3 Reasons Why Whining About the TSA Will Get You Nowhere

People like complaining – it’s one of the few things we can always agree on. Not the cause of the complaint, of course, but there are few things that unite people more efficiently than having something or other to complain about. That said, since 2001, there have been a lot of TSA issues that are worth complaining about, and many of those issues still exist. We have numerous articles on the subject…

Whining, however, will get you nowhere. Remember your parents’ reaction when you started whining as a kid? Unless you were spoiled rotten, that approach never worked. Why? Because everyone thinks it’s annoying, and once you start doing it, attitudes quickly change to “suck it up”. Here are 3 reasons why whining about the TSA will get you nothing but a “Suck it up” from us, at least.

3: Blaming the TSA for Carry-On Rules won’t change’em.

If you’ve ever been out flying, you know that airlines put some restrictions on how much shit you can bring. Sorry, stuff. Usually, there’s both a weight limit and a number-of-items, and the airlines have good reason for this, not the least of which is that the plane would, you know… crash if people were allowed to bring their whole house with them.

Once in a while, people get pissy when their mistakes (or attempts at circumventing rules) are called out – like this. Prancing up to an airport checkpoint with more carry on items than you’re allowed will often incite a comment or two, and even get you sent back to the airline counter. Here’s the deal:

– If you bring 3 carry ons when you’re only allowed 2, then that’s your problem.
– If the TSA (or whatever is your equivalent) tells you to GTFO and check your bags, then that’s not some kind of “abuse from The Man” that you can be outraged about. You screwed up, buddy. Suck it up.
– Whining about having to follow rules that aren’t unreasonable makes you a wuss and a douchebag, not an activist.

2: Whining Without Getting your Facts Straight is Counter-Productive

While the advent of the backscatter x-ray bodyscanners might in fact be the bane of all man kind, not to mention that they’re pretty much useless, the whining about them has taken on a distinctly prepubescent feel. It’s not about their efficiency, their purpose or their cost anymore – it’s drifted into strange, pseudo-scientific claims that they are somehow capable of ripping apart DNA like they were zippers, making them bubble and foam, apparently.

The fact is, the scanners are useless, and using backscatter x-ray on people who are healthy (mostly) is just insane. However, that plane ride you’re going on? Yeah, two minutes of that will expose you to roughly double the amount of radiation that a scan gives you. And we’re willing to bet that your plane ride is going to last longer than two minutes.

– X-ray scanners? Useless, costly and insane.
– Whining about radiation levels with debunked scientific claims? Fail. Big time fail.

1: Harassing the TSO Does Nothing to the TSA

Should be self-evident, really… but not to these people. TSOs and security company employees are consistently harassed, called the most appalling names and referred to as the lowest forms of criminals imaginable. Harassing a TSO or a checkpoint officer of some kind makes about as much difference as slapping a band-aid on a bullet wound. Or the stump of a severed foot. It does nothing to the cause of the problem, and it does nothing to repair or mitigate the damage. It’s pointless, it’s stupid, and it’s whining.

One could (as whiners will) argue that the “just following orders” defense is invalid, and we’re inclined to agree. However, most security officers (yes, even TSOs) want nothing more than to help and do a good job. This is true for the vast, vast majority, so keep that in mind the next time you feel like calling one of them a rapist, a child molester, a pervert or some other form of sexual deviant. They actually cannot help that their employers are dumb fucks – they want the job, and they want to help. So why not focus on the cause of the problem instead of whining about your bullet wound band-aid solution not working?