This story is both fun and a lesson we can learn from. I'm presenting it for both reasons.
First the fun. Penn Jillette, a frequent traveler to be sure, is at the airport for a flight to L.A. As expected, things get interesting at security. Here's a sample of his story from the beginning (h/t lilyannrose for the link):
Last Thursday I was flying to LA on the Midnight flight. I went through security my usual sour stuff. I beeped, of course, and was shuttled to the "toss-em" line. A security guy came over. I assumed the position. I had a button up shirt on that was untucked. He reached around while he was behind me and grabbed around my front pocket. I guess he was going for my flashlight, but the area could have loosely been called "crotch." I said, "You have to ask me before you touch me or it's assault."The rest of the tale is a good read. Mr. Jillette is a fine story-teller, and it's well worth five minutes of your water-cooler time.
He said, "Once you cross that line, I can do whatever I want."
I said that wasn't true. I say that I have the option of saying no and not flying. He said, "Are you going to let me search you, or do I just throw you out?"
I said, "Finish up, and then call the police please."
When he was finished with my shoes, he said, "Okay, you can go."
But there's a lesson in the story as well, one we can use. All through the reporting of the "TSA owns your junk" story is the hard-line government reply: "You can't stop us and we know it." And through learned helplessness, we sort of automatically agree, submissively assuming we have to go along.
Well, if the story is accurate, Penn pushed back and the government backed way down.
My take-away? Note how deferential the TSA was once they learned who Jillette was. It's peppered throughout the story, but you can even see in the part quoted above:
I said, "Finish up, and then call the police please."This exchange gets repeated many times in the subsequent tale:
When he was finished with my shoes, he said, "Okay, you can go."
- "Please call the police." "No. Please go away."
These TSA cops, however, do not have confidence, not yet. The issue is new, and they haven't pulled their act fully together. Is what they are doing really sexual assault? No one is sure, yet. Thus, when a big enough light (a celebrity flashlight, in this case) is shining, they back away.
The lesson — now's the time to organize a challenge, before they get organized. Anyone can do it, but the best people are obviously public figures — celebrities, newsfaces, pro-privacy politicians. I've talked a lot about our billionaires. It's now time for public figures to step up, in an organized way.
This is a serious suggestion. They were afraid of Penn Jillette. What would they do with Naomi Watt? George Clooney? Dylan Ratigan? Rachel Maddow or Susan, her partner? Senator Bernie Sanders? Rep. Anthony Weiner?
Anyone newsworthy can do it. "I refuse the scanner and groping me is assault" has an nice reportable ring to it.
But the time really is now. They're on their heels, but they won't be for long. After all, those scanners represent big money for some people.
GP
Update: As noted in the comments, the Penn Jillette story is from 2002. True, and thanks for the info. My point still stands, however. The "show me your junk" news is now, it's everywhere you look, and so is the official discomfort. I say again: The time to push back is now.
