Airport Security
Peggy Noonan has an article today, detailing what a ridiculous joke airport security is, as run by the professionalized, federalized TSA.
Or it would be a joke, if it wasn't so creepy. She makes the point that it has evolved into East Germany, 1960. I would say Germany, 1939. She calls it the dictatorship of the clerks. Apathetic TSA personnel walking up and down the long security lines, barking orders.
"I need your ID open and faced forward! No, you must put that in the bin!"
"Get your computers out. Shoes off. Jackets off. Miss, Miss, I told you, line four. No, line four."
"Keep your boarding pass in your hand at all times." (Papers! Papers!)
"Take off your sneakers!"
"The old and the very young in this line. The rest in this line."
"Leave your valuables in this pile and form a line to enter the showers. "
She tells the story of a mother with her 2-3 year old daughter. The little girl gets scared by all the adults yelling, the tension, her doll is taken away.
When Ms Noonan points out to the TSA agent that the yelling is frightening the little girl,
"We are following procedures!" said the TSA agent. Her mouth was twisted in anger.
I nodded and said softly, "I know, I'm just saying--a little gentle in your tone."
She looked at my ticket and smiled.
"You have been chosen by the computer for extra attention."
Come Vit ME!
If you've ever asked yourself, "How could the people of Germany fall under the control of the Nazis?", watch the passengers in an airport. They are systematically worn down until they, hunched over, acquiesce and go along, "just to get on the flight". Their wills are broken. They don't question the stupidity of rules that make no sense. They just go along.
Personally, I took a chapter out of Atlas Shrugged and simply refuse to use the airlines unless it's for business, which is pretty rare. When I go to visit family in upstate NY, I drive. It's a 15 hour drive, but I prefer it to succumbing to the 4th Reich.
Or it would be a joke, if it wasn't so creepy. She makes the point that it has evolved into East Germany, 1960. I would say Germany, 1939. She calls it the dictatorship of the clerks. Apathetic TSA personnel walking up and down the long security lines, barking orders.
"I need your ID open and faced forward! No, you must put that in the bin!"
"Get your computers out. Shoes off. Jackets off. Miss, Miss, I told you, line four. No, line four."
"Keep your boarding pass in your hand at all times." (Papers! Papers!)
"Take off your sneakers!"
"The old and the very young in this line. The rest in this line."
"Leave your valuables in this pile and form a line to enter the showers. "
She tells the story of a mother with her 2-3 year old daughter. The little girl gets scared by all the adults yelling, the tension, her doll is taken away.
When Ms Noonan points out to the TSA agent that the yelling is frightening the little girl,
"We are following procedures!" said the TSA agent. Her mouth was twisted in anger.
I nodded and said softly, "I know, I'm just saying--a little gentle in your tone."
She looked at my ticket and smiled.
"You have been chosen by the computer for extra attention."
Come Vit ME!
If you've ever asked yourself, "How could the people of Germany fall under the control of the Nazis?", watch the passengers in an airport. They are systematically worn down until they, hunched over, acquiesce and go along, "just to get on the flight". Their wills are broken. They don't question the stupidity of rules that make no sense. They just go along.
Personally, I took a chapter out of Atlas Shrugged and simply refuse to use the airlines unless it's for business, which is pretty rare. When I go to visit family in upstate NY, I drive. It's a 15 hour drive, but I prefer it to succumbing to the 4th Reich.
posted by Exador at
8:31 AM
1 Comments:
Funny how the Collective Jungian Consciousness is having so many of us think along these lines.
I've been re-reading Winds Of War, and am repeatedly struck by how similar we've become to the 3rd Reich. I had nightmares all last night about having misplaced my driver's license and therefore not being allowed to go on vacation. When I woke up I realised it was a fact--I can't fly to Florida without my I.D. My "papers".
Arbeit Macht Frei.
By
Kat Coble, at 9:17 AM
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