymous TSA screener

Good. Fuck you, anonymous TSA screener. You feel bad about groping people all day and helping move this country closer to a police state? Find another job.

I said this before, but I'll say it again: we're selecting for people who don't find this uncomfortable. Everyone else will eventually quit for their own sanity, even if they can't really afford to be out of a job. If it weren't for this bad economy, it would be happening even faster, but we're selecting for perverted TSA screeners (and possibly creating them).

The only fix is to stop these insane searches.

I hate the policy and it is ridiculous, and we need to promote the voices of the TSA employees who also hate it.

Did anybody really think that the TSA employees were going to be excited about doing this? They're just trying to make a living.

So, rather than assaulting them? isn't there a better way to use their displeasure in making the change? These people are also apparently victims in this charade of security.

The front-line TSA employees are allies in this issue, not the enemy.

I'd like to see John Pistole take the abuse for a day. Get him on the front-line doing the pat downs and getting the abuse. Unfortunately his pride would probably prevent him from reversing his decisions.

Obama shouldn't be asking for a less intrusive way to screen passengers, he should be demanding that another way be found.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/11/21/us_airport_secu...

My take: "I was asked by a fellow as I was walking through Lexington whether it excited me to wear the redcoat and serve a tyrannical King George. I was very offended and felt unwell."