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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 26, 2022

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You could replace junk-felt-up with "getting a year's worth of radiation each way" via these scanners and it's the same thing.

We shouldn't have to be in pre-check to avoid these two options.

So, OP claims that he'd "gladly pay extra" to avoid getting his junk groped, but you think he is not willing to pay for TSA Precheck, which is $78 for five years?

I didn't do it for years because I considered it a violation of principle and privacy. Signing myself up for a centralized watch list, fingerprints, and all that shit is something anyone concerned about privacy shouldn't do.

Then one day I realized I'd already done that for my conceal carry permit and pussied out. I have to say that precheck has been quite the game changer in terms of not wanting to put a shotgun in my mouth after visiting the airport.

As a matter of fact I'm not. I think it's a sheer scam that the TSA claims to need these security measures, but oh if you pay us money we don't need them. I recently got a credit card that pays for it as a perk, so I'll sign up at some point because of that. But otherwise? Fuck that noise.

People are generally reluctant to pay X to alleviate problems that are caused by unwanted interference by X in the first place. It creates bad incentives and amounts to giving in to blackmail.

It's the government's main business model, though. "Pay us taxes for protection. Protection from our people taking all your stuff and throwing you in a cell to be raped for the rest of your life, that is".