**Staff note: This reminds us of the Frederick Douglass quote which goes like this “Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” How much more are the American people willing to tolerate as the security state advances? Where will the public draw the line? Will our children grow up without the experience of walking freely without surveillance, security checks or assaults by police? No doubt, major league baseball is working with Homeland Security because the owners of the scanners see all of the baseball stadiums with all of their entrances as an appealing market for their products. This has nothing to do with security. If our country cared about security, we would use public policy to meet the needs of the public and would change our foreign policy drastically so that we stop creating enemies. **
Ah, well, it was only a matter of time. Anybody with a brain knew it was only a matter of time.
“Security,” the handmaiden of paranoia, is slowly invading every venue in America. If you thought the tentacles of Homeland Security were going to stay confined to the airport — even after all the reports we’ve done on VIPR — you’re dreaming. And if you think the latest rules and regs in the War on Terror™ are going to be contained, I have a bridge to sell you.
Major League Baseball has announced that all of its ballparks have to implement “enhanced” security screening by 2015. The procedures have already been tested in several places before a national roll-out.
Gee, what does that remind me of?
The new regs, which were, of course, designed in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, require that all fans must pass through a metal detector and/or be wanded. How long before scanners come on the scene? Or TSA-style gropes? After all, music fans at Coachella have already acquiesced.
But hey, Anything To Keep Us Safe! Because, as you know, The Terrorists Are Everywhere!
Fans could easily put a stop to this by boycotting games. But they won’t. They’ll roll over just like everyone at the airports. There is nothing the United Sheeple of America won’t do, no level to which they won’t stoop, when someone in authority commands them.
Play ball!
(Cross-posted at TSA News)