Airport Security

[danielrbischoff]

really isn't a big deal at all.

The problem is that the TSA can make people nervous and then in turn that anxiety sets the TSA off and it's just this cycle of an unwelcoming environment creating unwelcoming reactions from people undergoing searches and interrogations they didn't really deserve in the first place.

Honestly, if the terrorists really wanna get me and all my fellow 'mericans, they'll get us. There's no stopping them, that's the nature of fear and fear mongering we've accepted into our lives. You can't get past it unless you accept the inevitability that bad stuff will happen, people will die, and really, you might be surprised by your death, but you'll die regardless at some point. Who are the terrorists? A bunch of people in some far off country I've never met? Or the people that are perpetuating fear every second of every day on TV, online, in the White House, in Congress?

The nature of reality is such that I can only see what's happening in my own life, not on some al-qaeda watchlist or from the view of a lethally armed drone. You tell me I should be scared, I say "why?" You tell me I should be scared of a certain person. I say "who?"

When I go to the airport, I'm not scared of terrorists, or violence, or hijackers, or any of the things the TSA supposedly guards us against. I'm scare of the TSA, I'm scared of them detaining me, asking me questions with no cause or reason, and eventually making me miss my flight, whether or not I showed up early.

But, I'm sorry if our complaining about something-worthy-of-complaint bothers you.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Considering about 150,000 people go through LAX every day, and maybe one or two of them actually get stopped by the TSA, you really don't have that much to be afraid of.

Honestly, I go through a bunch of airports every year. Trust me when I say that as long as you aren't freaking out and yelling at the TSA, you can usually just get right through.

The reason why they have to have all of those things is because people do try to sabotage, blow up, or do terrible things to airplanes with hundreds of people on board. And the problem is we don't know who is going to do it. While we could totally get rid of the TSA, there is a reason that they exist.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Not afraid of the TSA themselves, afraid that they'll delay me in getting to my flight. Plus why do I just feel like cattle headed to slaughter in airport security lines?

 

[Green_Lantern]

I actually feel kind of gypped that I'm not getting the same security experience that apparently everyone but two people around here have had.

 

[Sourdeez]

TLDR: Daniel looks like a terrorist.

 

[Green_Lantern]

Basically sums up this entire forum.

 

[madster111]

The reason why they have to have all of those things is because people do try to sabotage, blow up, or do terrible things to airplanes with hundreds of people on board.

You're more likely to die from choking to death, let alone dying in a plane crash, LET ALONE dying in a 'terrorist' attack.

Set off an explosive with some toxic shit at a medium sized football game, and you've killed more people than 10x A380 crashes.

Terrorist attacks on planes are a stupid idea, TSA or no. The TSA provide a (retarded) false sense of security at the expense of being treated like a criminal and having any sense of 'privacy' and 'rights' thrown out the window.

 

[De-Ting]

We can all just thank 9/11.

 

[NickKmet]

I've never had a bad experience with TSA. Though I hate going through airport security. I've had them sniff my laptop for explosives several times, though that hasn't happened in a few years.

But really, TSA is a joke. If I'm remembering correctly, they've had plenty of internal audits where agents were still able to get explosives and other weapons through security, due to incompetence, negligence, and poor screening.

I think what's more bothersome is the VIPR program TSA has that allows them to operate outside of airports. How would you like to have to stop at a random checkpoint on a freeway somewhere to have some dude grope you and sniff your car for bombs and shit? Because they're doing that in pilot programs in Virginia. Really, the bill that created TSA needs to change to restrict them to things like airplanes and trains.

But honestly, we shouldn't complain. Just read about Israel's airport security, a fun and happy place for brown people.

Israeli security, by contrast, separates travelers into two groups before they ever get to an x-ray machine. All passengers waiting to check in speak to a polyglot agent. The agents, most of whom are female, ask a series of questions, looking for nerves or inconsistent statements. While the vast majority of travelers pass the question and answer session and have a pretty easy time going through security—there are no full-body scans, for example— between 2 percent and 5 percent of travelers get singled out for additional screening. The exact selection criteria aren't publicly available, but ethnicity is probably a consideration. (Former U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary Donna Shalala was interrogated in July, presumably because of her Lebanese heritage.)

If you think being selected for additional screening in U.S. airports is tough, you obviously haven't faced an Israeli interrogator. Secondary screening can involve hours of questioning. Agents have been known to click through all of a traveler's digital photographs. Body searches are common, and agents usually take luggage apart one item at a time. Israeli agents confiscated all the luggage of Indiana University professor Heather Bradshaw and kept it for three days.

Source:http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...01/whats_so_great_about_israeli_security.html

 

[Longo_2_guns]

My dad told me that Israeli security was a nightmare after he went there.

But everything is crazy in Israel.

 

[FrozenBacon]

Maybe because I am ex-military and most of my travel experience has been with the military but the TSA has never been dicks to me. Hell, I even traveled with a rifles (rifle had to be checked, of course).

I remember one time they were like I cannot carry a rifle bolt in my carry-on bag because a person could still place a bullet in the bolt and fire it, but really... the bullet wont go anywhere far without a barrel and it would take a shit ton of finesse to set the bullet off, but whatever. I just disassembled the bolt and they let me through.