Why I am not flying anymore.
Nov. 18th, 2010 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fourleftxaviersThe government does not have the right to see me naked unless 1) I post naked pictures of myself on the internet or 2) they have that crazy thing called reasonable suspicion that I have committed a crime or am attempting to commit one. And letting government employees touch me in ways and places no one in my life would generally be allowed to touch me, save my S.O. or maybe my doctor? Nuh uh. I do not consider myself a modest person by any means, but this does not seem reasonable to me. And given the levels of prudishness of many Americans it is incredibly difficult for me to understand how so many people can shrug this off in the name of safety.
I wrote to the DHS to complain about this bullshit and the fact that new international travel rules also dictate they can search and seize the laptops of international travelers and go through years or a lifetime of letters, picture files, purchase records, whatever's on there they want to peek at. I can't imagine more unreasonable searches then these, save if we all had to disrobe entirely and get body cavity searches.
I really hope the American people do not stand for this crap. I have lost much of my faith in us as a people, but really guys. C'mon. Take a long hard look at this shit.
My worst fear is that next, some asshole will blow up a train and then we'll have the TSA virtually strip-searching or groping us whenever we want to take the train. And then someone will blow up a bridge and we won't even be safe from unreasonable searches during car trips. Just... where does it end. I see no end in sight. Gah.
Part of me feels very sad that if these rules don't change and I never fly again, I won't get to see places in the world I would really like to vacation to or to revisit - Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii. But to me this is a question of basic rights, it's bigger then places I'd like to go to. Bottom line is, I get to decide who sees me naked and who fondles me and how. 4 srs.
In the meantime, if there is a wedding or a funeral, we'll be making a road trip, and I just hope it won't mean driving across the country.
I wrote to the DHS to complain about this bullshit and the fact that new international travel rules also dictate they can search and seize the laptops of international travelers and go through years or a lifetime of letters, picture files, purchase records, whatever's on there they want to peek at. I can't imagine more unreasonable searches then these, save if we all had to disrobe entirely and get body cavity searches.
I really hope the American people do not stand for this crap. I have lost much of my faith in us as a people, but really guys. C'mon. Take a long hard look at this shit.
My worst fear is that next, some asshole will blow up a train and then we'll have the TSA virtually strip-searching or groping us whenever we want to take the train. And then someone will blow up a bridge and we won't even be safe from unreasonable searches during car trips. Just... where does it end. I see no end in sight. Gah.
Part of me feels very sad that if these rules don't change and I never fly again, I won't get to see places in the world I would really like to vacation to or to revisit - Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii. But to me this is a question of basic rights, it's bigger then places I'd like to go to. Bottom line is, I get to decide who sees me naked and who fondles me and how. 4 srs.
In the meantime, if there is a wedding or a funeral, we'll be making a road trip, and I just hope it won't mean driving across the country.
