

TSA screeners point of view on pat downs - dododo
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/2010/11/18/tsa-enhanced-pat-downs-the-screeners-point-of-view/

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potatolicious
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.

~~~
toast76
You saved me the effort of typing it.

I feel ANY person in ANY role has a duty to themselves and the people they
work with (or for) to not comply with orders/instructions which go against
their beliefs, values or morals.

When I was younger I sold used cars. We were instructed that if a potential
buyer asked us if a car had been involved in accident, we were to shrug and
say "we don't know" even if it was clear to us that it had been. Whenever I
was asked I told the truth...most of which then didn't buy the car. When I
lost one too many "done deal" sales, I lost my job. I had to go find another
one. but at least I never had to go home and cry myself to sleep for being a
cheating, lying scumbag.

These people aren't "drafted" to fight a cause they don't believe in, these
are people voluntarily doing a job they signed up to do. I don't envy their
position, as I am sure if they could get another job they would. It doesn't
defend their complicity in acts which they know to be wrong. If they don't
agree with what they're doing, they have the choice to not do it.

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shapoopy123
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.

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Natsu
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.

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pedalpete
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...](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/11/21/us_airport_security/)

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patrickgzill
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."

