Terrorist in my pants?
I thought I’d share a gripe regarding something I endured this past weekend.
I grew up in and around aviation. One of my favorite pastimes was attending the local air shows when I was little. Now, that I’m a dad I take my kids to the annual show in my town. When I was little you could just walk right into an air show without anybody bothering you. Usually, attendance was free. But, since 9/11 security has just been escalating to ridiculous levels. Last year, as in the previous couple years, a big security guard wanted to look in my backpack for bombs and such. As he did that my son said, “Dad, why is he doing that?” I responded clearly so he could hear me, “This is called being a suspect, son.” The guard quickly halted his examination of my stuff and waved us through – like I had cracked the code or something and now his search was useless. Now, this year, it gets better. They have the security tables manned by youth – young kids in some sort of ROTC program, Navy. I asked the girls how old they were; 12 and 14. They not only looked in our bag but in every little compartment, like they were looking for a joint. They went through my daughter’s little Hello Kitty lunch pack. Then, they had me pull up my shirt and turn around so they could see I wasn’t packing anything in my waist band. Next year I expect either an enhanced pat down or the TSA xray machines. And, these little kids are too young to understand the context on this kind of thing. It just gives me the willies…
You know, I’m just not scarred of terrorism. Is that strange? This all feels like we are just being protected from ourselves, like there’s a terrorist in my pants (my wife might argue that point, sorry honey).
Thanks for enjoying my gripe.
I grew up in and around aviation. One of my favorite pastimes was attending the local air shows when I was little. Now, that I’m a dad I take my kids to the annual show in my town. When I was little you could just walk right into an air show without anybody bothering you. Usually, attendance was free. But, since 9/11 security has just been escalating to ridiculous levels. Last year, as in the previous couple years, a big security guard wanted to look in my backpack for bombs and such. As he did that my son said, “Dad, why is he doing that?” I responded clearly so he could hear me, “This is called being a suspect, son.” The guard quickly halted his examination of my stuff and waved us through – like I had cracked the code or something and now his search was useless. Now, this year, it gets better. They have the security tables manned by youth – young kids in some sort of ROTC program, Navy. I asked the girls how old they were; 12 and 14. They not only looked in our bag but in every little compartment, like they were looking for a joint. They went through my daughter’s little Hello Kitty lunch pack. Then, they had me pull up my shirt and turn around so they could see I wasn’t packing anything in my waist band. Next year I expect either an enhanced pat down or the TSA xray machines. And, these little kids are too young to understand the context on this kind of thing. It just gives me the willies…
You know, I’m just not scarred of terrorism. Is that strange? This all feels like we are just being protected from ourselves, like there’s a terrorist in my pants (my wife might argue that point, sorry honey).
Thanks for enjoying my gripe.
The only thing which kept me from losing my sh!t - (and for those of you who met me this weekend and got a feel for how easy going I am - I was *really* close) - was me repeating to myself:
"I am a political satirist. Observe it all. Blog this sh!t."
So, stay tuned for a new Papa Possum piece.
LS, I have no idea what you are talking about.
Save them.
Next time we get together, Mr. LS & I will use them to light cigars to have with some bourbon.
I will keep them safe for future use. :)
IMO, the true terrorists are those wishing to protect us from the bombers, by taking away our freedom and individual rights. Rather than protection from bomber and foreign terrorists, all I've seen since 9/11 is the terror flooding this country from DC.
It is not strange at all. Statistically, you have an orders of magnitude higher probability of being hit by lightning than you do of being attacked or killed by a terrorist. You have a still higher orders of magnitude probability of being injured or killed by a drunk driver every time you get in a car. The human mind can only worry about so much, so if you're going to be afraid of something, be efficient and concentrate on drunk drivers and lightning. See "What Are They So Afraid Of?" on straightlinelogic: http://www.straightlinelogic.com/straigh...
They were outlawed in Germany in 1945 but are alive and well in the USA: Hitlerjugend and the League of German Girls.
"The Hitler Youth was organized into corps under adult leaders"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Yout...
The terrorists I fear most are headquartered in the Dark Center and in elite banking enclaves.
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Enough Said!
I BOYCOTT sharks. I don't fly. So far, I haven't been shown this BNB treatment on buses or Amtrack. When that happens once. I will BOYCOTT. I no longer go to the state and county fair for the same reason. Only sheeple attend these events or use these TSA monitored modes of transportation. So far, the sheeple don't mind and the events and transportation services haven't suffered economically. Until business slacks off, the behavior will continue. This is why I have so little hope for AS as an operating principle solving statism. Few will join John Galt in the Gulch. Hard bitten Libertarian / Austrian economics folks professing free markets are only Americans who will BOYCOTT.