That Won't Fly

I want to encourage all of my friends, all regular readers of my blog and comics, and all of the people who simply stopped by here by chance, to engage in what is termed civil disobedience. It is long past time for this to be stood up against. And I would like to direct you to the blog of one courageous man who had the integrity to do so.

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

If you can travel by way of other means, don't fly.

If you have to fly, refuse backscatter x-ray machines and above all, refuse to be searched. The TSA have implemented searches where they direct their employees to touch your genitals. This is sexual abuse and is not to be tolerated by anyone.

When we are children, what do they tell us? Do you remember?

'If anyone tries to touch you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, tell them no and find a responsible adult.'

It's time to practise what we've told our society's children up to now.

Tell them no. If we don't start now, we'll never finish the fight to get our rights back that were squirted away after 2001's abysmal kick-off of fascist paranoia.

Refuse backscatter scans.

Refuse invasive, sexually abusive pat-downs.

Tell them you're perfectly willing to go through a metal detector like everyone else and have your baggage scanned like everyone else.

And tell them that if they touch you in any way that makes you uncomfortable, including your genitals and erogenous zones, you will have them arrested and bring suit against them in court for sexual abuse.

'It was on the website' does not constitute a legally binding contract.

'You should've known when you bought the ticket' does not constitute a legally binding contract.

'You walked into the airport' does not constitute a legally binding contract.

The only thing you are obligated to do if they will not accept your refusal is to leave the property. You have borne no threat to anyone, you possess no weapons or dangerous items, and you have done nothing criminal. It is their prerogative to allow access or deny access to any member of the public if it is private property. If they subsequently interfere with you leaving the property, they are completely at fault for first ejecting you from it and then disrupting an attempt in good faith to comply with their directive.

And don't think for a moment that this procedure is restricted to adults. No, quite the opposite; they have already stated they will perform this search on anyone and everyone they arbitrarily choose. If you were thinking about taking your daughter on that trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving, think again since either they'll have a full and explicit nude portrait of her courtesy of backscatter, or they'll be molesting her.

It doesn't change things that they provide people with a person who is their same gender, to search them. It doesn't take away that it is abuse, or that they might be deriving pleasure from it. There are such things as homosexuality and bisexuality. And furthermore, any time anyone touches your genitalia or any commonly erogenous zone (such as the nipples) without your permission, it is sexual abuse because these are sexual areas, whether or not they derive sexual pleasure from it themselves.

Speaking as a person who has survived sexual abuse in his life, I have no desire to be so treated again. It's bad enough when it's someone you care about and whom you trust with your body (in my case, a now very much ex-boyfriend), it's just as bad, if not worse, when it's someone who does it by abusing their authority.

That's what this is about. It's not about security in the slightest. They have full profiles of every person flying with them and can find out whatever they want to know with a metal scan. This is about exerting power over people and about controlling them, allowing these TSA molesters to feel superior to the people who paid good money for the privilege of being treated like assumed criminals.

No, check that; criminals at least aren't sexually molested in public.

Please also take a look at this valuable and important links, of people who are interested in the same goals:

National Opt-Out Day - Flying for Thanksgiving? Opt out of the search!

We Won't Fly - Stand together in unity against sexual molestation by airports.

And for those of you who may feel more motivated when you see a very real person's issues with these searches, I'd like you to take a look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ra3ov1mEZE&feature=player_embedded#!

If it doesn't make you think, then nothing I say or do here can.

Together, we can make a difference. It's time to put our collective foot down and say no, just like we tell children to do in kindergarten.

Let's set a better example than people have been.