Sometimes, my eyes offend me….

In the interests of preserving what is left of my mental health, I need to find some way to avoid the temptation to click on links to things that irritate me. Sure, it’s a minor irritation to see these Drudge headlines:

VIDEO...

Nothing new there. Nothing that I have not blogged about before. And repeatedly expressed outrage about, as I did here:

…I have complained about invasive government searches in so many posts — whether recent or old — that it really is a broken record. I am just another libertarian who wants to impose my values on everyone by objecting to having an officer break into my home, shoot my dog, strip my clothes off and stick his fat finger up my ass.

And I even uploaded and linked this image showing a child attempting to impose his morality on TSA officers:

So because this is anything but a new issue, I could have left it at that and looked for something else rather than get all hot and bothered by clicking the Drudge link.

But for reasons that I cannot fully explain, click I did. Against my better judgment (a figure of speech meaning judgment I obviously lack). It was a tender hour of the morning and I was still on my first cup of coffee, and I should not have, because what I saw really pissed me off and I let loose with a torrent of obscenities which would get me fired were I in a workplace with a boss, or perhaps force me to resign public office were I a politician.

The video generated comments along similar lines, and once I calmed down enough to read them, I realized that what might appear to be an argument is not an argument at all, because people are arguing over two different issues. 

Some focus on the conduct of the employee (she is either a wicked pedophile, or someone doing her job). Others debate the propriety of subjecting a small child to invasive bureaucratic searches. 

Some examples:

EXCUSE ME, there is something very f[]cking wrong when? you have an innocent child frisked because of a fake boggie man who lives in a cave. People keep saying they are just doing there job. An officer of the peace can’t even do that to a random person. The whole time pilots and flight attendants laugh cause they are not subject to this crap. When it is your kid, will you have the same reaction??? NAKED bodyscanners are another thing because they exceed OSHA radiation safety levels. F-You BIG Sis!

And,

She is doing her job as she must do to continue living and earning. Many terrorists try smuggle bombs or stolen or illegal cargo with children as few people would suspect a child. she was not molesting nor inappropriately touching her but simply checking that there were no concealed items being smuggled in. If you have ever been on an aeroplane then you can bet 100%? that these procedures have saved YOUR life, though whether it was worth saving is debatable. If not for these prec

And,

are you f[]cking serious, give me a single case where a terrorist smuggled bombs using a child….you are dangerously stupid. “100% saved your life”…..how many terrorists are there trying to low up planes you dumb f[]ck. You would be a Jew killer if alive in Nazi Germany, you take all? the propaganda as facts and are so cowardly you allow your freedom and dignty to be taken from you. Disgraceful

And,

F[]cking pedos….. -_- I’d move? to Europe but then I’d have to go through this at the Airport.

It is a degrading experience, no question about it. And even though I don’t have a child, I can easily understand that what would be worse than watching a video like that would be to have it happen to your child.

But still. After watching robotic cops shoot an innocent dog yesterday, perhaps I didn’t need to wake up to the video of an innocent child being subjected to what was once reserved for accused criminals.

I already know this country is becoming an Orwellian nightmare, so maybe I should take better care of myself and engage in the sort of denial behavior I already use at the gas pump. I figured out that what upsets me is not so much knowing that the gas prices are becoming astronomical, but the emotional effect it has on me to see the actual numbers of the price I must pay displayed on the LCD screen. So, as a way of coping, I avert my eyes and simply refuse to look at the numbers on the upper screen while I fill my tank. Then, when I am asked on the lower screen whether I want a receipt, I push NO, get in my car, and drive away. Sure, I know the numbers will appear on my monthly credit card statement, but that does not have the same immediate emotional impact. Similarly, I know that the TSA grope-searches little children, that SWAT Teams shoot innocent family pets, and that government union activists behave like violent thugs.

So why, then, do I watch the videos? Do I need more evidence of what I already know?

I must be more irrational than I realize. If a head-in-the-sand approach is good for gas pump numbers that irritate me, why isn’t it good for videos that irritate me? Both are digital images which make me squeamish in a way that no horror move could. (I like horror movies, but reality is different.)

So am I like the girls who averted their eyes when the dog was shot yesterday? Perhaps, but even that admission does not settle it.

Because I strongly suspect that there are plenty of people who would avert their eyes over a horrific video who would never avert their eyes at the gas pump. Horror is relative. One man’s horror is another man’s entertainment.

Outrage works the same way.