On the TSA; and on language
Nov. 24th, 2010 04:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tahnanAt the risk of becoming some sort of anti-TSA blogger: I can't help taking issue with some of the TSA-backlash backlash I keep seeing, especially in the media. There seems to be a sense that the news stories are overblown, that the media is running with a few extraordinary cases like the "don't touch my junk" guy, that really 80% of Americans think it's all a good idea and less than 3% of travelers even go through the patdown, that there's no reason to take these things out on the humble low-level employees, that really this "Opt-Out Day" is just going to be an inconvenience to all those patient fellow-travelers....
To this current in the media, I say: shut the hell up. Though there are other points to make, allow me to observe that I'm not really OK with the argument that "well look only some people are having their civil rights violated". That argument is exactly why this country's legal system is based on the concept of "innocent until proven guilty"—because we're not willing to throw everyone in jail and say "only some of these are innocent people whose rights are therefore being violated". As long as badly-trained TSA employees are molesting people, forcing them to remove their prosthetics, dislodging their urostomy bags, as long as measures are in place that humiliate or embarrass or upset people without any actual benefit, I'm going to remain unaccepting of institutionalized trampling of civil rights.
In other news: Comcast has really got to work on its customer service. Mind you, the problem I had (which was quite simply that I couldn't remember the password I set up six months ago and haven't used since) was fixed quickly and professionally. But the chat with the customer service agent was a little surreal...
Finally, with a hat tip to Chris Hayes on the Rachel Maddow Show: Motor Trend's editors get sarcastic at Rush Limbaugh. (The final line might be a little over the top, but it's Limbaugh; he deserves it.)
To this current in the media, I say: shut the hell up. Though there are other points to make, allow me to observe that I'm not really OK with the argument that "well look only some people are having their civil rights violated". That argument is exactly why this country's legal system is based on the concept of "innocent until proven guilty"—because we're not willing to throw everyone in jail and say "only some of these are innocent people whose rights are therefore being violated". As long as badly-trained TSA employees are molesting people, forcing them to remove their prosthetics, dislodging their urostomy bags, as long as measures are in place that humiliate or embarrass or upset people without any actual benefit, I'm going to remain unaccepting of institutionalized trampling of civil rights.
In other news: Comcast has really got to work on its customer service. Mind you, the problem I had (which was quite simply that I couldn't remember the password I set up six months ago and haven't used since) was fixed quickly and professionally. But the chat with the customer service agent was a little surreal...
Agent> Hi, how you are you today?Later, the chat ended with:
Me> Fine.
Agent> I understand that you need help with your logins (username and password).
Agent> Is this correct?
Me> Yes. I've got the username, but I can't remember the password.
Agent> I am glad to hear that you are doing fine.
Agent> Thank you for that information.
Agent> I understand that password sometimes confuses us and give us some troubles.
Agent> I can only imagine the inconvenience that this log in failure had caused you and I know the importance of getting this resolved the soonest time.
Agent> I will do my best to help you with this.
Agent> Are you referring to your comcast.net email account password?
Me> Right.
Agent> Thank you for clarifying your concern about your comcast.net email password.
Agent> Let me help you with this by providing you with detailed information regarding your concern.
Agent> It has been my pleasure serving you and I truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Do you have other concerns for me? I will be glad to assist you further.There's practically a dissertation to be written in how absurdly stilted the agent's responses were, but I'm not sure if it's in linguistics, anthropology, or global economics.
Me> I think I'm all set, thanks.
Agent> It has been my pleasure assisting you. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
Finally, with a hat tip to Chris Hayes on the Rachel Maddow Show: Motor Trend's editors get sarcastic at Rush Limbaugh. (The final line might be a little over the top, but it's Limbaugh; he deserves it.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 02:53 pm (UTC)Are you sure it's not in computer science? It reads like a bot to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 03:26 pm (UTC)Which suggests a new kind of Turing/Searle Test: The tester has two interlocutors. One is an English-speaking human, and the other is a Hindi speaker in a room with a set of instructions allowing him to simulate an English speaker....
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 03:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 04:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 05:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-24 05:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-25 03:40 pm (UTC)(ETA: HEH, it has been said.)
Occam's explanation
Date: 2010-11-26 08:31 pm (UTC)At least you could get someone to communicate with you. I've been trying to explain DVR software bugs to Time Warner, and so far I can't find anyone to stop reading from their index cards.
Coach