Infused With Fear or Brand New Eyes

My previous post was about doing a "media fast" as suggested by one of my favorite websites -- Daily OM. That means that you skip watching TV, movies, skip the daily newspaper, turn off the cell phone, step away from the internet, etc. for a period time. It could be one day then maybe the following week would be two days, the next week would be three days, until you can successfully move about life without NEEDING the internet. I am totally guilty of needing the internet. I stepped away from browsing Facebook significantly. I just don't feel the draw to it anymore however I am still quite attached to my blog, this blog. I also have a fondness for my World of Warcraft game. I am amazed at how much time I spend on WoW. I have also walked away from my Blackberry. I'm tired of being totally accessible to everyone at anytime. Irritating. Misplacing the phone contributed to our gentle break-up.

Anyway, the point of this post is to tie my last two posts together and why stepping away from the media is important to how I formed my opinion about TSA as a whole. Of course this post is entirely philosophical in nature.

Let us imagine a child that grows up in a bubble. Let us call him Emile. (Bonus points if you recognize who or what Emile is.) Emile, having grown up in a bubble with two instructors -- his own curiosity and a tutor -- is given an airplane ticket to Hawai'i. Let's pretend that the bubble is located in Seattle, Washington (site of my recent TSA incident).

Emile is not aware of the existence of television, the internet, newspapers, or any other media outlet. He is fed a healthy dose of religious texts, from the Upanishads, the Holy Bible, to the K'oran, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and is allowed to interpret the information as he sees fit. Emile is allowed to explore every avenue that his natural curiosity leads him to. If, for instance, he reads about Jesus Christ in the Bible and would like further texts that mention him, he may request from the tutor any text that is similar to or mentions Jesus Christ. He has lived his entire life in this manner having access to any topic that piques his interest.

Let us imagine he approaches the Seattle-Tacoma airport. He is in awe of the highways and the automobiles that, up until this point, were non-existent to him. Perhaps he had read about highway systems in books about the Roman Empire or the Silk Road throughout Asia but actually seeing the road system exceeded his imagination.

Upon Emile's arrival at the Sea-Tac Airport, he checks his bag along with the tutor and makes haste to the security checkpoint, the TSA. This is a critical juncture. This, for me, is the most important part to this mini-parable. TSA screening is something that Emile has not experienced before. If you and I looked at the situation with new eyes, having no clue what the screening is about, what would it appear to be?

• Emile's possessions are inspected and sent through a machine for further investigation.

• Emile is required to remove his shoes, his belt, and all metal objects on his person.

• Emile must empty his pockets.

Emile is reminded of the United State Constitution -- Amendment #4 -- the one about illegal search and seizure. Sure, he had emerged from a bubble but in the bubble, he had studied the Constitution in depth and was well-versed of the philosophical beliefs that influenced the Constitution; people like John Locke, Hume, of course Rousseau, and Imanuel Kant, amongst others. Emile thought, "Are we still in the United States?"

As Emile makes his way through the security check point, the tutor explains to him the reasoning for the invasion of privacy.

"Emile, the United States government implemented this security check point because they fear that terrorists will climb aboard a plane with explosives."

It is this exact piece of information/ story that Emile (all of us) must accept to justify the "search and seizure".

So I ask you, the general public:
Who is telling the story? Who tells us the story that would make us accept any information under the guise of public safety?

Though none of us live in a bubble, who creates your reality?

If I tell you that people in Hawai'i are cannibals, would that change your behavior or desire to come to Hawai'i?

If the government implements a National Threat Advisory, does that make you feel safer? Or does one have to accept the "story" that is told about terrorism. Remember the movie by M. Night Shyamalan, The Village? If you have not seen the movie and would like to see it, fair warning, SPOILER ALERT. A group of psychologists get together and create this 19th century village in the middle of nowhere. They are known as The Council of Elders. The Villagers and the creatures in the forest maintain a pact that keeps the villagers away from the forest and the creatures away from the village. All the young people tell stories about a world beyond the village. Whenever the young people begin to get riled up about going beyond the borders of the village, some kind of omen shows up in the village and the Council of Elders change the flags around the village from red to yellow or vice versa to signify that an attack from the woods is imminent. Very, very similar to our National Threat Advisory. In one explosive scene, the creatures actually do emerge from the forest and frightens the entire town into their cellars. Eventually, the story unravels and what is discovered is that the Council of Elders (the Village's government) is also the creatures from the forest.

Why would the government be the solution and the problem?
What benefits are associated with being both?
For me, there can only be one reason and that is:

CONTROL!

I don't know where this quote is from but I think of it often whenever I feel like my God-given rights are being stripped from me.

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.

This is all food for thought. The media and the government tell us a story. We accept it because of some terrible tragedy. But what if, just as The Village, the government is the problem and the solution? What if we looked at the TSA with new eyes like Emile and reject the "story" the media tells us?

Who manufactures your reality? <---Click the link and read the article. Trust me, if they're doing it in China then it has already successfully been done in the U.S. For some, fear is a great motivator. For me, fear is the absence of love. In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, one of my most favorite scriptures reads:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.
~2 Timothy 1:7

Just remember we choose to either be "infused with fear" or seeing the world as Emile, with "brand new eyes".

Unfriendly TSA: Invasive in Seattle

I just got through the TSA screeners at the Sea-Tac Airport. I am very, very upset with the service of the TSA employees. Is this really necessary?

As I approached the screener today, I had made up my mind that I was going to opt out of going through the X-RAY machine. There are three purposes for my decision:

1. PRIVACY - Have you seen the images that are taken by those x-ray machines? They take a snapshot of your body in the NUDE. I have no shame when it comes to my body. I really don't. If it were up to me, I would never wear a bra or tshirt again in my life because I prefer being in a lavalava than being fully clothed. The issue with me is that none of the TSA workers or the Feds need to see any of it. This is my body and I prefer that strangers NOT be allowed to view it without my permission.

Click for Photo Credit

2. HEALTH - Who knows what kind of x-ray radiation our bodies are being subjected to by going through the machine? Even at the dentist you have to wear protective gear when they x-ray your mouth. They stuff all that cotton in your mouth then put that hard cardboard thing in too. Then they put that heavy blue apron on you before they snap the picture. Even the technician has to stand behind a partition when they do the x-ray'ing. With that being said, why would I want to subject myself to that type of radiation?

Click for Photo Credit

3. POLITICAL DEFIANCE - The final reason is that I am not a political pawn to be used to justify the use of taxpayers dollars to purchase the scanners. The TSA director is purported to have a vested interest in the company that produces the x-ray machine. In other words, he holds stock in the company that will produce and sell the machine to the TSA. If that isn't a conflict of interest, I don't know what is! He has also been quoted as having said that the x-ray machine would not have detected the explosives on the shoe-bomber guy. So once again... why do we need the x-ray  machine? Ugghh!!!

So as I approach the scanner thing I politely tell the woman screener, "Ma'am, I'd prefer to be pat down instead of going through the scanner."

She yells to someone off in the distance, "We have an opt-out." She points to a specific place for me to stand to wait for someone to do the pat down.

I have to point out that the gentleman two people in front of me was not thrilled with the process. He had not taken off his shoes or his belt. He was giving the TSA screener a hard time. I felt his annoyance with the TSA workers because they were very rude. As the man is beginning to remove his belt, she yells to the worker on the other side of the xray machine, "This guy is giving me a hard time." Okay -- embarrassing and very unprofessional even if it's true. Just because someone works for a pseudo-government agency doesn't give them a pass to be an ass.

Annoyed man enters xray machine. This extremely round man on the other end begins to bark out instructions to the man. Okay -- once again, embarrassing and very unprofessional.

Another guy follows the annoyed man and everything goes off without a hitch. Of course it does -- compliance is always the easiest route, right? Is it? Is compliance easier, rather, is compliance more important than PRIVACY, HEALTH, and REFUSAL TO SUBMIT TO UNFAIR PRACTICES? At what point is enough, enough?

So there I am standing at the appointed location to await my pat down. Husband is right behind me and he opts out as well. The very young woman behind him opts out also. So there we three are awaiting our pat down. I agree with all the people who say that these invasive practices are in violation of the 4th Amendment. As a refresher, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (it was included in the original Bill of Rights) says:

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.

Everyone complies with this "unreasonable searches and seizures" under the guise that this will protect us from the terrorists. The topic of terrorists could take this post into another discussion but I will reserve that for future examination and remain with the topic at hand.

As I'm standing there in the appointed position, a woman in the other line is attempting to get through. She has a very young baby in tow. He could have possibly been about 9 months. Her diaper bag is, of course, full of stuff for the baby from formula to baby food and the male TSA worker is giving her the hardest time about ziplocs and appropriate ounces. As she attempts to walk through the scanner, a female worker comes from behind and tells her that she has to remove the baby from her person and walk through the scanner. The mother tells the worker, "Are you going to carry my baby? I am traveling alone." I reach over and offer to carry the baby. The TSA woman comes over quickly and grabs the baby, tells the mother that she has to put the baby on the stainless steel table while she walks through the scanner. Really? Terrible!

As I am watching this whole scene unfold, the woman that will pat me down finally retrieves me. I must tell you that the 'pat-down' is very, very INVASIVE. If I were lesbian, the groping she did might have done something to me. It was THAT invasive. On top of that, they do it right there in front of the ENTIRE crowd of people waiting to come through the gate. The worker feels every inch of my body and it is NOT a pat down and more like a FEEL DOWN. Husband is getting the treatment next to me from a male worker.

After the gloved feel down, the worker then do a swab down of our clothing with this large cotton pad. They wiped both husband and I with the swabs then put it into this machine. The machine came back with no interesting results so I am free to dress and head to my gate while my husband's swab comes back POSITIVE for explosive material. Really? We were together all day. How is mine negative and his POSITIVE? hmmm... sounds random to me!

Two male workers take husband into a private area and question him. I can hear them.

"Where were you today?"
"Have you been in contact with anyone...?"

It was nonsense! When husband came out he told me that they did an even more invasive feel down in the private area. As a U.S. citizen, why is this ok? Innocent until proven guilty or are we all guilty to begin with?

I am going to let my the congress people in Washington D.C. know about how I feel about this. One voice can turn into many if more people would care more about their rights and less about willful obedience. All the young people are revolting around the world, upset with the powers in their governments. And here is America, with the most powerful military on the planet and the most apathetic, indifferent citizenship in the world.

We are laden with rights endowed from our Creator to force the government to obey its citizens or revolt until they do.

REVOLUTION!