TSA and Pigs

[davidpdx]

How -- and why -- the left and right united to turn TSA agents into public enemy number one.

-snip-

In a way, it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. 

For the past three years, a vicious PR campaign has demonized and dehumanized TSA screeners. Launched by the libertarian-right, this smear offensive sought to equate the TSA in the public mind with the worst people imaginable: Nazis, rapists, gropers, child molesters and sadistic enforcers of a police state.

The right-wing echo chamber would routinely trot out violent tropes and racist and homophobic language describing the TSA as Obama's "private army" and calling on liberty-loving Americans "to do something" to stop this "bureaucratic monster."

But while this anti-TSA campaign was created by the libertarian-right, it was enabled and strengthened by the left. Some of the most prominent progressive and leftie bloggers and journalists took an active part in the TSA media witch-hunt.

 They joined the right in labeling the TSA as America's enemy within, unaware that underneath the big-brother rhetoric and feigned right-wing concern about civil liberties, the anti-TSA campaign was really a union-busting operation with a specific set of political goals: to prevent the TSA from unionizing, to privatize airport security and to introduce Israeli-style racial profiling into the airport-screening process.

Progressives like to smugly ridicule dumb red-state voters who go against their own interests by joining political movements and by voting in politicians who end up screwing them. But as smug as they are, progressives have shown themselves no better. By joining the anti-TSA hysteria, they became unwitting tools in a campaign that promoted everything progressives are supposed to be against: demonizing workers, busting unions, privatizing government services, replacing unionized government employees with exploited minimum-wage-slaves and enriching corporate security contractors.

https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/tsa-shooting/3bcf7010448fed06f7526b0067cabe6cf7f92d0d/

The beginning of the article talks about the shooting in LA, I skipped over that as it was long and would have not allowed me to post anything else.

I've never read anything from this site before so I'm a bit unschooled as to the source. How TSA employees are treated bothers me. I think for people to treat others like trash is unacceptable. As for the stuff about the union, I don't really have an informed opinion. I am interested what others think of the article.

[Tien1985]

1. Eh plenty of us

Have no problem with the guy who has the job and have a lot of problems with TSA as a whole.

[davidpdx]

2. Me neither

A few times I've posted my experience when I had a broken ankle and flew from Korea to the US and back. The boot I had to wear was a PIA and was like having a bowling ball attached to your foot. When I went through security in both Korea and the US I immediately alerted them and was cooperative. They were extremely kind and didn't make me take the boot off even though I offered.

[billhicks76]

11. Blah

Dumbest article yet. Conflating apples and oranges. The hypocrites are the apologists that enable the loss of our sacred rights. Sorry but these excuses just make us liberals look bad. Some of us care about the descent into a police state. It has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism. It's about decency and commOn sense. When Bush started it we were alarmed and then disgusted. Just because Obama is carrying the baton changes nothing. For all we now he feels threatened.

[bemildred]

3. Some of us want the TSA abolished, which sounds quite unlike what the Teahadis want:

the anti-TSA campaign was really a union-busting operation with a specific set of political goals: to prevent the TSA from unionizing, to privatize airport security and to introduce Israeli-style racial profiling into the airport-screening process.

But anyway, the fact that we sometimes agree with the Teahadis about something does not mean we both are wrong.

[davidpdx]

6. I think we can both want the same thing, but go about it in different ways

The teabaggers see the TSA as a conspiracy to plant bugs in their assholes (and if it were true, we know they'd enjoy that). From what I can see Liberals have privacy concerns.

Also as I stated below there is a big difference between disliking the TSA policies and treating TSA employees like crap. They are human beings.

[bemildred]

7. The Teahadis are loons. Their opinions means squat.

That's my point, what they think is irrelevant.

[davidpdx]

8. I agree with you about them being loons

No bones there. Their opinions, though ignorant, get spread nonetheless. What they want is essentially a more hardcore version of what the TSA is now which plays into people's fears about privacy. Fear can cause resentment and nasty behavior toward those doing their job. I think you will find plenty of liberals who approach airport security in this way.

The agendas are quite different, but I think there is some overlap as to how the TSA is seen and treated in real life.

[billhicks76]

12. ?

TSA is a republican creation and continues to be so. Even Tea Baggers are alarmed and that just proves how bad they are. We were on board since 2002 and it's about time. This is not about my enemies enemy is my friend. That's just a game. The reality is almost no one likes TSA for their policies. Conservatives show it more by denigrating people's race and lack of education but no one likes being groped or intimidated or lied to. Wait till they are on the highways.

[davidpdx]

14. Go back and read my prior comments

I'm not defending the TSA. What I'm saying is people in general (liberal or conservative) can act shitty toward people.

[Th1onein]

4. So, some nut shot a TSA agent and now they're ALL being demonized in some far-fetched conspiracy?

Give me a break.

[davidpdx]

5. The point is they have been demonized way before the shooting

I can disagree with the TSA policies without treating TSA employees like shit. There is a fine line there.

[blkmusclmachine]

9. TSA gives you the finger. And the nude-o-scope. No child or elderly person will be left ungroped.

[Oldenuff]

10. The truth of the matter is,that anyone who would accept a job at

the TSA,participates in the degradation of our Constitution.Like it or not..that is the truth.Think about it.

[billhicks76]

13. Yes

Basic Logic 101