Protesting TSA with T-shirts, at your own risk

Most Americans who fly for business or pleasure tolerate the TSA. They might be critical of the agency and its expanding mandate, but they don’t want to make waves. They just want to get where they’re going without getting hassled.

A small minority are willing to stand up to the TSA and what it represents. They see the TSA and its practices as an erosion of our Constitutional rights and another sign that the U.S. is becoming a “nanny state” or, worse, a police state. They see the TSA as a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and an ineffective, abusive government agency with no accountability. 

These brave Americans want to educate others about how the TSA is a threat to our freedoms and why people need to be concerned. These activists openly engage in conversations with others in person, on social media and with the press to get their opinions across. They will opt out of potentially harmful radiation scanners and submit to humiliating pat-downs in public. Sometimes they will organize airport protests or pass out anti-TSA literature. 

For those less courageous, there are other ways to protest the TSA. 

One way is to wear anti-TSA T-shirts as conversation starters. 

There are many such T-shirts available to order online. They have bold graphics and clever phrases that mock the TSA. 

But wear these shirts at your own risk at airports. You might be subjected to a full-body pat-down, intense questioning or prohibited from flying by TSA thugs. 

On Aug. 18, Arijit Guha, an Arizona State University student, was prevented from boarding a Delta flight from Buffalo-Niagara International Airport to his home in Phoenix because of the anti-TSA T-shirt he was wearing. Guha wrote about the incident on his blog. The incident also was covered by BoingBoing, Infowars and RT, among others. 

Here are some of the many anti-TSA T-shirts to be found online:

4^th Amendment Underclothes has the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution printed in metallic ink for radiation scanner operators to see.

Infowars sells “End the TSA” and “TSA Groping Since 2001” T-shirts.

Snorg Tees sells shirts that say “I Got to Second Base with a TSA Screener.”

Zazzle sells a bunch of T-shirts with variations on “Don’t Touch My Junk.”

Zazzle also sells “I Was Molested by the TSA” T-shirts. (See photo below.)

Despair Inc. has shirts with the TSA logo that say “Your naked photos are safe with us.”