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madrobinsThe Blogosphere, or at least that corner of it I wander through, has been rehearsing the pros and cons (mostly cons) of the new TSA policies. For the record, I don't like the new X-ray scanners, I don't love having my nekkid middle-aged body displayed for TSA workers to see, and I don't like the new patdown, now with More Intrusion. However, some of the rhetoric has gotten pretty nasty, and the more I look at it, the more that rhetoric breaks down along class lines. The line in a Facebook discussion that stopped me cold was this:
I have no idea who the woman who patted me down on my last flight is. She was pleasant, a little younger than I, kept apologizing for the patdown, and informed me every step of the way what she was doing. A total pro: not a mini-Tyrant in sight. I know I was lucky; that some TSA workers are abrupt, rude, inappropriate, or bullying. What I don't know is anything about them, personally--I don't know about the woman who patted me down. Maybe she took the job because she wanted "a taste of power and authority," although it didn't seem so. But I don't know her level of education, her financial situation, how many kids she's feeding, if any, or what her politics are. I don't know why she took the job. Maybe she's an out-of-work M.A. with a degree in Philosophy and in this economy, it was all she could get. Maybe, in this climate, it was the only one that gave benefits she needed. Maybe she's completing her degree while she works this job. I Don't Know.
And the cheap shot about the GED? There are plenty of reasons why people don't finish high school. Many of them have nothing to do with level of ambition, or intelligence. A serious illness can knock a really bright kid right out of the educational system, and leave him or her scrabbling to get back. Sometimes bad luck can take a chunk of years out of your life and make you scramble to get back to where you should be. A GED in and of itself doesn't mean intellectual laziness or incuriosity, so why use it as a bludgeon?
Yeah, that's privilege, honey. All around you. If you're lucky enough to have the degree and a job to go with it, thank your lucky damned stars and don't assume that because you wouldn't take the job someone else wouldn't be happy to pay the rent and keep the kids fed on it.
"Seems like a pretty sweet gig for GED-holders who would like a taste of power and authority."Where to start. The class- and educational-snobbery implicit in that statement makes my hair hurt. So here's a note to the person who said it.
I have no idea who the woman who patted me down on my last flight is. She was pleasant, a little younger than I, kept apologizing for the patdown, and informed me every step of the way what she was doing. A total pro: not a mini-Tyrant in sight. I know I was lucky; that some TSA workers are abrupt, rude, inappropriate, or bullying. What I don't know is anything about them, personally--I don't know about the woman who patted me down. Maybe she took the job because she wanted "a taste of power and authority," although it didn't seem so. But I don't know her level of education, her financial situation, how many kids she's feeding, if any, or what her politics are. I don't know why she took the job. Maybe she's an out-of-work M.A. with a degree in Philosophy and in this economy, it was all she could get. Maybe, in this climate, it was the only one that gave benefits she needed. Maybe she's completing her degree while she works this job. I Don't Know.
And the cheap shot about the GED? There are plenty of reasons why people don't finish high school. Many of them have nothing to do with level of ambition, or intelligence. A serious illness can knock a really bright kid right out of the educational system, and leave him or her scrabbling to get back. Sometimes bad luck can take a chunk of years out of your life and make you scramble to get back to where you should be. A GED in and of itself doesn't mean intellectual laziness or incuriosity, so why use it as a bludgeon?
Yeah, that's privilege, honey. All around you. If you're lucky enough to have the degree and a job to go with it, thank your lucky damned stars and don't assume that because you wouldn't take the job someone else wouldn't be happy to pay the rent and keep the kids fed on it.