Whoopi Goldberg: TSA 'Opt-Out Day Protest' was an Act of Terrorism.

[MadBadger]

Goldberg’s point, as she further explains it on the program, is that deliberately slowing down security at an airport and hindering the commute of American travelers is to sabotage the system, and falls under the definition of terrorism. She finds little resistance among her peers, of which Elisabeth Hasselbeck seems to most enthusiastically agree (yes, a moment where Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck enthusiastically agree on something– savor it while it lasts). Neither them nor anyone on the panel bring up the possibility that Opt-Out Day– in which Americans would choose to opt out of the body scanner en masse such as to create long lines at airports in protest of the invasive body scanner procedure– may fall into the category of civil disobedience.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/whoopi-goldberg-tsa-opt-out-day-protest-was-an-act-of-terrorism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mediaite%2FClHj+%28Mediaite%29

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Goldberg, Whoopi: failed comedian, american idiot.

[October]

6. Agree. Complete fool.

[HipChick]

Successful actress..author...she's entitled to her own opinion...I don't need to demonize her to

disagree with her...

[Warren Stupidity]

19. demonize? she vocalizes idiocy.

that makes her an idiot. She is indeed entitled to her own opinion and quite unfortunately she gets to broadcast it nationwide.

[woo me with science]

25. +100000 nt

[greytdemocrat]

12. Agreed.

I loved her on Star Trek TNG but it's been downhill since then.

[CreekDog]

43. Someone likes Guinan?

:wtf:

:rofl: :hide:

[TheKentuckian]

49. Loves me some Guinan!

[RC]

2. How else to make the point?

Whoopi is saying to just except the new invasive searches and go along like the good sheeple we are suppose to be?
That doesn't sound like Whoopi

[JonLP24]

5. Everyone on the show supports the searches

I was actually surprised to see even Joy supporting them.

[krabigirl]

37. I wasn't. Obama supports it, so does she. Sad.

[October]

7. I've noticed that as people age, they become more fearful

Just an observation on my part with friends and family.

[niyad]

15. umm, that isn't true of all older people, this crone included. amoung my friends, it is clear we

are becoming more and more radical and angry, not fearful. the discussion around the dinner table on t-day would have freaked a lot of people out, especially the parts relating to the tsa.

[October]

33. Glad to hear it, really

It's just an observation on my part. I'm no spring chicken, mind you.

[mrmpa]

29. You got it so right

For about 10 years I was a community activist and employed by the city in which I lived. I was very vocal about the wrongs committed by the city's administration, particularly in my community. One of my staff informed me that I should keep quiet or I might lose my job. I told him, no one had the right to make me afraid. Once I became afraid, those with "power" had won. Within the following year, I was laid off, never to work for the city again. Was this "lay off" retaliatory? Probably, but at least I could face myself in the mirror every morning.

If you're afraid, you've lost.

[October]

8. I've noticed that as people age, they become more fearful

Just an observation on my part with friends and family.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. umm, that isn't true of all older people, this crone included. amoung my friends, it is clear we

are becoming more and more radical and angry, not fearful. the discussion around the dinner table on t-day would have freaked a lot of people out, especially the parts relating to the tsa.

:-)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. so glad I don't "have" to fly.

[KharmaTrain]

4. It Was A Non-Starter...

Everyone who I've talked with that were traveling this holiday had one major concern...get to the plane. Flying is enough of a hassle...especially if you're flying with a family. This protest was bound to fail. As do most "boycotts". The American attitude is "It's all well and good for others, but I've got places to go things to do."

The real affects will be felt after the holidays. Will we see a drop in air travel as people are so turned off by the games of the airlines along with the TSA intrusions and drive, take the train or stay at home? If there's a "boycott", it will be a silent one.

[hlthe2b]

14. Actually it was successful. The threat caused TSA to back down...

Their scanners were taken out of service in most busy airports and they reverted to their old procedures. Whether there will be lasting effects is to be seen, however.


I would also point out to those ready to conclude it was a "bust" that there have been no figures released on trip cancellations. How many chose NOT to fly out of concern for these procedures (or out of support for the boycott)?

[KharmaTrain]

16. They Were Avoiding A PR Nightmare...

Thanksgiving and Christmas eves are not only the most heavily traveled days of the year but almost every local TV station has a news crew roaming around the concourse. The TSA didn't want incidents all over the country flooding the airwaves that would only fuel the media frenzy further.

I'll be curious to see if there are figures available about cancellations. The question there how many people went despite...the cost of cancellation was not worth it. Let's see if there's a drop in traffic once the holidays pass...many of the tickets people are using now were purchased months in advance; before the new rules went into effect.

I've been avoiding flying for over two years due to the hassles in dealing with the airlines and regressive (and IMHO counter-productive) TSA searches. In one trip my wife forgot to take a snowglobe out of her carry-on (she should have packed it in her baggage) and we went through an hour of first making sure the terorist snowglobe was truly a snowglobe and then to find a way we could mail it home...in the end we decided to chuck the thing. Fortunately our flight was 3 hours late...on a clear sunny day no-less. Needless-to-say, a long and angst-ridden day on many levels.

Unless I have to fly I don't plan on it any time soon...car and train have always been my prefered method of getting from here to there.

Cheers...

[hlthe2b]

17. Me too. and it has hurt me, career-wise... considerably

[KharmaTrain]

21. Thank Goodness For Skype...

I'm doing a lot of networking I once could only do in person via Skype. Obviously it's a lot cheaper, too.

It's a shame as a young kid I did a lot of traveling and flying. At 13 I traveled by myself to Europe...spent the day roaming around JFK and having a great time. Ironically (and I think I posted this in another thread), one trip took me through Logan in Boston less than a month before 9/11. That evening I encountered a security clustermess...the metal detectors weren't operating and the security agents (before TSA) were pressured to keep the line moving and pretty much waived all of us without even a look inside our bags. No wonder that airport was singled out.

I have no problem having my bags x-rayed or even opened and looked around...or a metal detector to make sure I'm not packing box cutters, but I also believe that if this system is our last resort against having planes blown up, the system has failed. Also that the "terrorists" aren't stupid...they will find other vulnerabilities in our system and society and then what? The intrusion into our civil liberties shouldn't be the price to be "safe".

Cheers...

[coalition_unwilling]

22. Me 3. I haven't flown since November of 2001 when the Bush Junta

committed its first war crimes in Afghanistan. And I won't willingly fly again until leading members of the Bush Junta are put on trial for war crimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I have probably paid a horrible price in terms of things like a middle class career. But I stuck around at a dead end job for four years b/c it gave me access to the LA Times headquarters building where I could wear my peace signs and shove it in the face of the war whores at the LA Times. So let's just say a career is not my be-all and end-all.

Whoopi can kiss my ass. By her logic, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat was an act of terrorism because it inconvenienced people. What a fool.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Civil disobedience IS terrorism.

Any failures to comply with orders from a duly constituted authority are tantamount to an attack on the American Way of Life, and will be dealt with accordingly.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. "duly constituted"

room to argue, perhaps :shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

31. "Duly constituted"=

"Have the power to stomp you into the ground if you screw with them."

[NJCher]

11. protest was a bad idea

I strongly advocate just about any type of protest against this screening procedure but this one just makes it worse for passengers. Is this not making the situation doubly bad?

Whenever I encounter a protest that seriously inconveniences me, at least part of my anger and discontent is expressed toward the protesters. Am I atypical? In not, is this what the organizers want?

As for Whoopie, anyone who has watched her will know her opinions are unpredictable. One never knows where she's coming from.


Cher

[treestar]

13. It is not civil disobedience unless it causes an arrest

They just would not be let onto the plane.

[jefferson_dem]

18. Thankfully, the idiots who hatched this "opt out" plan weren't successful...

as far as I could tell. I flew from ATL to NY (LaGuardia) on Wednesday and the process was smooth as silk.

Terrorism? I'm not so sure about that in a literal sense but I would have felt that way if I had missed my flight because a few assholes gummed things up to prove a (misguided) point.

[coalition_unwilling]

24. Not to be a grammar Nazi, but you are using 'Thankfully' incorrectly. I think

you mean, "I am thankful that . . ." Your sentence as written means "The idiots who hatched this 'opt out' plan in a thankful manner weren't successful." In your sentence, "Thankfully" functions as an adverb modifying the verb "hatched."

You do realize your use of the word 'idiot' to characterize supporters of the opt-out campaign applies to roughly 50% of DU's membership (myself included)? I'm sure you did not mean to insult me or 50% of DU's membership. But if you did intend the insult, the least you could do is use proper grammar, for God's sake.

[jefferson_dem]

26. Good Grief...

You raise a ruckus about a misplaced adverb? Do you troll around - in "grammar nazi" form - in all threads or just this one?

I meant what I said. Sorry if it offends you but that's the way I feel.

[krabigirl]

35. Since they mostly shut down the machines to quell the protest.

And sorry, the "idiots" are those who don't care about being basically strip searched just to board a plane.

[TheKentuckian]

50. Heh, It was plenty successful, TSA was forced to turn off the strip search machines

and in effect admit that the junk isn't necessary since we could afford not to use them on the busiest day of the year.

If they felt the need was real then it would be the height of irresponsibility to not use the equipment on such a day with busy airports and packed planes.

[sarcasmo]

23. Whoopi hates freedom and loves her overlords, imagine that.

[Gin]

28. she is scared to death of flying....as far as I am concerned

she is a just a comedian, and she has an opinion that I disagree with.

[ecstatic]

27. they said that the distraction caused by yelling/irate people protesting in line

could cause a real terrorist to slip through unnoticed. I don't think her point was that crazy.

[krabigirl]

36. Wow...

[redirish28]

30. Kind of shocked she would say that. Especially after the O'Reilly thing? Have to wonder if Walters

said something to her.

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. Civil obedience is okay, apparently..

... unless it personally inconveniences me.

[krabigirl]

34. These women are ignorant and nuts...surprised to see Walters agreeing though.

Then again, she interviewed Obama a few days after, so I guess she had to kiss butt to keep the interview.

But seriously? Terrorists? I guess rosa parks was a terrorist then!!!

So sad to see "liberals" agreeing with the neocon Hasselbeck.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fishwax]

39. yeesh

:crazy:

[northernlights]

40. Thoreau was a terrorist nt

[Canuckistanian]

41. So now passive resistance is terrorism?

Expect this highly polished turd of an argument to be gleefully taken up by FAUX.

[jefferson_dem]

46. Nah...

Actually, FauxNews and the rest of the RWNJ echo chamber have been the ones pushing this "story" in the first place. They lurves them some scandalous looking pics and videos of latex-gloved TSA agents doing simple pat downs.

[jamiefoxer]

42. wow, Whoopi. Lost some of my respect

calling Americans exercising their free speech and free will rights to protest invasive pat downs Terrorists?

WRONG.

Annoying, disruptive? yeah. You don't support it? That's your right. Calling us terrorists? Out of bounds!

[TheWatcher]

44. This country Has lost it's fucking mind.

There just are no words.

Wow.

[CreekDog]

45. I wouldn't opt out to slow down the lines (I don't to get in the way of people going home)

I would only opt out to avoid the backscatter machines and any potential issues with the ionizing radiation from them.

and civil disobedience is narrowly defined as doing something illegal or at least unpermitted, however opting out of the whole body images was an option TSA gave us (well, at least for the whole body scanners).

[LisaL]

47. TSA gave people an option of opting out of the scanners.

How in the world can following the option provided by TSA be considered terrorism?

[Marr]

48. I suspect she supports it because the right-wing is making an issue of opposing it.

There are a lot of people who do that. They just support anything the "other side" claims to oppose, without trying to look at it objectively. It doesn't help.