when reality clashes with idealism, something's gotta give.
my reality is clashing with my idealism. working at my job requires that i have an airport ID. i get this through a little government bureaucracy called ground transportation which is part of a somewhat larger government bureaucracy called airport operations.
it's just a money grab, a way of bilking hard working folks out of an extra $100 a year, plus another $85 every 2 years for a DOT certified physical. the physical is fine because it's always a good idea to have those anyway to stay on top of your health, so we benefit ourselves from that. plus it helps ensure that when someone gets into a cab or limo or bus or whatever that their driver isn't likely to just up and drop dead on them.
the airport ID though, that bugs me. and now even moreso that it involves having a background check and submitting fingerprints. here is where my idealism is clashing with reality.
there was a time not that long ago, back in the 1980's and even 90's where you were never required to give anyone your fingerprints except had you been convicted of a crime. that word "convicted" is important here, it meant that even if you were arrested for something, the government had no right to take your fingerprints against your will until you had been tried by a jury of your peers and convicted of the crime, or you confessed and were convicted that way. that's the way things work in this country, and that's the way they ought to work. your fingerprints are your own, they are a part of your body and you're the only one who should have any right to them unless and until you do something to change those circumstances.
well, this is the post-9/11 g. w. bush paranoia pro-law-enforcement america. land of the sheep, home of the cowaring. now days, the government reckons that it has every right to anything of yours with or without your consent. well, ok, i'm exaggerating somewhat and let's try to stick to the topic at hand. today, obtaining an airport ID requires submitting all 10 fingerprints and going through a full background check. i'm told by my employers that this is conducted by both the fbi and the local state law enforcement, and i haven't confirmed that to be the case independently and historically i'm inclined to suspect that this is what they tell me to convince me of its legitimacy etc and get me to quit asking questions.
so what's the problem you ask? isn't security important? don't we want to keep people from crashing airplanes into buildings and blowing things up? well duh, of course we do, but this is a fool's errand.
this doesn't benefit me in any way whatsoever. it only costs me an additional $35 a year OUT OF MY OWN POCKET. that's right, my employer isn't the one that pays for this new background check, this new "security procedure" if you will. i do. i bear the cost myself. but that isn't where i take issue.
nor do i take issue with the fact that they want to do a background check on me. feel free! there's nothing there, it's clean. and i'm not saying that i have nothing to fear because i've got nothing to hide, because that's a copout that i cannot stand as well. what i'm saying is that i can tolerate them wanting to conduct a background check on me for the purpose of giving me an airport ID and being able to work at the airport. what i take issue with is the pretense that this is to enhance security at the airport and thus in our nation. IT DOES NO SUCH THING!
you would think that if this were truly the concern, that the very airport most affected by this post-9/11 madness, the airports in new york city, jfk, laguardia, and even newark airport in new jersey would be the first to implement such "security enhancements." well, they're not. the fact of the matter is that any taxi driver or chauffeur can simply go to the airport and pick people up and drop them off. it's a public place!
in fact, ANYONE can just go to the airport even here and pick people up and drop them off. FOR FREE! without any kind of background check! without being fingerprinted! without anything! there are over a quarter of a million people each year who do exactly that here at our wonderful airport. among these people who are just coming and going all willie nillie through our airport are no doubt murderers, child molesters, rapists, robbers, gang members and so forth. so... why exactly am *I* being singled out simply because i'm trying to earn a living??
THAT is issue #1 of why my idealism is clashing with my reality. issue #2 is with my fingerprints being collected. gone are the days when you would give your fingerprints to a government agency and they would sit there on a little placcard in a filing cabinet in an office or government archive somewhere. no, now they are gathered and filed electronically. and then transmitted to god only knows who or where and then archived FOREVER on those computers in those databases. gone are the days when one had some degree of control over how their personal data is used and stored and accessed. gone are the days of accountability, privacy, and even to some small degree, freedom.
i would even most likely consent to giving them my fingerprints FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of conducting this background check on me, if i had full knowledge and assurance that those fingerprints would ONLY be used for the purpose of conducting this background check, and then PERMANENTLY and IRREVOCABLY DESTROYED unless and until i am convicted by a jury of my peers of committing a crime. but i know for a fact that this is not the case. it is WAY too tempting to law-enforcement to just go ahead and tuck those records away in allegedly safe-keeping for some imagined ocassion when they would be useful in tracking down some global terrorist. WELL THEY WON'T BE!! you see, i'm just this guy! a guy trying to make a living! a guy making a living by picking people up at the airport and driving them to a hotel! it's not like i'm becoming a cop, or that i'll have unrestricted access to top-secret information, or that i'll be working for the cia, or that i'll even be a school teacher. I'M JUST DRIVING PEOPLE AROUND for crying out loud! so what the hell is all this hoohah about?!
this is my dilemma. do i roll over and let them have whatever the hell they want every time they get a stick up their ass and have carte blanche handed to them because of some tragic event like 9/11 that convinces the majority of our citizens to surrender the rights and freedoms that thousands and thousands have shed their blood to secure for us? or do i stand up and say "no sir, not this american. you've gone too far, and this is the line in the sand. go back to doing things the legal way, to actually doing your jobs instead of expecting us to do them for you." what do i do?
it's just a money grab, a way of bilking hard working folks out of an extra $100 a year, plus another $85 every 2 years for a DOT certified physical. the physical is fine because it's always a good idea to have those anyway to stay on top of your health, so we benefit ourselves from that. plus it helps ensure that when someone gets into a cab or limo or bus or whatever that their driver isn't likely to just up and drop dead on them.
the airport ID though, that bugs me. and now even moreso that it involves having a background check and submitting fingerprints. here is where my idealism is clashing with reality.
there was a time not that long ago, back in the 1980's and even 90's where you were never required to give anyone your fingerprints except had you been convicted of a crime. that word "convicted" is important here, it meant that even if you were arrested for something, the government had no right to take your fingerprints against your will until you had been tried by a jury of your peers and convicted of the crime, or you confessed and were convicted that way. that's the way things work in this country, and that's the way they ought to work. your fingerprints are your own, they are a part of your body and you're the only one who should have any right to them unless and until you do something to change those circumstances.
well, this is the post-9/11 g. w. bush paranoia pro-law-enforcement america. land of the sheep, home of the cowaring. now days, the government reckons that it has every right to anything of yours with or without your consent. well, ok, i'm exaggerating somewhat and let's try to stick to the topic at hand. today, obtaining an airport ID requires submitting all 10 fingerprints and going through a full background check. i'm told by my employers that this is conducted by both the fbi and the local state law enforcement, and i haven't confirmed that to be the case independently and historically i'm inclined to suspect that this is what they tell me to convince me of its legitimacy etc and get me to quit asking questions.
so what's the problem you ask? isn't security important? don't we want to keep people from crashing airplanes into buildings and blowing things up? well duh, of course we do, but this is a fool's errand.
this doesn't benefit me in any way whatsoever. it only costs me an additional $35 a year OUT OF MY OWN POCKET. that's right, my employer isn't the one that pays for this new background check, this new "security procedure" if you will. i do. i bear the cost myself. but that isn't where i take issue.
nor do i take issue with the fact that they want to do a background check on me. feel free! there's nothing there, it's clean. and i'm not saying that i have nothing to fear because i've got nothing to hide, because that's a copout that i cannot stand as well. what i'm saying is that i can tolerate them wanting to conduct a background check on me for the purpose of giving me an airport ID and being able to work at the airport. what i take issue with is the pretense that this is to enhance security at the airport and thus in our nation. IT DOES NO SUCH THING!
you would think that if this were truly the concern, that the very airport most affected by this post-9/11 madness, the airports in new york city, jfk, laguardia, and even newark airport in new jersey would be the first to implement such "security enhancements." well, they're not. the fact of the matter is that any taxi driver or chauffeur can simply go to the airport and pick people up and drop them off. it's a public place!
in fact, ANYONE can just go to the airport even here and pick people up and drop them off. FOR FREE! without any kind of background check! without being fingerprinted! without anything! there are over a quarter of a million people each year who do exactly that here at our wonderful airport. among these people who are just coming and going all willie nillie through our airport are no doubt murderers, child molesters, rapists, robbers, gang members and so forth. so... why exactly am *I* being singled out simply because i'm trying to earn a living??
THAT is issue #1 of why my idealism is clashing with my reality. issue #2 is with my fingerprints being collected. gone are the days when you would give your fingerprints to a government agency and they would sit there on a little placcard in a filing cabinet in an office or government archive somewhere. no, now they are gathered and filed electronically. and then transmitted to god only knows who or where and then archived FOREVER on those computers in those databases. gone are the days when one had some degree of control over how their personal data is used and stored and accessed. gone are the days of accountability, privacy, and even to some small degree, freedom.
i would even most likely consent to giving them my fingerprints FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of conducting this background check on me, if i had full knowledge and assurance that those fingerprints would ONLY be used for the purpose of conducting this background check, and then PERMANENTLY and IRREVOCABLY DESTROYED unless and until i am convicted by a jury of my peers of committing a crime. but i know for a fact that this is not the case. it is WAY too tempting to law-enforcement to just go ahead and tuck those records away in allegedly safe-keeping for some imagined ocassion when they would be useful in tracking down some global terrorist. WELL THEY WON'T BE!! you see, i'm just this guy! a guy trying to make a living! a guy making a living by picking people up at the airport and driving them to a hotel! it's not like i'm becoming a cop, or that i'll have unrestricted access to top-secret information, or that i'll be working for the cia, or that i'll even be a school teacher. I'M JUST DRIVING PEOPLE AROUND for crying out loud! so what the hell is all this hoohah about?!
this is my dilemma. do i roll over and let them have whatever the hell they want every time they get a stick up their ass and have carte blanche handed to them because of some tragic event like 9/11 that convinces the majority of our citizens to surrender the rights and freedoms that thousands and thousands have shed their blood to secure for us? or do i stand up and say "no sir, not this american. you've gone too far, and this is the line in the sand. go back to doing things the legal way, to actually doing your jobs instead of expecting us to do them for you." what do i do?