Yet, sometimes, it's hard to avoid the comparison.
An example is the photo the TSA blog posted yesterday to prove that not only did the "Opt Out Day" protest fail, people in fact love the TSA.
The obvious analogy is the following picture from the Soviet era. It shows a caring "Papa Stalin" holding a happy girl (Gelya Markizova):
Soon after this picture, Stalin had her father shot and her mother murdered. The party continued to use this photo for many years afterward to show how everyone loved Stalin.
Propaganda pictures of adoring children just reaffirms the notion that TSA is totalitarian.
Postscript
Note the irony. I was detained for taking pictures in the security area on Nov. 23, this guy (Randy Bonhaus, the father of the girls) was encouraged to take pictures. If I were breaking the law, as the TSA claimed, then so was Randy.
Also note the obvious security weakness. If you are a terrorist conducting surveillance, just bring two girls holding a "We Love the TSA" sign. You'll be able to take as many pictures as needed to find a weakness in the security. (This was one of the many reasons the TSA used to claim why I couldn't take pictures -- because I might be a terrorist looking for weakness).
14 comments:
Um, what's going on over there with the guy on his knees and the odd hand on his back?
Also, to your point, that really doesn't look like the kind of sign a young girl would make or her handwriting.
Look at the TSA's new seal! (NSFW)
The first line of the blog post from the TSA :
"What some protesters threatened as an opt out day has turned into a TSA appreciation day."
Sounds like propaganda to me. Funny how someone showing up with a "we love you TSA" poster gets a photo on the TSA blog, while someone showing up with something denouncing the TSA would be in a world of trouble...
What I like is that no one is credited with taking the picture, nor do they identify who the girls are. I'm waiting for someone to find the original picture on Flickr and figure out it was a photoshop job, or this was just flat out a propaganda shot organized by the TSA. Give it up TSA, every human now is a walking news camera. Your old PR tactics can't work against a sea of reporters.
Robert, thank you for continue to report on the TSA.
I had not known the rest of the story about the picture of Stalin and the little girl. It is a bit chilling.
@campesino
I googled the text of the sign, and found this news story on it:
http://www.kypost.com/dpps/news/region_northern_kentucky/hebron/No-protest:-Family-thanks-TSA-at-airport_5565698
It's by Randy Bonhaus, and those are his two daughters.
The metadata has been stripped from the photo, which is a little creepy (look at my previous post, and you'll see the metadata from my iPHone).
Hey Robert.. Wow, what a mess! I do have one funny bit to share with you out of all of this. Here in Loudoun County (where Dulles International Airport sits in Northern Virginia), we have a City Council members who vehemently opposes the TSA's "enhanced security" but not because it infringes on his freedoms. Rather he feels it fuels "the homosexual agenda". Just when you thought there was no more spin to be spun, this guy found it!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/12/loudoun_supervisor_eugene_delg.html
I fully expect to see Eugene Delgaudio arrested in the near future for lewd behavior in a men's bathroom at a trucker rest stop.
"To Catch A Predator: Truck Stop Edition!"
Chris Hansen: Excuse me sir.. Sir?! Could you come out of that stall? Please have a seat over on this chair.. Do you know who I am?
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Yep, totally with you...
I actually misunderstood the initial headlines and quotes to mean he was against the gropes because it would turn people gay, turning airports into factories churning out people who had caught "teh gay".
I was actually a little saddened to find out I was wrong, but it made for a pretty funny piece of fiction that took the already ridiculous and pushed it one step further.
If you are interested in a laugh, I invite you to check it out on my blog, www.whatshappenating.com.
The TSA and "teh gay" agenda
Well, considering this may explain why our politicians are the way they are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MZCHjGkTPg&feature=related
We had better be prepared for much worse in the future.
I've been opting out all along.
Marisa, excellent observations. And adult wrote that sign.
Most likely, that is a dad helping his kid take off or put on her shoes.
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