Student strips down to Speedo at Salt Lake City airport

[liberal N proud]

SALT LAKE CITY — A college student has posted a video on the Internet in which he strips down to a Speedo bathing suit to protest security measures at Salt Lake City airport.

The video was purportedly shot Tuesday in a security line, but an airport official reported another Speedo protest was taking place Wednesday.

In the video, a Transportation Security Administration agent asks the student, "Sir, what are you doing?!"

"This is a safety precaution, man," the student replies. "Just making sure I don't have any trouble."

"Put your clothes back on!" an agent orders before the protester tries to explain that he plans to dress after exiting a metal detector.

"Put your clothes back on!" the agent repeats.

The protester refuses and tells a TSA supervisor, "I looked on the TSA website and it didn't say anything about going through in a bathing suit."

Agents finally give up and let the man remain in his bathing suit.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40358601/ns/travel-news/

[MineralMan]

1. Hah! Good for him. Nice piece of theater. And he went through,

got on his plane, and flew to his destination. Got his 3 minutes of fame in the bargain. Clever lad!

[TheWatcher]

7. Delete

Waste of time.

[MineralMan]

15. Good choice.

[TheWatcher]

18. Well, since you feel the need to be baiting

What I was saying was that the real Theater is the Security Theater you go out of your way to promote and defend every day.

This was a Protest against that theater.

The waste of time is you, but it's not a waste of time to counter and speak out against what you promote.

Have a Good Holiday. :hi:

[MineralMan]

22. Both are theater. I admire this guy (and the bikini girl) for

using their own theater to make their point, while still flying to their destinations.

You consider me a waste of time? Knock yourself out. I'm promoting nothing but common sense here. Theater is a great way to make a point. Good for these two kids who found a great way to make their point without giving up their trip. That's common sense.

Calling me a "waste of time" is a personal attack, but I won't bother alerting on it. You aren't understanding what I'm saying. That's certainly clear. I will have a great holiday. Thanks. I hope yours is good, too.

[TheWatcher]

23. So you FINALLY admit it's all Secruity Theater.

Wow, progress.

You will continue to defend, promote, and rigorously justify it every day, though.

That I am sure, will not change.

You Promote the continued expansion of the Police State, and our submission to it, which is anything but common sense.

That's who you are MineralMan.

That's not an attack, nor do I mean it as one, it's the way things are.

And I will continue to oppose what you promote.

It's not personal. I oppose EVERYONE who promotes and defends this.

Happy Thanksgiving! :hi:

[MineralMan]

24. Of course it's theater. It's theater designed to throw anyone who

might be considering trying an attack on a passenger plane off balance. What did you think it was for? And the kid? That was great theater. He found a way to say what so many have been ranting about, but with humor, and still made his flight. His theater was effective. The TSA's theater appears to be effective, too.

The folks flying on the planes. They're just going from one place to another. The vast majority of them don't give a crap one way or another about the "meaning" of this security screening. They don't care.

The poor theater is the silliness of ranting about this by people who don't even intend to fly on an airline. That's lousy theater. It's silliness. The only people whose theater gets applause are the ones who want to fly and find a way to dramatize their objections in a way that both makes the point and doesn't keep them from flying. That's why I'm praising these two young people. Good on them!

I promote nothing. I post reality. If you want to fly, you're going to go through security. It is that simple. You can go through it in the passive way most people do, or you can turn it into theater. Me? I'll just go through the security. I know how to do that without raising any eyebrows and with a minimum of hassle. I gave some tips on that in an OP earlier this week. I do theater, too. But not on this particular issue. My theater is more involved and complex. I do appreciate the immediacy, though of these two young people. They did very well.

DU is not theater. It is a performance in front of your friends and buddies. It's ineffectual. I don't do theater here. I just post information. I've actually not posted in that many TSA threads. I've started a couple. The first was that advice thread. The advice I gave there was very good advice for those who want to fly with the least amount of hassle. Oddly, a lot of the people who objected to that advice began by saying they had no intention of flying. That's just silly. They didn't need the advice. Others may have. It's advice that works.

I've also posted a couple of satires on this entire thing.

You have no idea what I support or oppose. I actually don't promote anything except common sense. Philosophically, I'm a proponent of pure socialism. That's a pipe dream, and I'm more than aware of that. So, I do common sense. I do practical politics. That's reality. I live in a real world. I deal with that world.

You don't like what I write? Join the crowd.

[TheWatcher]

25. I do not like anyone who promotes the erosion of Civil Liberty and Freedom Masquerading as Security

And "Keeping Us Safe."

You go out of your way to rationalize and get everybody to go along with it, promote and defend it, to dismiss and minimalize all concerns and evidence of abuse of the system as hyperbole and overreaction, while lecturing to us how necessary it is , and how it's "no big deal.". So no, MineralMan, I don't like what you write, I don't like what you support, promote, and defend.

And no, I don't like you. That's not an attack, that's the way I feel.

"It's theater designed to throw anyone who might be considering trying an attack on a passenger plane off balance."

No it isn't, and it's not effective for that, nor is it meant for that.

It is about submission, control, and Conditioning.

nadin has posted some very good counter posts to yous, and she explains this in great detail.

But then again, she's just a silly, nilly, sniveling, overreactionary kook, right?

As for you, you may have a lot of people on DU fooled with the way you present yourself, and you are very good at what you do.

I just don't buy it.

A Tiger doesn't change it's stripes.

No matter how eloquently and "reasonably" he tries to. I've seen your type come and go here. You get points for your sophistication, but not much else.

And that's where this conversation ends.

I will continue to speak out against what you promote and defend.

I will not however, address you directly. I think it's best we not cross paths again. it is a waste of time and energy, and beyond tiresome. You are clearly invested.

That's not an attack, it's the truth.

Good Evening To you.

Enjoy your Enchanted Bubble Of False Comfort and Convenience At Any Cost.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. So I should subject myself to UNNECESSARY radiation

due to theater?

I am sure there is a problem somewhere in there.

To your credit you got one thing right. Some of the procedures are NOT predictable from airport to airport. That is not theater, that is real security.

The nudie scans, on the other hand. are.

[TheWatcher]

29. nadin, save your breath.

People who want to be spokespersons for this are unreachable.

I finally had to put it on Ignore.

I'd rather have oral sex with a cactus than engage with it further.

[bigmonkey]

32. The sheer arrogance of the statement "I post reality"

Just gets me every time. It's just framing, framing that's meant to elevate someone's opinions above anyone else's. Too much. Sheer arrogance, masquerading as common-sense.

[wtmusic]

2. College student?! If we got a bunch of oldsters like me together in Speedos

we'd see some results for our trouble.

[mdmc]

3. i hear that

me in a speedo is the definition of terrorism..

[liberal N proud]

5. If I wore a speedo, they would lock me up just for trying it on.

[HuckleB]

9. I'm in the same boat. -eom-

[hobbit709]

16. I don't think they make one in my lardbutt size.

And If they do, that idea is even scarier.
:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

19. You made me do this

No it is not me!

[TheWatcher]

21. I Will get you for this.

And your little dog, too.

I don't know how just yet, but trust me, you'll rue the day.


IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[jberryhill]

4. Nothing wrong with that

The guy who got naked elsewhere was committing indecent exposure.

There is nothing unlawful about wearing a swim suit, bike shorts, etc.

[GentryDixon]

6. This is getting old.

I fly out of Salt Lake often, most recently last month, and have never had anything more than walking through the regular screening machine and once having my carry on inspected.

But then, I am not looking for 15 minutes of fame.

The first time an actual threat is realized, you can guess who will be blamed if we relax the current screening process.

Enough already.

[liberal N proud]

8. People are fed up with the progressive steps to remove our liberties.

I for one think the searches are a violation of our constitutional rights and are therefore illegal searches.

But if you want to know what the forefathers of our nation thought:

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin November 11, 1755.

This quotation, slightly altered, is inscribed on a plaque in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

[wtmusic]

10. Keyword: temporary

There is nothing we can do which can't be eventually circumvented - except remove the motive.

Somehow that gets overlooked far too often.

[sarcasmo]

11. OBEY! who needs their 4th amendment.

[frylock]

13. so this more about protecting obama than about protecting the populace?

[TheWatcher]

20. DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!

We must protect the Quarterback at all costs, so we must fall in line and go along with everything, just so long as our Football team has the ball.

If the Denver Broncos had Pass Protection like this, they would go 19-0 and win the damn Super Bowl EVERY YEAR.

[woo me with science]

28. [phone]

What an ugly truth.

[kath]

35. The recent changes started less than a month ago - so it's no surprise that it didn't happen to you

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Could present a problem for us middle-aged folk, but I like his initiative.

[liberal N proud]

14. Maybe if us old farts showed up in Speedos they would change the process

Just so they didn't have to look at us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I think the first 100 would make them laugh, but after that, yeah, it might

be a deterrence.

You know, when they felt me up back in 2005 and I realized it was the "overlap" in my breasts that caught their eye, along with the fact that I was flying in and out of Ft. Lauderdale, a lone female, hispanic traveler, and getting profiled each time, it was an incentive to exercise. I might not lose weight, but, at least, exercising shifts the fat around to less private areas.

[socialist_n_TN]

34. That's it l_N_p. Actually I'd probably do ...........

something like this if I had to fly anywhere and I'm pretty old. For almost 60, I'm not in bad shape, but I'm not someone a 20 or 30 (or even a 40 or 50) something would want to look at nearly naked, but hey, I do have an exhibitionistic streak (pun intended) and it WOULD get a point across.

If it's about security, then this should be no problem. As long as it's an actual bathing suit, it's not illegal. And yes, it IS theater.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Methinks I need to go shopping for a bikini

and ... I shudder, I stopped having a body for one a while ago.

[Harry Monroe]

30. And then he was arrested for grape smuggling!

[Harry Monroe]

31. Honestly, I don't see the fuss!!

"This is a safety precaution, man," the student replies. "Just making sure I don't have any trouble."

Why is being proactive a bad thing? I think he should be commended.

[dickthegrouch]

33. He has some guts!

I felt terrified just watching him do this. I don't know that I'd have the courage to stand up like that to TSA goons. I'm flying again in January, I guess I'll find out. If they're still engaging in their DISGUSTING behavior that is.

[liberal N proud]

36. I fly on Monday for business