Libertas

“The first principle of non-violence is the non-compliance with everything that is humiliating.” ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) "A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble."

I don’t even know where to begin, I’m so appalled. Flying in the US is bad enough, but now the new TSA policies regarding the full body scanners and pat downs have crossed the line. We shouldn’t have put up with the earlier indignities. We shouldn’t have put up with a lot of things, but I think, I hope, the American public has finally had enough.

Yet, there are still the sheep, the people who follow orders, submit to indignities and abuses all because of their need to feel safe. Even when I bluntly asked, “Are you willing to have women and children ogled and groped to feel safe?,” some said yes. The question wasn’t, “Are you willing to be ogled and groped?” but to have others be ogled and groped.

It’s bad enough that people, AMERICANS!, have come to the point that they so easily, so passively, so blindly submit to these abuses, but they passively allow others, children, teenagers, the elderly, the sick, the infirm to face these indignities. It makes me ill. It makes ashamed.

One woman proudly claimed that she was comfortable with her body and had no shame in going through the scanners. Fine lady, but did it occur to you that maybe a thirteen year old girl would be horrified? What about the obese man, who already hates going out in public, and now must choose the shame of strangers looking at him or touching him. What of the regal lady who for eighty-seven retained her dignity through war and poverty and now faces the choice of public humiliation or seeing her family for perhaps the last time? What of the veteran, who fought the Nazis and lost his friends in war, and now must submit in order to travel? What of all the immigrants who fled tyranny to be free, and now face this?

If we really think about it, these procedures don’t protect us. It’s ludicrous to distrust a pilot with nail clippers but trust him with a jumbo jet. If the government really worried about terrorism, why allow such open borders? Why bomb a plane, when all a terrorist has to do is reach the security gates and detonate the bomb there? When has the TSA ever stopped a terrorist?

What happened to the Fourth Amendment?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Michael Chertoff, former United States Secretary of Homeland Security

Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of Homeland Security, has been an advocate of the porno-scanners, but how many people know that his security firm, the Chertoff Group, has Rapiscan Systems as a client, which is one of the two manufacturers of the technology? The whole thing is a scam. Powerful people are making lots of money and training the American people to get used to submission. We must not allow this.

Some people are checking in with the airlines to find airports that do not yet have the naked body scanners. That’s a start. I, however, am not flying until they are removed and the pat downs stop from all airports. The one exception is to leave the country.

This is an assault on our health, freedom and dignity. Perhaps, this is our Boston Tea Party. Maybe now Americans are waking up. I hope so.

But whether they do or not, I will not fly.

Recommended:

“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, Ursula K LeGuin