The real effect of the patdowns is shown (creating fear and squashing the first Amendment?)

This is gonna be a real reach for some of you: The TSA proudly trumpets they received only 49 complaints over their "enhanced" patdown searches as Evidenceof compliance by the public.

The ACLU on the other hand registered over 900 complaints on the same subject ; saying:

[b] "people were afraid of being added to a "govt. watchlist" by formally complaining to a govt agency.
This is how the draw strings of an open society are slowly drawn closed.
www.aclu.org...
Meanwhile, TSA head John Pistole says there were only 49 complaints from travelers over the Thanksgiving weekend, a figure that prompted the TSA to suggest that Americans were largely unconcerned with the new procedures, and were even appreciative of them.

The ACLU disputes this notion, however:

“The low number of complaints received by the TSA is not an endorsement of the security procedures, but rather a result of real or perceived problems with the TSA’s complaint system.” notes Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.

“As the abundant complaints received by the ACLU illustrate, Americans do not want to be forced to choose between letting government agents touch their bodies or take naked pictures of them.” Stanley added.

The ACLU press release notes that the real reasons people have not filed official complaints with the government is because they believed they would either be totally ignored, or worse still, that their act of defiance would land them on a terror watch list.

“Some complainants reported that they had not filed a complaint with the TSA because they were afraid of being put on a watch list or otherwise retaliated against by the government. ” the ACLU press release notes.
www.infowars.com...










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reply to post by 46ACE


stepping on toes.. effectively. this is what you call 'bowing up'. the fed is tryin to punk out the american citizens

reply to post by 46ACE

The ACLU forgot all those people who voted with their feet. How many people changed their plans and decided not to fly at all?

A must read for everyone "How to lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff
www.amazon.com...

reply to post by 46ACE


but thats just it...thats what they want, people to fear the government, people to be too afraid to complain, and when people fear complaining they become compliant thus allowing the actions to carry on!!

everyone should just stop flying, this routine is utterly despicable...u have 2 choices, either go through the body scanner and risk future illness due to radiation..not to mention embarassment, or have the pat down, where we will stick our hands down ur pants and strip ur children and elderly mother who is in a wheelchair!

this is only the first step people....when they see people are accepting or should i say being compliant through fear, then they will rig it up a notch ..and another and another to see just how controlled and compliant we are and willing to be, then when we have all had enough and rise up....marshall law and fema camps!

were being rounded up to get put in the pen like the sheep that we are!

god help us all!!

Freedom of speech has nothing to do with pat-downs and the TSA!

It has a lot to do with creating panic with an over-hyped war on terror, delaying flights, causing fights and embarrassing moments, possible health concerns with the x-ray machines and all in all can be summed up as an OUT OF CONTROL government pushing for OUT OF CONTROL military spending.

Lets not mix apples with oranges............

Originally posted by EarthCitizen07
Freedom of speech has nothing to do with pat-downs and the TSA!

It has a lot to do with creating panic with an over-hyped war on terror, delaying flights, causing fights and embarrassing moments, possible health concerns with the x-ray machines and all in all can be summed up as an OUT OF CONTROL government pushing for OUT OF CONTROL military spending.

Lets not mix apples with oranges............

Perhaps "freedom of speech" is too literal in this case; more like inducing fear and this disparity in complaints shows its effect. people are concerned with being added to "lists"rather than raise their complaints.

The SS didnt get complaints.. The KGB didnt get complaints.. Stasi didnt get complaints..

It's a fact that the "TSA" altered their security procedures on "Thanksgiving weekend" beginning on the OPT out day by not sending many people though the scanners (one reporter at my airport saw only one person go through the scanner in an hour), thus you didn't have people opting and then getting patted down. .

This was a strategic move by John Pistole, so he could get the MSM to claim that the "Opt Out" campaign fizzled as well as claiming that not many people complained.

Yet according to many people (including people here on ATS)

We have no right to address to our government that what they are doing goes against our constitutional right.

I am so sick of this willingness to stomp all over our rights as humans by not only our government but also by the people.


Those who lack to courage to stand up to tyranny are traitors to our country and it's people.

I actually feel I won a small victory just by seeing the shocked look of the smug TSA worker who fondled my...boys, when I said:

"You like what you feel? How about we do dinner some time?"

Yeah, kinda gay on my part, but the look of shock and horror on this dudes face instead of the smug grin was priceless. The times you wish you had a camera.

Screw complaining, just make the TSA agent as uncomfortable as possible. That's my goal in fighting this.