On a private online community somone posted a picture of his going-on 91 year old grandmother, who recently flew to visit her sister and her friends. She is hard of hearing, and didn’t hear the instructions of whatever she was supposed to be doing passing through the metal detectors. She was immediately manhandled by a TSA flunky, sent to the ground, hitting her head and face on a metal chair, with additional bruising across her chest and up and down both legs. The picture taken was 2-weeks after the incident and it looks bad. Apparently, she didn’t even tell anyone what happened because she was embarassed and “did not want to be a bother.”

I’m embarassed as well. Appalled, and filled with apoleptic rage are two other emotional states that crossed my mind as I was reading this. We’ve given a lot up for this type of security theater in our Airports. When I fly out most airports, I think about the dystopic nation that we are today, the antithesis of the vision of our founding fathers… I don’t have anything really insightful to say about this. Just that when you think you’ve found some level of acceptance, or limits (this can’t get any more ridiculous, any more wrong…), well, human stupidity never ceases to rise to the challenge.

This TSA flunky came close to killing this person (a 90yo little old lady). What was the motivation, the though process here? Was she really a security risk or was this some sort of authoritarian reaction (“how dare you defy me, I will take you down”). Obviously it wasn’t the former, but I ask how these people can sleep at night? And whether they’ve lost sight of the intent of these procedures, or that they’ve never cared in the first place?

What you feel is more of a threat: terrorists or a government that tramples over and completely disregards the founding principles of our nation, and enforces ineffective policies with mindless, out of control, oppressive bullies? I think you know where I stand.