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CREEPING TOTALITARIANISM DEPT.

Change of Costume at the Security Show

Mark Draughn

5 comments

The folks at the TSA just keep having bright ideas:

If there is any truth to the old military expression that “the uniform makes the man,” then new garb might do wonders for the morale of the nation’s airport security screeners.

That, and generating more respect from the flying public, is the hope of the Transportation Security Administration. On Thursday–the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks–the TSA will put on a security fashion show of sorts at O’Hare International Airport.

…

The goal is to give screeners a more professional appearance and establish a greater air of authority, in an effort to command respect from travelers.

Yes, because we’ll respect the people who examine the size of our shampoo bottles a lot more if they dress a little snappier.

HL2-CivProt2.jpg

Update: The image above is not a picture of the new uniform. I was trying to make a visual joke about their new uniforms, so I posted a screen capture from the video game Half-Life 2, showing one of the much-despised Civil Protection troopers. I thought this was obvious, because I’ve spent so much of my life playing that game, but Joel Rosenberg in the comments thought it was the real thing because it bears such a close resemblance to the uniforms worn by the riot cops around the Republican convention last week. I didn’t make the connection at the time, but this would help explain why I had such an angry gut-level reaction to the riot cops.

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5 responses

  1. Joel Rosenberg

    I wish I could locate the story; maybe it’s apocryphal, but it’s not too good to be, so maybe it isn’t; lemme see if I can reproduce it…

    Despite the ongoing militarization of police uniforms (and not just the Imperial Stormtrooper look that was all the rage outside the RNC; I’m talking about BDUs and the whole tacti-cool thing), the chief insisted that his officers wear a traditional cop uniform, and — whenever out of the car — put on the traditional nine-pointed cop hat. Period.

    His rationale, if I’ve got it right, was two-fold — first, that the hat was instantly recognizeable as meaning “cop on duty,” and he kinda wanted his cops on duty to, well, be instantly recognizeable as cops on duty, and second, that “clothes make the [person]” and since he wanted his cops to act like cops, he kinda insisted that they dress like cops.

    I guess, in this case, we’re supposed to great these guys with a traditional Fremen greeting, something like, I suppose, “may only a little blood of your enemies burst from your crysknives before you take their water!”

    Reply
  2. Mark Draughn

    The “dress like cops” thing kind of sounds like something that would have been said by former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, but I’m just guessing.

    By the way, that picture is of one of the Civil Protection troopers from the video game Half-Life 2. I believe the traditional greeting for those guys is a bullet to the head. Or a crowbar.

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  3. Joel Rosenberg

    You got me with that one. I had no doubt, whatsoever, that that was one of the new TSA uniforms.

    I guess I’ve been watching my local news too much.

    *sigh*

    Reply
  4. Mark Draughn

    Huh. I didn’t make the connection. Come to think of it, though, that does look an awful lot like what the cops around the RNC convention were wearing…

    Reply
  5. tired dog

    I’d suggest the Nixon era uniforms of the uniformed secret service but I can’t find a pic. Kind of Kaiser Bill oafish.

    Reply

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