Airport experience with fundie family

[countressrascal]

Yesterday I was flying back from my family reunion, which deserves it own posting later, standing in the security line waiting waiting waiting for it to move. My husband and I are getting pissed, because it is not moving, so he decided to check it out. There was a beer on the other side with his name on it. A fundie family holding up the line because they refused to go through the new scanner because it would show their naked body to strangers. The idiot was negotiating with the TSA to allow them to have their carry on scanned but not them. According to husband they offered to a physical pat down behind a screen, he refused that. Finally, they gave them a choice scanner, pat down or not flying. I am sure he was praying about it. They took the scanner after he checked out and found out they do not save the images. Everyone in line was getting pissed and started talking loud about them. They showed up on our plane, it was Southwest and did not check-in early. So by the time they got on there were no seat together, he had a fit because his daughters could not sit together or with an adult member of the family. I guess he thought that his dear children were going to be defrauded during the flight or view something too worldly for them. Finally flight attendants’ explained that they needed to take whatever seats were available, end of story. The whole flight Mom and Dad were up and checking on the kids. One of the girls sat beside me, she was very nice 16, home schooled and all she did was read her bible. At least she did not start a religous discussion with me. They were going to a Home School Conference, she was excited because there is going to be a debate competition and she was entered, also a bible verse challenge.

My question is- Do they think that they are that special that security rules should be changed for them?

[MamaJunebug]

Do they think so? They think so. For more info, see

ahthelife.blogspot.com

And welcome to the discussion(s).

ETA that I agree to some extent with those who say the f.b.scanners are an invasion of privacy and a chink in the armor of our rights.

[countressrascal]

Another thing the girl did not understand why there were time zones. Home schoolers are taught that the world is flat.

[deelaem]

Another thing the girl did not understand why there were time zones. Home schoolers are taught that the world is flat.

Seriously??

[countressrascal]

Oh yes- we were flying west and she could not believe that it was still light out. Explained to her about time zones and it was three hours earlier, that is why it was still early evening. That really confused her.

[Blonde not dumb]

Oh yes- we were flying west and she could not believe that it was still light out. Explained to her about time zones and it was three hours earlier, that is why it was still early evening. That really confused her.

Oh. wow. I have no words.

I'm amazed at my limited contact with hardcore fundies b/c, although I live in a large heathen city, I'm from down south. I do a lot of flying back and forth and I've never seen a fundie fam go through security but I know it would be like a train wreck that I just couldn't look away from.

Hey, at least she learned something about time zones. That is, if she believed a godless stranger...

[formerlyfundie]

I've seen this happen! People were posting all kinds of stories about not letting the TSA "violate your sons and daughters" when that new scanner came out. It was mass hysteria! I've only been through it once and it was not the terrifyingly defrauding situation that everyone was making it to be, it was quick and painless. They do think the rules need to be bent for them, because they are the most ~morally correct people, duh. :roll:

[Wolfie]

Another thing the girl did not understand why there were time zones. Home schoolers are taught that the world is flat.

I think that this needs to be amended to "some home schoolers" as I know many extremely liberal home schoolers who do know that the earth is round.

(not a big fan of homeschooling, but not everybody makes it the joke that many of the people we discuss do.)

[synchroswimr]

I think that this needs to be amended to "some home schoolers" as I know many extremely liberal home schoolers who do know that the earth is round.

(not a big fan of homeschooling, but not everybody makes it the joke that many of the people we discuss do.)

Yes, this. Blanket statements are never true. (see what I did there? Ha! I crack myself up. Or maybe it is the melatonin)

Anyway, didn't know about time zones?? Please tell me you were kidding!

[doggie]

At least they did not start singing and praying aloud. feel lucky.

[themadapple]

I'm just curious as to whether or not she believed this strange new concept of time zones, as I'm envisioning her and her kind brushing that off as evil librul atheist indoctrination :twisted:

[GeoBQn]

She's going to have to believe in time zones if she wants to get to anything at the conference on time.

[Blonde not dumb]

She's going to have to believe in time zones if she wants to get to anything at the conference on time.

Or maybe we've just discovered the real reason for Duggar time...

[muffynbear]

Another thing the girl did not understand why there were time zones. Home schoolers are taught that the world is flat.

This would be so funny, if it weren't so pathetically sad. :(

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Good grief, my 5 year-old, who hasn't even started the evil public school yet, could give a rudimentary explanation of time zones and the Earth's rotation. All it took was for her to question where the sun goes when it "sets" for us to be breaking out different sized balls and having an impromptu lesson in the driveway. We recently followed up with another lesson when she asked why there's daylight so late in the summer. I find a teenager being ignorant of this far more disturbing than her fundie parents holding up the security line (though I'm honestly shocked they weren't thrown out after holding it up for more than a minute or two).

[ophelia]

Or maybe we've just discovered the real reason for Duggar time...

That explains everything!!! :dance: :clap:

[Deleted02]

Oh yes- we were flying west and she could not believe that it was still light out. Explained to her about time zones and it was three hours earlier, that is why it was still early evening. That really confused her.

That's really sad.

[maybeizfundie]

I think that this needs to be amended to "some home schoolers" as I know many extremely liberal home schoolers who do know that the earth is round.

******************************

Yes, thank you.

I'm not even a "liberal homeschooler" (see username), and my children are very clear on the roundness of the earth (and its rotation, and tilted axis, and magnetic field, and relative position in the solar system, etc, etc. And most importantly, why we don't all fly off this rapidly spinning globe. :D). Matter of fact, I have never run into any homeschool resources that teach flat earth theory so I'm wondering just how bonkers this particular family was.

I should admit though, that my 6 yo is somewhat skeptical of the "cosmic foam bubbling out new universes, most of which collapse back on themselves very quickly" theory that was presented in the "Big Bang" book he brought home from the library. Can't say I blame him. The representative picture was....interesting :lol:

[quinoa]

I find it really remarkable that the children in the family hadn't spent some time with a globe. I mean, when your entire school curriculum revolves around one book in which all events occur on the other side of the world, it seems like you'd want to throw in a little geography. God created the Earth, right, so it should be okay to look at where stuff is on it. You don't have to even discuss any of the "made-up" forces that the godless scientists are always trying to pretend impacted the planet way before it was created 6000 years ago in order to point out the location of Jerusalem.

I guess my surprise stems from experiences with my son's schooling. Although we are not religious, he attends a Catholic school, and one of the primary activities for preschool religious education is Holy Land geography.

[Kishiria]

Even Candy Brauer's homeschool corner has a globe in it. Don't know what she does with it, but it's there. Zuzu's kids have an ongoing project for receiving postcards from around the world, and so on.

My TSA rant is something everybody hears from me so I'll save it for now, although did you hear about the 95 year old woman in a wheelchair whose diaper the TSA checked? Outrageous.

[lilwriter85]

The girl not knowing about time zones made me laugh. I hope that the girl wises up.

[Terrie]

I find the airport scanners problematic. I went through one and didn't gain any super powers. I don't even glow in the dark! What good is getting bombarded by radiation if you don't glow in the dark afterward? :mrgreen:

[Olivia]

Yeah, I grew up fundie and homeschooled, and I was quite clear on the roundness of the earth and timezones. I even - shocker - went to a fantastic science and engineering college afterwards (No BJU or PCC for me, thanks).

And though I'm now a liberal christian married to a godless atheist (he's cute, though), neither of us are okay with the TSA procedures as a violation of, you know, our rights, which used to be sort of a big thing in America. We only hold up the line by opting out, though; I wouldn't waste my time or anyone else's arguing about it with some poor TSA worker who's just trying to his job, wrong as it is.

[denimjumper]

I won't allow myself or my children to go through body scanners. Period. I'll take a grope for a moment than radiation for a lifetime, thank you very much.

I think we should have our own "Tracts" to hand to fundies. I might have to have a think about what would be on them.

I had no idea southwest had open seating, and I went to public school.

[bananacat]

I have to agree with the fundies on this one. Those machines are too invasive and don't actually make us more secure. I've been against them from the beginner. I'm the farthest thing from a prude and I certainly don't care about "modesty", but people should get to make their own choice of whether their junk is made public or touched by others. The scanners don't make us safer; they just make us more scared and more willing to watch our rights go down the drain. The next generation will grow up with this being normal and won't even know what it's like to have something better. I'm so sick of security theater and I hope so many people protest that the airlines have to change it. If you think this machine makes us safer, then you're gullible and naive.