As for those who consider this a provocation we need to get over the terror victim mindset that we have for cops, the IRS, radical Muslims, third world dictatorships, and other ‘scary’ groups. They are humans who can respond at a level beyond their id, they are not reptiles, and they can exercise self control. Unfortunately few seem to expect this of them which just encourages the abuse cycle.

The thing showed up on the X-ray, of course, and after some searching (even *I* didn’t know what the screener was looking for), the TSA official found it. I was wanded and given a pat-down, which under the circumstances makes sense.

The official was very polite, and gave me the option of FedEx-ing the thing back to myself; their station had envelopes ready.

That was it.

Now, I’m 40 years old and white (though I wear a LOT of black), so maybe I don’t fit a profile that would call for more aggressive treatment, but still, apart from the annoyance of a delay, nothing bad happened.

My point is that at least some of the TSA folks are calm, polite people just doing a job. They don’t break out the mace and handcuffs if you just follow the procedures — even when you’re a careless idiot like me who is practically inviting a 3rd degree.

If you don’t like the security theater, please remember to distinguish the ones who created it from the ones paid to enforce it.

And no, it never is.

Sure, if a guy gets in my face and calls my mother a whore, I’ll probably smack him. I’ll also get arrested for assault.

If you wear a t-shirt mocking the authorities, and they detain you, or abuse their power because of it, they should be fired.

And although you may ‘expect’ a reaction; we shouldn’t have to; and it’s not acceptable; any more than me assaulting someone for forming a false and irrelevant lexical collection about my mother.

In essence Cory recognises that it’s a possibility, but states that it shouldn’t be.

Bingo. You, sir/madam, win the prize.

-Darren MacLennan

http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1505/Monde/article/detail/1120179/2010/06/17/Le-Bloc-identitaire-annule-son-apero-saucisson-et-pinard.dhtml

So real dangerous exploding stuff chem should be a required course in university along side calc and language for most any serious degree, then you wouldn’t be able to fool most of the people most of the time, at least about the ease of making explosives in the mile high club.

However I’m not so sure that “protest within the law is never provocation”.

Recently, an extremist right-wing party here wanted to organise a (pork) sausage barbecue event in a predominantly muslim neighbourhood. On paper the organisation had a right to freedom of expression, but the event was banned, as a potential threat to public order, since it was clearly a provocation. The exercise of civic freedoms involves all sides playing fair, methinks.

Not saying these T-shirts are a threat to public order, but that I’m not sure about that sentence.

Historically, Skokie has a demographic that differs from most suburbs of Chicago. Most famously, Skokie has been home to a large Jewish population, particularly after World War II, and it is the only suburb of Chicago with more Jewish schools than Catholic schools. …

Skokie has garnered national attention at least twice for court cases that have been decided by the United States Supreme Court.

In the mid-1970s, the Village got embroiled with the National Socialist Party of America (a neo-Nazi group) in a case addressing the First Amendment right to assemble, a case which ultimately the Village lost.

I haven’t heard about the pork barbecue, details?

Twice.

A lot of the ‘rights infringement’ videos here on Boing Boing remind me of that scene from Monty Python, ‘help help, I’m being oppressed!’. (On the other hand, just to even things up a little, I thought this one on the Love Police made a good protest excellently – and nobody got arrested or pushed downstairs).

I think the perception of whether the TSA regs are simply a pain in the backside or an infringement of fundamental rights is partly a pond difference. It certainly doesn’t look to be on a par with the issues at stake in the civil rights movement from here.

I’m not sure what the best way of dispensing with all the relatively useless inconvenience is, but I don’t think this T-shirt is it. It’s as much about marketing as protest (though the more I get dragged into this, the more I’m tempted to buy one :) ).

Oh, and for a delightfully non-TSA way to fly, may I recommend flying out of Keflavik?

Is there a statute somewhere that covers “provocation”? I don’t think so. You could argue that disturbing the peace applies, but that’s not “provocation”.

“Provocation” is entirely subjective, and therefore a piss poor factor to take into consideration in any debate. It’s a copout, for someone who does something wrong to justify their actions.

Can one person’s expression, words and even gestures, actually justify an official abuse of power?

Authorities should have clearly defined roles, procedures, and protocols. A planeload of people wearing these T-shirts should have no effect on the TSA doing its job. If they DO treat people different, then they are abusing their official power. Period.

I agree though, there are better ways to protest the TSA than spending money on a t-shirt. If anything at least screen print your own or something.

I personally have no interaction with the TSA though as I’ve never flown in the many, many years I’ve been alive. :)

Freedom entails responsibility and risk.
Life is not safe.

Yes the T-shirts made me smile; yes I think airport security arrangements are dumb; yes I’m glad I don’t have to fly through US airports on a regular basis; yes I object to ‘authorities’ abusing their power by bogus appeals to ‘law’ (I’m currently in the process of making a complaint to a hospital for doing just that).

All that said, wearing one of those through airport security is provocation to my mind. Your very next post is about the plight of joblessness. I don’t think the guys processing passengers are the ones responsible for the policies; they are probably just glad to be getting paid and I can understand it’s a job which generates frustration.

If they abuse their position (ie without provocation), I’ll be first in line to support you. Just not wearing that T-shirt.

It may well be. If the idea is that this is such a little thing that it isn’t worth it, or that somehow the worker-drones will be offended by the shirt (but why? after all, as you’ve said, the rules aren’t their fault, so why should they care if you criticize them?), then I know there is a difference in attitude between the U.S. and the Continent.

I think the attitude of pushing back where possible, even if it seems minor and (perhaps to some) petty, is a healthy tradition. There’s little we proles can do to change the stupidity, but what little pushing we can, we should do.

As for wearing the shirts, it basically comes down to the being aware of and accepting the possible consequences of your actions.

If you strongly believe in the cause and want to wear one of these shirts through airport security, you have every right to do so. As the policies aren’t created by the agents at the checkpoints, and the crowd just wants to get on the plane with minimal fuss, it seems more childish than courageous, but as they say, your mileage may vary.

However, as you pretty much put a target on yourself and said “pick me! pick me!”, you shouldn’t be surprised when you receive more attention than the person next to you who isn’t wearing anything “provoking”.

This is pretty much true of any situation where you are faced with someone who can either help or hinder you.

It’s like the chicken said “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it”.

wearing one of those through airport security is provocation to my mind.

Gee, how about we just stop provoking terrorists and start following a medieval interpretation of Islamic law. If there is a terror attack after we submit to all their demands (ie without provocation) I’ll be the first in line to support you. Just not if you can’t make a few (ok maybe more than a few) small changes in your lifestyle.

Reductio ad absurdum.

Doesn’t authority confer responsibility? If the state gives you the power to arbitrarily detain and search people without particularized suspicion or probable cause, doesn’t that extraordinary privilege also carry the (rather ordinary) burden of not maliciously using your power to punish people who merely disagree with you?

Criticizing the TSA does not undermine the safety of airplanes. Hurting a screener’s feelings does not endanger our skies. Refusing to believe in the pseudoscience of binary explosives made in airplanes from the contents of your toothpaste tube does not constitute noncompliance with the magic-anti-terror-baggie rule.

Personally, I’d much rather see that on a t-shirt.