You seem to be missing MY point...
When you go to the airport, you have to get in line to go through a security checkpoint- you know this going in.
Lets ASSUME it is doing the job it is supposed to be doing, searching for terrorists.
With me so far?
Does anyone here think it is wise to get into that line with an extravagently designed watch with unusual switches and wires sticking out of it? And footware that has additional compartments?
My only point here is THIS GUY WAS ASKING FOR IT!! It appears to me he did it delibrately and wanted the attenditoin he got, and he inconvenienced a lot of people with this stunt AND could have distracted security long enough for something really dangerous to go through.
Not smart at all.
This was not some innocent guy who ran afoul of some govt gestapo- he did something clearly on-purpose to get attention, and now he is complaining that he got attention.
Exactly none of your statements are supported by the evidence available. While I do believe that the TSA is doing the job they are supposed to be doing — according to someone anyway — there is no evidence whatsoever that that job includes searching for terrorists.
As for knowing in advance that wearing a fancy watch and large shoes with extra insoles is likely to set off the TSA — that’s only true if you are willing to justify that ANYTHING might set off the TSA. We haven’t seen a picture of the watch yet, so some speculation on this point may be premature, but we do know what a watch designed to be a bomb timer looks like: it looks like a watch. To be more specific: the watches to be used as timers in the famous “Bojinka” plot were dime-store Casio digital watches, with no wires poking out during transit through “security.” Real bomb timers are hidden. Almost by definition, something big and garish and flashy is NOT a bomb timer.
As for the shoes with extra insoles: you really think that was part of some plan to alert the TSA and wind up in jail? There’s lots of reasons to wear large shoes with lots of insoles. For example, there’s foot pain.
I’m going to cut you some slack here, and assume you are a healthy young kid — the kind of kid who has never yet had to deal with chronic foot pain. May you be young and healthy forever. For the rest of us, foot pain occurs, and wearing lots of insoles sometimes helps. You may wish to go to your local mall and observe what old men wear on their feet. You think they (all right, we) wear those big clunky thick-soled shoes because they think thick soles are fashionable?
So which is more likely: that 49 year old McGann wore big shoes with lots of insoles because he was part of some plot to blow up an airplane with a big stack of Dr. Sholl’s, or that he was deliberately planning to go to jail by wearing extra padding in his shoes ... or maybe he had bunions, or plantar fasciitis, or foot strain, or pedal tendonitis, or some other issue? Seriously, think about the alternatives here.
The watch, and the big shoes, were likely just excuses for the TSA to harass Mr. McGann. From the TSA’s point of view, they were excellent excuses, because they MADE NO SENSE. Governments throughout history have used the idea of random punishments (like jail) of the populace to instill fear and foreboding and a sense that punishment can come at any time. That kind of random, senseless punishment works partly because so many people, sometimes including the victims themselves, try to make sense of the punishment, and somehow convince themselves that the victims of this punishment did something to deserve it. I don’t pretend to understand this, but it’s a pretty well documented phenomenon.
Just a few things to consider.