UNBELIEVABLE! Basic Rights Denied At J.F.K. Airport

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Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 1:00 PM

If Possible, Don't Visit the United States
Wendy McElroy

Emily Feder's piece entitled "At JFK Airport, Denying Basic Rights Is Just Another Day at the Office" on Alternet is excellent in a bone-chilling way. Feder writes, I was recently stopped by Homeland Security as I was returning from a trip to Syria. What I saw in the hours that followed shocked and disturbed me. She concludes, In the past five years I have worked for human rights and refugee advocacy organizations in Serbia, Russia and Croatia, including the International Rescue Committee and USAID. I have traveled to many different places, some supposedly repressive, and have never seen people treated with the kind of animosity that Homeland Security showed that night. In Syria, border control officers were stern but polite. At other borders there have been bureaucracies to contend with -- excruciating for both Americans and other foreign nationals. I've met Russian officials with dead, suspicious looks in their eyes and arms tired from stamping so many visas, but in America, the Homeland Security officials I encountered were very much alive -- like vultures waiting to eat.

Feder's observations accord with my own, far more limited travel experiences. Even the customs guards in Communist China were professional and polite (in a bored way) compared to almost every American security or customs official I've encountered. Travel agents up here (in Canada) say that one of the most common requests they hear is "How do I avoid making a connection in the U.S.?" Going through an American aiport is like being processed through a prison or an animal stockyard. And Feder is correct; one of the most unsettling aspects is that American guards are not just doing a job; they seem to be emotionally invested in it and swollen with an arrogant enjoyment of authority.

Which is not to excuse those security agents who are just doing a job. You do not escape responsibility for brutalizing someone just because you are being paid to do so. Taking money to strip them of rights should make your actions more and not less despicable. And, yet, agents hide their bruality behind "just doing my job" or "just following orders."

The libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick said that some bucks stop with all of us. How we chose to treat the rights and dignity of another human being is one of those bucks. There is no such thing as disappearing into the job or behind the uniform and, so, becoming the bureaucratic "nobodies that Hannah Arendt portrayed in her book Responsibility and Judgment, in which she uses a wonderful term she had coined : the "banality of evil". The banality when evil becomes an unthinking routine -- the agent who says "just doing my job and watching the clock while I violate your rights." Arendt writes, "The greatest evildoers are those who don't remember because they have never given thought to the matter."

The trouble with the Nazi criminals was precisely that they renounced voluntarily all personal qualities, as if nobody were left to be either punished or forgiven. They protested time and again that they had never done anything out of their own initiative, that they had no intentions whatsoever, good or bad, and that they only obeyed orders. To put it another way: the greatest evil perpetrated is the evil committed by nobodies, that is, by human beings who refuse to be persons. Within the conceptual framework of these considerations we could say that wrongdoers who refuse to think by themselves what they are doing and who also refuse in retrospect to think about it, that is, go back and remember what they did (which is teshuvah or repentance), have actually failed to constitute themselves into somebodies. By stubbornly remaining nobodies they prove themselves unfit for intercourse with others who, good, bad, or indifferent, are at the very least persons.

In his work "On Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau made a similar point while pondering the Mexican-American war. Thoreau wondered about the psychology of men who would fight a war and, perhaps, kill strangers out of obedience. He concluded that soldiers, by virtue of their absolute obedience to the state, become somewhat less than human. He wrote, “Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power? Visit the Navy Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts--a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity…” This is how “the mass of men” employed by the state render service to it, “not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.” In doing so, the men relinquish the free exercise of their moral sense and, so “put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones.”

In putting on their uniforms, agents of the state discard their humanity.

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Are you of Syrian descent? Do you look middle eastern? I for one woul like to apologize for any rude, crude or inhumane treatment you suffered or that you saw others suffer. I believe God wants us to treat our enemies with respect even if we have to shoot them.

However, I do believe we are foolish to not exercise the wisdom of profiling. Profiling is not a bad thing if done properly with respect; but it has gotten a bad name because people who engage in it are proud of their power and not respectful of basic human rights. As our country has gotten away from Biblical principles it has given way to pride and arrogancy. As a result, we have made enemies out of those who were not our enemies. God is not blessing our efforts in the "war against terror" because it has become an excuse for neocons to forge a New World Order completely different from our God-blessed Constitutional Republic. Constitutional Republics cannot be controlled by a few wealthy globalists, so they are trying to change our country. We the people must humble ourselves and pray and seek God's face and turn from our wicked ways. Only THEN will God hear from heaven and will forgive our sin and heal our land! (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Seriously, I am now feeling no pleasure from the prospect of traveling to the US again. I am afraid of being separated from my lap-top, (which I am totally dependent on for my business activities) and feel just displeasure from the thought of again having to go through the US immigration process.

For years I have been coming to your country, both on vacations and on business.
To me the US has been the place where I could breath better and feel real freedom. Not any more. These days I feel much better going to places like Ukraine or Russia. What is happening to you? It is a very, very sad state of affairs!

Thanks for posting this Rhonda. What a story!

The details of free nations going to police state hell..

The other day, a dear friend of mine invited me on a trip to practically anywhere. She is a world traveler who has racked up so many miles, she can fly herself and a friend pretty much anywhere in the world and back, and she also has bonus points with her timeshare (also with locations available worldwide), so basically I'd only have to pay for meals (which I'd have to pay for at home anyway) and any shopping I might want to do (which would likely be nil). What an opportunity, huh?!?! And if anyone could use a vacation, boy howdy, that'd definitely be me.

Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Malta, Spain, Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, New Caledonia & Shanghai are among the options, as well as tons of cities throughout the U.S. She's asking what my choice would be.

I hear Bakersfield is nice this time of year...*sigh*...

This is just a continuation of the American way. This country has never been free.

In the beginning, only rich white male landowners were free. If you were black and not wearing chains, you had to prove to the authorities that you were not a runaway slave. Once slavery was thrown in the dustbin of history, they pulled blacks out of the slot marked "Official State Enemy," pulled a new one off the shelf and stuck it in the slot.

During the Civil War it was "Rebs."

In WWII it was "Japs," so FDR built concentration camps to imprison them.

During the Cold War it was "Reds," so you had McCarthy grilling people who leaned left politically, smearing them with the communist slur and ruining their lives.

Well, the Cold War is over. Communism is in the dust bin. It's time for a new enemy and a new way to infringe the constitutional rights of a new segment of society. So now if you visit the Middle East or talk to a relative on the phone, you get smeared with the "Terrorist" slur and pay the price.

It's the American way. Welcome to the land of the not-so-free.

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Liberty for Dummies

In God We Trust!
They ( dispicable bastards with guns and badges who abuse us ) don't know it but they are being put on a list by we the people and when the time comes ( if it comes ) they will then know it.
You will reap what you sow!

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And be sure to let them know it! Blame the airports (like JFK) that are the worst.

Believe me, if they perceive they're losing cold cash because of Homeland Security, Homeland Security will be told how to behave properly by the airlines. (After all, Homeland Security is a creature of the 911 hoax, obviously staffed by thugs ... hardly a vital government department. It's the corporations that really run Washington).

If some of us have to suffer ... take alternative transportation or cancel trips for the short run, it would be a small price to pay to put these baboons squarely in their places.

Does anyone have in inside track on how to accomplish this so our arrow hits their nerve center?

The point is probably to cause as much stress as possible to the people who are detained - then to observe them. That explains the harsh treatment, sneers, whispers/jokes, fingers on their guns, no bathroom, no water, sirens on the desks, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if the ones who get the most attention are the people who do not complain, sitting calmly and patiently for hours and hours. Those are probably the ones to be worried about.

So what else is Homeland Security supposed to do when terrorist organizations send pregnant women into grocery stores to blow themselves, and everyone around them, up? If a pregnant woman is willing to do that, then can anyone at all be trusted?

Maybe the borders should be completely closed off for a few years. During the downtime we ought to focus on all the problems within the U.S. for a while.

That happen to my mother-in last year coming back from Florida......she was held for an hour, she said they were rude and whouldn't even let her come out to let's us know what was going on....All because she didn't have one of her I.D's.

"Observe the masses,and do the opposite."

When I was a child I use to dream of going to the different countries my family came from..and a few side trips would have been nice..But for the past 20 years I let the dream slowly die.
The way I was raised..I knew these days where coming..I was just hoping not in my life time...So the dream to travel to England-Scotland-France..are dead....But..at least for now...when..if..I ever get the money..I can drive up to meet the Cherokee...
Thanks a lot Bush/Cheney..CFR..Bilderburgs..And the rest of you lying two faced bastards.....But..I do have a new dream...It involves all of them frying in the depths of hell and us pushing them in that nice firey pit.

Freedom is another way to God...A corrupt government is a straight way to hell.

I stopped flying years ago, I suffer anxiety attacks. I came home from a trip, exhausted and tired and hungry, like they make all travelers... I was lucky, I had my meltdown out past baggage claim bu the phones, so no security was nearby.
Two weeks later I watch the video of Carol Gotbaum being treated like a terrorist because she got drunk and obnoxious. I mean, I am all in favor of getting obnoxious drunks out of people's way, but I am OK with them sobering up and feeling like idiots, that is plenty of punishment for me, as long as they weren't out driving or anything. We don't have to kill them. Of course, the pigs, er, fine security agents were cleared of any wrongdoing.
I don't go to the airport except to pick up rental cars any more.

getting scary out there. I picked my husband up at the airport a few weeks ago. I was stunned at the number of security. Peace

There real worried about terrorists coming over here huh? WE HAVE WIDE OPEN BORDERS HERE!!!! Do you think they will fly over and take the risk? This is nothing more than harassment. They want to get you used to being detained in a police state.

It's just a psych-ops defensive measure.

We have almost no defense against traveling criminals. Detaining people in an intimidating way puts a ton of pressure on people with bad intentions. As the guards played their role: making comments, being rude and crude, and ignoring people, other specialists were closely watching the reactions of the detainees via cameras. Those that actually showed the signs of a detained criminal were quietly escorted to the real interrogation/holding areas.

It's sad that a lot of innocent people have to suffer from this intimidating detention, but it's an effective way to nab criminals.

I bet they even planted people in the group to ask questions and stuff.

By the way, when you travel you forfeit many rights...and I'm betting you know it and yet still wrote that article hoping to use most people's ignorance against them. That is kinda deceptive of ya.

who are the terrorists now?

Yes, I have hate in my heart for some things. This is one of them.

Anyone who thinks that DHS is anything short of Gestapo needs to take another look. They are far more dangerous to U.S. citizens than to any terrorist. This department needs to be defunded and disbanded!

When the line will have been crossed one time too many by those who would deny us our God given rights.

Those cowardly thugs at the airport would do well to remember that.

without us stopping what has begun.

and without ron paul or someone of his integrity in office.

I just don't want to believe that it's this bad...yet, I feel it's all true.. so surreal...
That was a very informative piece...thank you...

6289 diggs in 18 hours....wow

it is trully unbelievable what it has come to. thanks for the post.