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It's always so strange to me that people seem to consistently have bad experiences with TSA. I've travelled more than the average person and have never had a ba

by warent 8y ago

It's always so strange to me that people seem to consistently have bad experiences with TSA. I've travelled more than the average person and have never had a bad experience with TSA. Maybe because I'm a young white male? Once I even accidentally packed a small toolkit in my carry-on rather than my checked luggage and they let me keep it!

umanwizard 8y ago
How do you react to petty authority figures in general? How much did it bother you when, for example, elementary school playground monitors enforced arbitrary rules capriciously? It bothered me a lot, to the extent that I still have vivid memories of it, and I also hate the TSA with every fiber of my being. So I think it might just be a personality thing.
- throwawayjava 8y ago
  I've been thinking about this lately because I also hate the TSA way more than is even remotely rational. Even for frequent fliers, the TSA is pretty far down on any rational list of complaints about government. I fly almost every week, but in the past 12 months I have probably spent a lot more time at city hall on a stupid residential parking permit than I did in (non-customs) airport security lines. In addition to personality, a lot of people project much larger political ideologies onto the TSA. You see a lot of that even in this comment section.
  - umanwizard 8y ago
    Right, I'll be the first to admit that it isn't totally rational. I get much more upset about the TSA, since I see their petty authoritarianism face to face, than I do about things that affect me much more but only indirectly.
  - Reelin 8y ago
    > the TSA is pretty far down on any rational list of complaints about government Only if focusing exclusively on direct interactions. From an ideological perspective, I don't think it's projection (your wording) to observe that in their current form they align closely with both general government authoritarianism and the exercise of federal power over the states. From a pragmatic perspective, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be alarmed about how such security measures seem to normalize invasive government behaviors in general. Societal norms and values aren't static, so how we do things in the present can and does affect how the public views things in the future.
reshie 8y ago
i think its just the invasive aspect. personally i have not had too much issue but one time i pulled up my pants possibly weirdly (boxers and pants unaligned that i could feel) and a overzealous tsa officer thought it looked suspicious not a strip search but they got grabbier than usual. white male too.

by warent 8y ago

umanwizard 8y ago

How do you react to petty authority figures in general? How much did it bother you when, for example, elementary school playground monitors enforced arbitrary rules capriciously? It bothered me a lot, to the extent that I still have vivid memories of it, and I also hate the TSA with every fiber of my being. So I think it might just be a personality thing.

throwawayjava 8y ago
I've been thinking about this lately because I also hate the TSA way more than is even remotely rational. Even for frequent fliers, the TSA is pretty far down on any rational list of complaints about government. I fly almost every week, but in the past 12 months I have probably spent a lot more time at city hall on a stupid residential parking permit than I did in (non-customs) airport security lines. In addition to personality, a lot of people project much larger political ideologies onto the TSA. You see a lot of that even in this comment section.
- umanwizard 8y ago
  Right, I'll be the first to admit that it isn't totally rational. I get much more upset about the TSA, since I see their petty authoritarianism face to face, than I do about things that affect me much more but only indirectly.
- Reelin 8y ago
  > the TSA is pretty far down on any rational list of complaints about government Only if focusing exclusively on direct interactions. From an ideological perspective, I don't think it's projection (your wording) to observe that in their current form they align closely with both general government authoritarianism and the exercise of federal power over the states. From a pragmatic perspective, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be alarmed about how such security measures seem to normalize invasive government behaviors in general. Societal norms and values aren't static, so how we do things in the present can and does affect how the public views things in the future.

reshie 8y ago

i think its just the invasive aspect. personally i have not had too much issue but one time i pulled up my pants possibly weirdly (boxers and pants unaligned that i could feel) and a overzealous tsa officer thought it looked suspicious not a strip search but they got grabbier than usual. white male too.