5 ms·

>* The best interaction I ever had with the TSA was when I came upon a pair openly wearing their uniforms around a grocery store, so I was able to call them fas

• braythwayt 8y ago
  It's not an either-or ;-)
  • clubm8 8y ago
    Heh point taken. I'm no slave to civility by any means, but I am mindful that screaming at a couple off duty agents trying to shop, who I've had no prior interaction with, probably does not help my cause ;-)
    • mindslight 8y ago
      I didn't "scream", but stated. They ended up making the scene, I did not. We've all got pent up frustration, but when dealing with thugs they're inevitably going to try to escalate - so you need to remain calm. I do think it is useful to influence what is perceived as being the general consensus. Both generally for public opinion, and specifically to undermine the organization's morale. In fact, that's also what my comment was doing here - given that courts have no problem continuing to bless this fascism, it's about the only hope we've got. How much of the support for say the Iraq war was due to simple herd consensus - that feeling that you expect any arbitrary person to be in general support of it, and thus talking about it will likely just lead to an irreconcilable argument? "Support the troops" is a motte-and-bailey setup.
      • RankingMember 8y ago
        So you simply stated, in a polite way "Excuse me, but I'd just like to note that, in my estimate, you two are fascist child molesters. This concludes my political statement of opinion. Good day."? I'm just having trouble imagining how you politely call someone a fascist child molester.
• mieseratte 8y ago
  > There's been progress on that front with several Trump administration officials confronted while dining for example. What is the progress / outcome? Have there been any changes in policy resulting from public confrontations?
  • tomschlick 8y ago
    Nope. Just a bunch of people circle jerking over accosting officials in public and recording it.
  • s73v3r_ 8y ago
    The resignation of Scott Pruitt.
    • mieseratte 8y ago
      > The resignation of Scott Pruitt. I hadn't realized that was his stated reason[0] for doing so. Thank you for providing a real answer instead of just downvoting and moving along! [0] - https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-resigns/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-res...
• existencebox 8y ago
  First, and more clearcut, I don't think ire should be limited. Those who voluntarily participate in enforcing the current system are not exempt from the fallout of their choices any more than much of HN would suggest engineers be exempt from the ethical decisions of our employment. Look recently, people are saying Microsoft employees should quit because MS sells office products to ICE. If that's the line in the sand we're drawing, "working directly for the TSA" seems pretty well and truly over it. (Full disclosure, I'm actually not sold on this "hard" stance, but TSA seems more of a slam dunk than office products in terms of complicity, and if I regardless put myself in the eyes of someone who DOES believe this stance...) There's a fair discussion about "was the way you confronted them that of a professional adult" but at the end of the day, I'm finding it hard to honestly be too upset at the language used outside of a very token "tsk tsk". TSA has not had a history of treating my wife and I respectfully so it's difficult to reciprocate, and can even see the argument that by adding social friction to working there you erode their ability to push policies like this if workers go "wait this may be a bad idea that may make people really angry at us." ESPECIALLY now that there's no real legal recourse outside of petitioning congress. (An anecdote: I was very sick going through security recently, extremely sleep deprived and falling over without support, they pulled us over to secondary screening and refused to let me sit down while they were checking my bags, ended up vomiting into a trashcan while the agent gave me lip. Turns out all this was over a pair of nail clippers the wife forgot she had packed... and on the RETURN trip.)
  • instaheat 8y ago
    I would have taken that opportunity to throw up on the agent.
    • bilbo0s 8y ago
      I think you may be underestimating the number of agents who have been thrown up on. (And the number who have had to call for cleanups for vomit that did not land on them, and medical personnel for the ill traveler, is even larger.) The thing is though, that's what they signed up for. If they can't handle vomit, they should look for another job. From a certain point of view, it's better for the TSA agent to be soiled with vomit than it is to allow a potentially contagious passenger on what may be a very long flight.
• DamnYuppie 8y ago
  > There's been progress on that front with several Trump administration officials confronted while dining for example. No there hasn't. It just makes everyone think these are petulant children. They ask for respect and equality of others but don't wish to give it to anyone who doesn't agree with their ideology.
  • AlexandrB 8y ago
    What's funny about your comment is that it's ambiguous whether you're calling the Trump officials or the protestors yelling at them petulant children.
    • AnimalMuppet 8y ago
      Why does it have to be either/or? It could be both/and. But in the instance of the comment in question, I think it was pretty clear that it was the protesters who were acting like petulant children.
  • s73v3r_ 8y ago
    "They ask for respect and equality of others but don't wish to give it to anyone who doesn't agree with their ideology." In this case, "doesn't agree with their ideology" actually means, "Believes that many classes of people don't deserve human rights".
• ihsw2 8y ago
  > There's been progress on that front with several Trump administration officials confronted while dining for example. Normalizing the harassment of elected officials is dangerous and it puts us on a direct path towards politically-motivated random acts of violence.
  • staunch 8y ago
    It's the exact reason the Roman Republic failed! The powerful political actors realized they could just physically intimidate and impede their opponents with gangs. No one that believes in a functioning society should support politically motivated violence of any kind.
    • sincerely 8y ago
      What do you think a war is, if not "politically motivated violence"?
      • ihsw2 8y ago
        Do you believe the US is in a state of civil war?
      • staunch 8y ago
        Politics in this context clearly means internal politics but there are many different causes of war. Many wars have been fought in self-defense, for example to challenge a foreign invasion.
  • jacquesm 8y ago
    You mean like when the now president of the United States did it?
    • ihsw2 8y ago
      There is a difference between exercising your freedom of speech and the social justice warrior crusading that the parent commenter is advocating. Nobody is above criticism, that much is certain, but we shouldn't cross the River Styx into a world where random acts of violence is the preferred method of political expression.
• s73v3r_ 8y ago
  "Maybe direct your ire at the people at the top who make these policies instead." These agents still choose to carry out those policies.
• CNJ7654 8y ago
  "Progress" Yes! Completely bypassing the democratic system and resorting to harassment to reach your goals! How progressive!