So the Transportation Security Administration has found itself embroiled in what we at Chronic would like to dub Sippy Cup Gate, after an argument about whether passenger Monica Emmerson was trying to smuggle a cup of water through security for her infant. The TSA claims that its staff was following regulations and that Emmerson deliberately poured the water on the floor. Emmerson says that the staff was harassing a woman struggling with a small child and luggage and failed to show basic human decency – in turn creating an Internet cause celebré.
So how does the TSA respond to claims that its staff acted in a high-handed, out-of-control, power-hungry, and unaccountable manner? By issuing a reasoned press release? By launching a full internal investigation? By issuing an apology? By standardizing all its regulations, so they don’t vary seemingly arbitrarily (seriously, do the shoes have to come off or not?) between airports?
No – by launching a subsection of its website called (and only press officers and comedians can make this kind of stuff up) Mythbusters, where the TSA puts its security-camera footage and its incident report of Sippy Cup Gate. Yes, Mythbusters.
This article appears in June 15 • 2007.
