TSA To Photogs: Why Don’t You Love Us?

Just because Carlos Miller’s blog, Photography is not a Crime, is dedicated to the abuses heaped on shutterbugs since our war on terrorists and fast film began doesn’t mean he needs to be overly sensitive.  After all, as was pointed out to him when he saw this TSA poster and jumped to the baseless conclusion that anyone taking pictures of airplanes was likely a terrorist, it might just as well have been a commentary on hoodies. Dark hoodies, to be specific.

Need I even mention the excess glare on the image, thus further obscuring its meaning?  But the poster’s message, that photographers are presumptively the “wrong hands,” raised enough outrage that the Transportation Safety Administration felt constrained to respond.

Did you know that the TSA has a blog?  And that it’s run by Blogger Bob?  Catchy, right?  Just like regular folk trying to be one of the gang.  Apparently it also has a twitter feed which was “abuzz” at this indiscretion, prompting Blogger Bob to get off his Blogger Butt and explain why the TSA has a problem with hoodies photographers.

Some felt this poster didn’t go far enough in distinguishing between general photography and suspicious surveillance activity. These images are simply meant to represent a number of different scenarios that are common in and around [General Aviation] airfields.

What different scenarios would Blogger Bob be addressing?  Perhaps the hoodied image of a guy with a bazooka versus a Pentax?  Perhaps the reason this is a common scenario is because there is nothing illegal, improper, or even inherently suggestive about a photographer taking pictures of a plane.  All those images of planes taking off and landing that we see have to come from somewhere.  Did you think they were all sent over by Al Jazeera?

Worse still, as Blogger Bob explains, not only are photographers overly sensitive, as if getting arrested, having their equipment seized and destroyed and spending some quality jail time was unpleasant, if they were caring Americans, they would be the TSA’s biggest assets.

In fact, many photographers would be prime candidates to use such vigilance programs to report suspicious activity since they’re extremely observant of their surroundings.

So come on, all you selfish photographer types, who care only about yourselves and your “rights”. What about the rest of America, waiting for the next photograph taking terrorist to snap a picture of an airplane so they can pin it up on their cave wall and have something to dream about blowing up.  What about us?  The least you can do is sign on to the TSA’s hypervigilence squad and start snapping every hoodie wearing, camera-toting terrorist around.  So what if he’s just like you.  They all look alike, and better safe than sorry.

Take one for the team.  Don’t do it for me.  Do it for Blogger Bob.

H/T Radley Balko

9 thoughts on “TSA To Photogs: Why Don’t You Love Us?

  1. SHG

    I was thinking about whether to emphasize the color issue, but it just seem so racist when we all know the real problem is those damned photographers.

  2. Jack B.

    How can we be sure that’s a camera? Standing around the perimeters of an airport with a kaleidoscope seems awfully suspicious to me…

  3. SHG

    I bow to your fertile imagination (and the image of one of those trick kaleidoscopes that give someone a black eye).

  4. Windypundit

    You know, I see guys with guns all over the place around here. Sure, they’re dressed in shirts and pants and wear insignia just like local law enforcement, but I just checked and you can buy all of that stuff on the internet. I’ll bet you have these guys there in New York too. Next time you see one of them hanging out someplace that would make a good terrorist target, a large public building like a court house for example, you should phone it in to 911 as a man with a gun. After all, somebody should check it out.

    And how about those people you see wearing TSA outfits away from any airport? What’s up with that? Think about it, man! What better way to infiltrate past TSA security than with a fake TSA uniform? Somebody needs to call the cops to check these guys out.

  5. Ahcuah

    You know, every time I see “Blogger Bob”, my brain processes it as that other well-known spokesman, “Baghdad Bob”. I wonder why that might be?

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