Friday, November 19, 2010

The Slogan For the 21st Century Amerikan

Krauthammer is intelligent, insightful and occasionally irreverent, but never off point. This is simply too true:

The Idiocy of The Airport

Don't touch my junk is the anthem of the modern man, the Tea Party patriot, the late-life libertarian, the midterm election voter. Don't touch my junk, Obamacare - get out of my doctor's examining room, I'm wearing a paper-thin gown slit down the back. Don't touch my junk, Google - Street View is cool, but get off my street. Don't touch my junk, you airport security goon - my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come?
Will we draw a line in the sand? Will we finally say that life is filled with risks and we all die in the end? Will we stand up and say we will not be intimidated by an oppressive government of power-seeking incompetents running around a maze with no outlet and no cheese at the center screaming that the sky is falling and we are now protected from yesterday's threat?

I increasingly find myself in favor of the free market solution. An airline which seeks to succeed has a very strong vested interest in providing safe transportation to a satisfied customer. Why is government involved in this kabuki?

3 comments:

juvat said...

immagickman,

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."
George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

One of my favorite quotes.
Cheers

Dweezil Dwarftosser said...

There are some in the 'take back our country' movement(s) who seem to be convinced that the progressive Marxists (still temporarily in power) have been trying to provoke any type of violent response against big government - for two years, now.
The reason for this is simple: it would enable a tyrannical government an excuse to viciously 'clamp down' against its citizens - and cement forever extreme limitations on liberty.

While I personally find this view absurd in its fear of totalitarian success in the US, I don't doubt that they really are trying to provoke citizens to act in uncoordinated revolt - and the TSA's excesses come closest to being the physical (rather than idealogical) successful provocation they were looking for.

I'm convinced that should revolt actually become necessary, it will be executed with military precision, by experienced, trusted professionals - not grandmas, slapping overzealous gropers in a fruitless indignant rage.

Anna said...

I am seriously thinking of opening a burqa shop right outside the local airport.

TSA has become a sick adolescent jock joke of 'hey lets see if we can grope Ms. Whittle.'

Patdowns nor the backscatter will detect a rectal bomb.