Dan Savage calls this the Empathy Gap. Other people's problems become your problems only after they affect you.
this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2025
232 points (97.9% liked)
politics
26808 readers
2949 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Evita Duffy-Alfonso said on the social platform X that she nearly missed her flight after opting out of a body scan because she said she is pregnant and concerned about radiation exposure. She said she waited 15 minutes for a pat-down
If taking an extra 15 minutes to go through security is causing you to almost miss your flight, then you're already not arriving at the airport early enough. Shit happens. Gate changes occur. Overbooked flights are a thing. Long lines at bag check or security happen without any apparent notice or reason. Even something like unexpected traffic getting to the air port is common.
and that TSA agents were “rude” and “tried to pressure” her into walking through the scanner.
Welcome to the world the rest of us live in where the average citizen has to be the calm and collected one in the confrontation when dealing with law enforcement lest you earn their ire (or be shot because they're nervous or angry).
“I’m gonna tell my daddy on you. Then you’re in real trouble!”
Don't you know who I am??
Yes ..... (Tazers her)
I always like to remind white people that for POC and minorities, every time they go outside, they're stepping into the TSA security line. https://gitnux.org/stop-and-frisk-statistics/
And the police also have lethal force and zero accountability
It should be considered unconstitutional. It should be considered a violation of the 4th amendment. It should be illegal.
Conversely, if we can't get rid of those cancer boxes, I'll take a pat down every time. Bit of a grope and fondle is nothing for the generational stubbornness here.
If the TSA and the DEA could get the anti-bureaucracy axe it would be nice. As a little treat for all of us.
Well, I guess on the bright side we might finally see the utter waste of resources that the TSA is eliminated. Guess this is one of those "a broken clock is right twice a day" situations. Not many wins to be had under this administration, but if this happened it would be one of the only positive things.
I agree but the problem is, her daddy is Secretary of Transportation, while TSA is under DHS.
The princess from every 90’s teen movie that says “Do you know who my father is?!”
“Do you know who my dad is?”
How the fuck is this news?
Rage had to be baited
I'm still surprised those porno scanners are even legal.
I've seen a screen of it recently, it animates the picture and makes things more ambiguous. That's probably how they weaseled out of discontinuation.
Though I dont doubt an agent could see the source pic if they wanted
If you’re worried about radiation exposure from a stupid lower energy millimeter wave body scanner, you should throwaway the phone you just used to shit post to X, and you sure as fuck shouldn’t be flying on a plane that blasts you with higher energy cosmic radiation.
Many people are unaware of the technology that goes into millimeter wave scanners, and although harmless physically, they are quite invasive in a privacy sense (by definition), and I don’t criticize her for refusing to use one, even if by faulty reasoning.
I'm thinking its also confusion about the backscatter X-ray machines that were used before the millimeter wave scanners replaced them in most places. I had heard some small airports still use the backscatter machines.
I still take the patdown instead of the millimeter wave scanners when I'm randomly selected for more scrutiny than the bog standard metal detector.
Alternative headline,
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's daughter flys for the first time in 25 years
Nah, this is just the first time she hasn’t been treated with privilege. POC deal with the pay-downs all the time. This is just the first time they dared to pick her for the pat down.
It's even stupider than that. She opted out of the body scan for a pat down and then got upset that it took longer. Another layer of stupidity is that she says she opted out because she's pregnant and was worried about radiation exposure from the scan, yet she's apparently ignorant that its radiation dose would be significantly less than exposure to cosmic radiation from the flight itself.
Now, I don't expect people to know exposure levels from different radiation hazards offhand. I actually looked it up out of curiosity after reading the article. But, I think it's reasonable for a pregnant person that's worried specifically about radiation to know stuff like this. Feels like fake outrage and grift on her part, tbh.
That said, I won't be bummed if this brings down the TSA somehow.
