While we have heard over the years about the several cases of abuse, theft, and inefficiency related to the organization, we never truly understand just how bad it’s become until we hear about frail people being mistreated by TSA agents.
Recently, the TSA put a Holocaust survivor under what she called a “very demeaning body search” that sparked outrage across social media. But even after her story was widely circulated, the TSA remains in place, their agents remain employed, and the federal government remains unwilling to put an end to the agency.
The incident happened in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Eva Mozes Kor had been to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History on Saturday to talk about the inhumane experiments she experienced at the Auschwitz concentration camp when she was a child. But after the lecture, she had to undergo an intrusive body search at the airport that made her feel vulnerable.
In her tweet following the experience, she complained that as an 84-year-old, she can’t even lecture about surviving Auschwitz in peace without suffering in the hands of yet another group of government workers.
Many Twitter users replied telling their own experiences and showing compassion. But no matter how unpopular the TSA has become, few have shown any willingness to stand up to the agency.
Led by an army of union members and bosses who lobby the government for more jobs, more money, and more power despite their status as government employees, the TSA as an agency has become security theater. But Americans have become all too agreeable. As these agents are given carte blanche to touch them inappropriately and sometimes even steal from them, few if any of us have truly been vocal about their hatred for the whole experience.
But perhaps, the very fact that people are not flying as often as they once did might be partially due to the TSA and its abuses. And if that is a serious problem, then why aren’t airlines lobbying the government to bring the TSA to an end?
Maybe because instead of fighting them, they decided to simply nod and join them.
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