More Fun with the TSA

Here are four, count 'em, four more horror stories to add to your collection of the modern monster that gives us the shivers when the lights are low: The TSA

1. A personal account of being detained by Homeland Security and how it mirrors basic human rights abuses.

2. A TSA agent who think he knows best about how to inspect a plane. I'll give you a hint, it involves climbing up on really delicate and expensive equipment. On 9 different planes. But don't worry, the TSA is here to make you safer.

3. I think the title says it all: Airline captain, lawyer, child on terror 'watch list.'

4. And finally, pilot sues for being put on "no fly" list because it, you know, threatens his job.

I can't help but feel a certain connection between the current practices and abuses of the TSA and Homeland Security in general and the classic Stanford Prison Experiment.  If you are unfamiliar with it, the experiment went like this: 24 students were given the roles of guards or prisoners in a fake prison setting. The idea was to test if abuses by prison guards, and I imagine acceptance by prisoners, was based on previous personality cues. To sum up: it wasn't. The experiment was shut down early because of the sadistic tendency of the guards and the emotional distress of the prisoners. If you have blanket power and authority over someone, you will abuse it in a way that would make you sick to your stomach outside of that situation. 

The Rational Moderate