Texas Congressman Canseco says TSA assaulted him

by Lisa Simeone on April 25, 2012


Finally experiencing what thousands of his constituents have, U.S. Congressman Francisco Canseco of Texas says he was assaulted by the TSA during a “pat-down.”

Canseco said:

“The agent was very aggressive in his pat-down, and he was patting me down where no one is supposed to go,” said Canseco.  “It got very uncomfortable so I moved his hand away.  That stopped everything and brought in supervisors and everyone else.”

It gets better. Because reflexively brushing away the hand of someone who is groping your genitals — in other words, a normal reflex anywhere else — is considered by the TSA to be — wait for it — assault.

That’s right. In an about-turn that out-Orwells Orwell, you, the victim, are now being accused of doing to someone else the very thing that was done to you.

In psychology, this is called projection. Normally it refers to emotions, not actions. When you project onto others the emotions, motivations, characteristics you yourself harbor, in an attempt to distance yourself from them.

So the TSA called the cops. They wanted Canseco charged. He wasn’t.

But you know that if his name had been, oh, say, Yukari Miyamae or Andrea Abbott or Aaron Tobey or Phil Mocek or countless others, he would have been.

Now Canseco says he’s going to “sit down” with the TSA and give them a stern talking-to.

Yeah, that’ll show ‘em.

Meanwhile, Mr. Canseco, perhaps you and your colleagues in Congress, who are responsible for this abuse, can talk to each other. And maybe, just maybe, if we’re lucky, more of you will be forced to swallow the medicine you’ve shoved down the throats of the rest of us.

 

(Photo: Flickr Creative Commons/ImagesofMoney)

Tagged as: abuse, Airport, assault, canseco, Security, sexual assault, Travel, TSA