>No one has denigrated civil liberties as white privelege. Some people
>have denigrated Ms. Oden's surprise as white privilege.
specifically, i was pointing out that it was her surprise coupled with her own recognition that she was engaging in civil disobedience. to be surprised that you get the boot on your neck, while bragging about how you were also resisting their authority is an unthinking response born of white, middle class privilege. she doesn't have to think about it, in other words. she can be outraged and expect the white outrage machine to kick in. were she black, the question as to what she did to deserve it would have been raised immediately. but more importantly, it is her privilege that kept her from recognizing that. she doesn't have to worry about how she looks. she doesn't have to worry about how she reflects on "her" people. it's that damn double bind of oppression again. So, she can brag to Declan McCullagh about her civil disobedience and never once wonder what people are going to think of her for purposefully messing with the LEOs.
The fact is, pulling your hand away from a LEO will generally get you the charge of battery on a LEO; wagging your finger or "verbal aggression" will get you assault on a LEO. i crap you negative, but that's the way the police state works. they get in your face, invade your physical space and nail your for even the most unconscious gestures designed to protect your physical space.
On another note, just to complicate matters, as someone has already pointed out, the FAA has already established the right to keep people from flying if they resist compliance with mandatory searches. That's been the case for awhile. It is the case because airlines are responsible for and pilots are manning flying busloads of people. If someone resists a search, it suggests either that they have something to hide and could be dangerous and/or that they can't be trusted to behave on that flying bus when conditions demand that compliance might be a good idea. right or wrong? i don't know, but that's the argument that the FAA will make in the face of a lawsuit.
as i already stated, Oden claimed that she was prevented from flying because of her politics. And yet, it's also that case that, in her own words, they were ready to give her a flight at 4 p.m. They only denied her that flight when she kept "showing her ass". And, even then, she was directed to Boston Logan. These are not the actions of people who have tagged her as a political dissident who is being prevented from flying. That she can leap to those conclusions or that anyone else would, despite her own interpretation of what went on is, again, a manifestation of her white, middle class privilege -- in my estimation.
kelley