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TSA: ranking The Good, the Bad and the ugly

1/19/2014

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Going through a Norwegian airport recently after going through security I was shocked to see the panel to the left.  It was an evaluation of TSA.  Now, I was on the way to America and thus I went through the Norwegian security system, which was as per my Scandinavian experience, fabulous.  There you keep your shoes on, there is a kind request before any procedures and there seems to be no one with a weapon anywhere to be found. Actually, I must say that I barely remember that government's have coercive agents and engage in repression when I am over there.

As I walked up to the panel, I was kind of stuck thinking about what the really, really green (evidently happy experience would be like).  

Happy green: TSA was efficient, I moved through the line quickly, no one asked me remove my sweater (thinking it was a jacket), there was no "random" search, there was no overly-diligent pat down of my private parts, there is no extra conversation when I mention that I am a Professor of political science, I see at least 3 different weapons, there are enough plastic thingies to stick my items in, my bag is only sent through the machine twice, the bag gets opened and the items inside get shuffled around in some messy fashion (preventing me from putting everything back in there as I had worked out the day before) and I wait for about 10 minutes for someone to come for an extra security check. 

Mild green: TSA was efficient, I am only moderately tempted to suggest that there probably could be another person moved from one section to another so that the line could move quicker, I see only one weapon, I get touched lightly by two different people, my bag gets opened and items get shuffled but I can still close the bag, I wait for the person to bring more plastic thingies to stick my items in, the electronic boarding pass apparatus is at one agent but not the others, there is one agent for the elite/snooty class that does not call people over.

Mild red: I receive bizarre attention for some fashion choice (e.g., jacket, shoes, socks), my bag goes through the machine three times, someone tries to use some pop-psychology tactic in order to engage me in conversation without accepting that variation on the answer does not signal a problem, my being a Professor means they wish to ask some question about what I study, the lines are long and slow, I see a bunch of weapons, there are few plastic thingies for my stuff or the person bringing them is moving glacially slow.  

Horrified red: Everyone seems to have an attitude, there are weapons seemingly everywhere, there are no plastic thingies for my stuff, all the snooty-people lanes are not busy and no one is being called over, I am patted down at every opportunity, everyone seems to have some grudge against political science or higher education as a profession, I am asked to take off different articles of clothing by the same person over the course of several interactions, I miss my flight because the person looking at the x-ray machine is waiting for assistance from at least two different people.

Imagine if you could push a single button to provide your opinion right after walking through security?  I anticipate that the results would be different than surveys on the topic.

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    Christian Davenport's Caveat Civis - Citizen Beware

    Given the elusive nature of state repression, it is crucial to be constantly aware of information as it becomes available.  This is not always easy to do and with the different tactics, perpetrators, locations and victims of domestic spying, torture, arrest, detention, disappearances and mass killing, it is necessary to keep one's eyes open, along with one's mind - Citizen's Beware.  The data is out there.  We just need to find it and figure out what it means.

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