"It's to measure how far I can throw you
if you don't get your hands
off my stuff."
Posted on 03/19/2015 1:50:21 PM PDT by shibumi
They've been taking it from us by inches for decades. Now we find ourselves being sold into slavery while hiking.
Permit me a flashback. Once upon a time I, along with a host of other young ambitious suit and tie types made the most of travel as a tool of the trade. Marketing involved a lot more personal selling back then and it was best done face to face. Perhaps just as important as product, pricing and promotions was the ease of personal mobility.
And more than just an economic tool it was our God given right of personal association and an expression of our manifest destiny in the marketplace.
By the end of the 1970s I had pounded enough bricks selling high priced office equipment that I could be considered something of a journeyman in that craft.
A combination of serendipitous timing and a good skill set that included training from both IBM and Xerox put me at just the right place at the right time to ride the crest of the PC boom. As PCs revolutionized the work flow in modern offices, I capitalized on my knowledge of the industry and found myself to be quite the marketable commodity.
Needless to say, having responsible positions in sales management and marketing found me spending much of my time in the 80s flying to and fro. Frequent Flier Miles, Lincolns from Budget Rent-A-Car and bonus points from good hotel chains were my bread and butter. I knew the ins and outs of most major airports and could arrive and board with a 15 minute window.
Since taking myself off the road in the mid 90s, I have flown on vacation once. Never again.
I will not subject myself to being groped by maladjusted social inferiors whose job it is to serve and protect me. Nor will I be "inspected" and have my baggage searched. I am the American here. I am in my native land. And I will most certainly not acquiesce to these indignities and invasions while foreigners (most probably here illegally) are allowed to pass out of fear for their "cultural sensitivities."
As I see the whole DHS/TSA/NSA octopus go into mission creep warp drive I am flabbergasted by just how docile my fellow countrymen are in the face of this Statist mentality.
And then I saw it. If you've been anywhere near a TV set in the last couple of months you've seen it too.
A tall middle aged man, without any kind of uniform, badge or symbol of authority sets up a tent in the wilderness and announces to hikers that he's running a "pack inspection station."
At this point an attempt at humor is made as he pulls odd items out of their packs. These folks have obviously failed in their basic responsibility to live according to the nutritional dictates of the State (probably taken straight from the Federal School Lunch Program) as there is not a granola bar to be found. What is found, however is a bunch of hikers who have never heard of the concept of being secure in their persons and papers. Nor have they heard of probable cause or the Fourth Amendment.
I will not claim to be able to read the minds of the people who wrote these scripts. It is quite possible that rather than being part of some insidious Psy-Op they themselves are victims. They quite probably have come to accept the authority of The State blindly. They seem to see no harm in someone rifling through their bags in a place where there are few people and virtually no property that warrants protection.
But what have we become when we take it silently as some unknown man (no natter how "friendly" he may seem) can commit a random violation of our privacy at will? And how far are we from the next logical step .....
"Your Papers, Please!"
"It's to measure how far I can throw you
if you don't get your hands
off my stuff."
~*Ping*~
I am not able to answer your question, but enjoyed your writing.
I don’t know (but I fear for) the answer.
And Thanks!
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click on the pic for The Hiking Nazi. :)
I had help.
That’s why I include pictures. Just in case I’m too obscure.
Thanks for the Bump, but I’ve really seen enough of that guy.
It is interesting how commercials are seemingly being used to socially condition the masses....
If I had no morals, i would start an ad agency that specialized in pro-state messages and get rich from the kickbacks from alphabet agencies.
You would think that most people would have enough brains to
ask for some sort of badge or other ID before they allow a perfect
stranger wandering around in the forest to paw through their stuff.
Sigh... Your papers, please.
I haven't flown since July 2001.
In my essay I gave them the benefit of the doubt.
But the darker side of my brain says that it’s already happening as you have described and that this commercial is just one of a whole program of conditioning they’ve got ready for us.
THere’s a link in post #9.
I got a new raincoat since that photo was taken.
But.. some of them hold high office!
Well said.
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