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If we assume the TSA is a political response, and we consider the statement "Politics is show business for non-pretty people"* then the TSA's policies being ref

If we assume the TSA is a political response, and we consider the statement "Politics is show business for non-pretty people"* then the TSA's policies being referred to as Security Theater seems much more expected. *yes, I took a liberty to avoid such a negative emotional content word

zithtar 14y ago
Why would you avoid saying the word ugly?
mattgreenrocks 14y ago
It's a terrible headline that panders to readers' own bias. Most of politics isn't based on reason, but more squishy things. It doesn't take much nuance to figure this out.
hlreed 14y ago
I would think that the word politics would carry more negative emotional content than ugly.
crusso 14y ago
> "Politics is show business for non-pretty people" It's worse than that, since I'd categorize the TSA as part of the blob of bureaucracy that is one step removed from politics or real political (democratic) accountability. Voters and politicians panicked after 2001 and acted to do "something". Unfortunately, it's been over a decade since that something was put into place and for at very least half that time we've known that it's a mostly misguided effort. How long does it take for the US government to undo mistakes like this, if ever?
- psadauskas 14y ago
  The "War on Drugs" has been going on for over 40 years now, so there's your answer.
  - crusso 14y ago
    Yeah... the Constitution should have had some kind of efficacy test and timeout for all legislation. Maybe now that we know a lot about code refactoring, we could apply the same concepts to legislation. To connect back to another HN topic today, maybe we need a lot more articles entitled "Write Less Laws".
- revscat 14y ago
  They do not undo mistakes, at least without vast efforts, up to and including bloodshed. Although I forget exactly who said it I am a reminded of a quote: "Bureaucracies never die, they just change their name."
- rhizome 14y ago
  Perhaps the TSA could be said to be show business for people too ugly for politics? Just going with a theme, apologies to Woody Allen.

zithtar 14y ago

Why would you avoid saying the word ugly?

mattgreenrocks 14y ago

It's a terrible headline that panders to readers' own bias. Most of politics isn't based on reason, but more squishy things. It doesn't take much nuance to figure this out.

hlreed 14y ago

I would think that the word politics would carry more negative emotional content than ugly.

crusso 14y ago

> "Politics is show business for non-pretty people" It's worse than that, since I'd categorize the TSA as part of the blob of bureaucracy that is one step removed from politics or real political (democratic) accountability. Voters and politicians panicked after 2001 and acted to do "something". Unfortunately, it's been over a decade since that something was put into place and for at very least half that time we've known that it's a mostly misguided effort. How long does it take for the US government to undo mistakes like this, if ever?

psadauskas 14y ago
The "War on Drugs" has been going on for over 40 years now, so there's your answer.
- crusso 14y ago
  Yeah... the Constitution should have had some kind of efficacy test and timeout for all legislation. Maybe now that we know a lot about code refactoring, we could apply the same concepts to legislation. To connect back to another HN topic today, maybe we need a lot more articles entitled "Write Less Laws".
revscat 14y ago
They do not undo mistakes, at least without vast efforts, up to and including bloodshed. Although I forget exactly who said it I am a reminded of a quote: "Bureaucracies never die, they just change their name."
rhizome 14y ago
Perhaps the TSA could be said to be show business for people too ugly for politics? Just going with a theme, apologies to Woody Allen.