TSA Tuesdays: Shaming a 15 Year Old Girl
With the number of absurd TSA stories that come through my inbox and social media feeds, I could probably make this a daily feature. But for now, while sticking to a weekly Tuesday column, I've got to be a little more picky on exactly which TSA abuse I point out. This week, we'll take a look at the story of a 15 year old girl harassed by a TSA agent over her outfit.Mark Frauenfelder writes over at BoingBoing.com:
This morning, a TSA officer at LAX humiliated and shamed my 15-year-old daughter. She is traveling with a group of high school students on a college tour and we were not with her when he verbally abused her.Here's what happened, as my daughter described it in text messages to us: she was at the station where the TSA checks IDs. She said the officer was "glaring" at her and mumbling. She said, "Excuse me?" and he said, "You're only 15, COVER YOURSELF!" in a hostile tone. She said she was shaken up by his abusive manner.
Frauenfelder includes the below photo of his daughter's outfit to show how absurd the comments of the TSA agent were.
Of course, the specific outfit the girl is wearing is irrelevant. The role of the TSA is not to judge the outfits of passengers. TSA is, in theory, supposed to do nothing more than screen passengers for security purposes. Although it certainly doesn't appear as if the girl is wearing anything that would warrant "covering" as she seems pretty covered up as is. As Frauenfelder so eloquently puts it:
It doesn't matter what she was wearing, though, because it's none of his business to tell girls what they should or should not wear. His creepy thoughts are his own problem, and he shouldn't use his position of authority as an excuse to humiliate a girl and blame her for his sick attitude.
Frauenfelder describes how they spoke with a TSA supervising officer at LAX after the incident and that it appeared he was "apologetic, concerned, and professional", expressing optimism that they are "taking this seriously." After my Memorial Day grope last year at the (literally) hands of a TSA officer, I too spoke with a TSA supervisor who was polite and courteous. That was, of course, as far as things went. The TSA, as with all government monopoly entities, is unaccountable to the public at large.In a free market where airports and airlines hired their own security services, they would actually have to treat people with respect and address the complaints of passengers. Perhaps in this situation, the man who harassed Mr. Frauenfelder's daughter would lose his job. And maybe the man who inappropriately touched me during my screening would be charged with sexual assault. Without the need to actually make profits or please consumers, and with government backing their every move, the TSA has no need to actually address the concerns of its "customers" in any way more than a superficial manner.The only shot at changing the TSA's policies and the way they treat passengers more like prisoners than valued customers is to continue to shine the spotlight on their often abusive and harassing behavior. We'll continue to do that here every Tuesday with TSA Tuesdays. Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
