The most controversial organizations last year were the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subordinate, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Based on the hate the DHS has been spewing over the web recently, we can expect both groups to continue the controversy in 2011.
The TSA was in the news constantly last year because their use of the newest x-ray technology upset even the most compliant American airline passengers. As a response to all of the TSA scanning and groping madness, George Donnelly started WeWontFly.com.
The website is geared towards persuading the airlines to take a stand against the gleeful violation of airline passengers’ rights by the TSA.
Apparently DHS employees built up hatred for the opponents to the TSA all year long. They built up so much hatred that they just couldn’t take it anymore and they took the time to post their hate on Donnelly’s anti-TSA blog around the end of the year.
We know this because According to The Raw Story, Donnelly took the time to trace the origin of some venomous comments directed towards those who oppose the invasive and unconstitutional airport security measures carried out by the TSA. Two such comments, which have since been deleted, said:
“F**k you, f**k all you c**ksuckers, you wont change anything.” The other said, “Ride the bus, TSA is here to stay there [sic] doing a great job keeping americia [sic] safe.”
It turns out these comments and 17 more like them came from the servers of dhs.gov, the official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Donnelly posted some questions on his blog in response to his findings:
“Is this an official statement? If not, is it an accurate representation of the DHS position? Was this person on the public dime when he or she posted this? Who posted this and what is their position with DHS?”
It certainly could have come from the offices of the higher ups who administer the organization’s policies. But odds are it was a lower level DHS meathead with too much time on their hands.
It doesn’t matter what hierarchal position the comments came from, they are disturbing from any position.
If this is the mentality of any DHS or TSA employees oh boy! What does that say about the way they view their jobs then?
It probably means that some of these taxpayer funded employees (at least the ones with time to post hate on the internet) probably think of themselves as crusaders and view their job as heroic instead of a crappy 9 to 5.
These geniuses expected to remain anonymous, but we now know that some people from within the national security establishment have nothing but contempt for Americans who wish to resist the TSA.
Did these mystery hecklers always feel this way about the people who resist the machinations of the national security state, or were they trained to view dissenters with extreme suspicion and distrust?
If this is how even a small fraction of DHS employees feel about TSA resistance, will DHS treatment of vocal dissenters get worse in 2011?
This issue with the DHS and TSA, along with the many questions that come with it, is going to be one of the most important online issues of 2011.
