Someone told me to just “get over it”. I found this odd. I wasn’t sure what he meant. So I checked the dictionary. It seems to mean the same thing as “it is what it is”.
This appears to be a non sequitur. For those, like me, who never studied Latin, a non sequitur is “a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.” In other words, if I say “It’s below freezing outside, clouds are moving in and the humidity is up,” it would be a non sequitur to say “Then let’s get our bathing suits on and go to the beach!” A non sequitur is a conclusion or statement that just doesn’t make sense with the evidence presented.
So when civil libertarians say that the scanners make us less safe, they wouldn’t have caught the underwear bomber, the safety of the radiation is unproven and it’s humiliating to be virtually strip searched and/or groped, “Get over it!” is a non-response. It’s a non sequitur. It doesn’t respond to our concerns. It has no logical relationship with what we just said.
In fact, It may reflect a failure to think, a desire to avoid reasoned discussion and a reflexive demand to put your head down and do what you are told. And that is the core of the issue. But obedience to power, a fake and unearned authority, is dangerous and stupid. Power doesn’t care about you. It only cares about expanding its power.
What’s the best response to the “Get-over-it” people? Here’s one: “I am over it. I stopped flying commercial airlines and I won’t give them another red cent until they stand up for us, their customers!” What’s your response? Keep it civil!
57 Responses to Someone Told Me to “Get Over it”. What does that Mean?
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I’ll never get over the issue of individual autonomy. You relinquish your autonomy to the state, I guess you deserve what you get.
My response is that they should get over it, and ‘don’t fly then.’ Why should I have to sacrifice MY liberty so that THEY can feel safe? I’m tired of these complicit sheep telling me I don’t have to fly — YOU DON’T EITHER. Get rid of the security theater and let people make their own choices, I would gladly fly if I didn’t have to sacrifice my rights to do so, and if and when the TSA stops this non-sense, something tells me these complicit sheep won’t be yelling from the roof-tops to bring it back, but if they’re concerned, THEY can be the ones not to fly.
Another great response to a rude remark about your harmless personal choices would be a deadpan, “Wow. I can’t believe you just said that,” while looking them in the eye. Usually awkward silence follows. This works great for many situations and topics.
I’d come back with “Get over what? “I don’t know what ya mean.” Although I do like the above, “Wow, I can’t believe you just said that!”. The stare will get them, deep in their eyes, ha.
I am still keeping up the fight, will tweet, post and ruffle feathers, until the situation is tested, and no person be compromised of their rights to not be touched. Incredible that this could even have happened. I would like to see their [TSA] directives. I would doubt that touching genitalia and breasts are mentioned as protocol.
Good question. I’ll have to think on it. One thing I’m sure of: your advice to keep our response civil is vital. We’ve got to keep our heads while all about us are poking their heads in the sand:)
Ok…how’s this: I’ll get over it ….when my criminal-free, suspected terrorist status is removed.
The chance that any given airline flight, especially a domestic one, will be taken down by a terrorist, with the former security protocols in place is close to zero. I’ll assume that risk and so should the rest of the American people. Nothing in life is risk-free. Restore previous protocols, and if you don’t like it, GET OVER IT. We have much more to fear from a government that ignores our 4th Amendment rights than we do from terrorists.
They would never have caught the underwear bomber because he was in the end WALKED ONTO the plane by a MYSTERIOUS DIPLOMAT who circumvented security, which as mentioned has nothing to do with scanning.
When someone tells me to “get over it” in this context, I assume they must own stock in one of the airlines. Then I explain why I’m not interested in getting over the loss of my 4th Amendment rights.
I guess they are hoping we will forget about that 4th Amendment problem. Namely that it’s still around.
Hopefully they will realize soon that this isn’t Soviet Amerika.. at least not today.
Sadly, they may be right that most Americans will simply forget. I mean, George W. Bush still isn’t in prison in spite of having confessed multiple times that he authorized war crimes.
There is no civil response. There is only one way to deal with a jackbooted thug.
I am amazed at the depth of attacks that are been thrown at We Won’t Fly in the last 48 hours. They even dragged out a Cornell law professor to “analyze” the “flop” of opting out. It turns out the law professor seems to be well connected to William F Buckley folks; elite far-right/maybe CIA. Let’s just say that WWF has caught the attention of the part of government whose business it is to topple governments and movements they deem not to be in the national interest as defined by them. WWF, if successful, has the potential of redefining national interest in more than airports. Hence the all out propaganda attacks designed to minimize and demoralize. That you have generated mighty opposition speaks to your success. Stay with it and see it through. What you are doing will echo through eternity.
Regards
Bruce
Follow the money trail. Who is profiting from these extremely expensive scanners?
I agree, Bruce. Gandhi said:
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”
My family had decided “we wont fly” anymore as well unti we the people wake up and realize it is THE PEOPLE that define its government, not the other way around. With all our ridiculous temper tantrums over how Starbucks messed up our stupid coffee and felt the need to let some poor worker behind the counter have it, just so we can brag about some injustice that we endured to our office buddies and stood up for ourselves….yeah…right…but when something that rattles us to the core is going on, we have lossed the ability of a “righteous anger”. We are grouped in with the coffee coward and told we are out of control and need to “get over it”. The logic is futile. We must, MUST stand and argue our case passionately, fervently and professionally. “Getting over it” is absolutely NOT in our minds this time. Any of you husband’s? Dad’s? Has anyone seen this video? https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2XhnZlmLGK8%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&feature=youtu.be&v=2XhnZlmLGK8&gl=US
If my wife had flown today, this would have been her. I don’t think so. WE WONT FLY. But, that is only us being patient to see the change. If the theater continues, we will have draw our line in the sand as did many of the noble men before us. You can this far and no farther. No sir.
My civil liberties are so valuable that they can only be measured by the number of sacraficed lives given willingly so that I may have them. Excuse me if I don’t see this gift as something to be played with or surrendered for the asking. My resignation from flying is the smallest inconvenience compared to the sacrafices that have been made for me.
My response is I’m tired of being insulted and presumed to be ignorant as well as stupid. Weary of being treated like a criminal. Sick of being told what to think and being lied to. Disgusted by a system that flatly doesn’t work or care about anyone or anything beyond its perpetuation and expansion. Ashamed of the people who should be putting a stop to this madness but are only assisting in perpetuating it. Beyond that I have no response except to drive for the foreseeable future.
It’s something said to avoid thinking, and to conceal the fact that a person doesn’t *want* to think. How about “What do you mean by that? — I’m not sick.”
Get over what? At what point does stupidity become so offensive that *you* wouldn’t get over it? Hey, we’re all getting on this train to a “work camp,” get over it!
With all due respect…GET OVER IT. “Porno scanners?” Is this a term brought to us by the same fine folks that brought us “Ground Zero Mosque?” Yet again, a small minority is intent on blindly leading others into false, frenzied outrage (although this has a much more entitled, bourgeois feel to it).
For those so concerned about radiation, why haven’t you stopped holding a cell phone to your ear all day? Or using wifi or microwave ovens in your homes? Spending a few seconds in a detector can’t be nearly as bad as constant exposure to other rays and waves in our everyday lives that we don’t question. Sure, we’ll radiate our processed foods everyday, but step into a security scanner? Oh no, that might kill me!!!
If choosing not to fly is your SOLUTION, awesome…in which case you can stop whining about TSA, since you won’t have to deal with them any longer.
If you choose to continue to fly, I suggest you (or SOMEONE) propose a realistic and workable SOLUTION. I’ve still yet to see even one suggested. Otherwise… GET OVER IT!
Um, Tex, I think you are on the wrong website. The concern about new TSA policy has to do with being treated like a criminal, with search without probable cause as much as health reasons. It has to do with our rights as citizens. We have committed no crime, yet are treated like criminals. That is unacceptable to some in a purportedly “free” nation. You are conflating several, disparate things trying to avoid the real issue. Irradiated food is not my cup of tea, either, but really has nothing to do with this situation, nor does cell phone radiation. Those are personal choices a person can “opt out” without facing jail, bullying or huge fines.
Actually, if we did what Israel or other Arab states do for security instead of the financially-rewarding “ignore the man behind the curtain” theater the U.S. government is presenting to the 8th-grade-intelligent crowd, we might actually be a little safer. I have personal experience in seeing how inefficient this “security” is – 3 times, 2 different major airports, as opposed to the numerous international flights with having to pull apart my luggage, explain each and every vitamin, and give sales presentations on what I was carrying, including explaining technical data sheets, showing all business and related credit cards. The U.S. air cattle transport is a joke, and I stopped flying years ago.
And what’s your rebuttal to the fact that the TSA has never caught a terrorist, that these scanners are far more expensive and intrusive than trained dogs, and that if the scanners are so vital to national security, why were so many turned off on Opt Out Day?
The angry tone of this comment says it all. We are touching a nerve, making people think. This will always get a fear response from those who are invested in towing the company line. But it is good to think, and good to ask people to make a decision and to understand their choices. Soon enough, people will come around. And then, our rights are truly guaranteed.
It’s funny, when someone prefaces a statement by saying “with all due respect” you can be sure that the rest of the missive will be terribly disrespectful, as is the case with “Tex”. It’s not whining about the TSA, it is intelligent dialog regarding the TSA’s redaction of our constitutional right to personal privacy. We are an every growing body of intelligent people trying to inform the intelligent traveler. At the same time we are trying to quell the TSA minority who are trying to blindly lead a small group of one or two-time travelers into a frenzied state of panic and fear with regard to boarding and flying on a plane. Chances are, that minority of flyers are already frightened. The TSA believes that it’s ok for a TSA Agent to slide her hand down the inside of the pants of a 65 year old woman. Tell me, Tex, do you really think we saved our country from terrorism by doing that? Aside from hiring intelligent people at a reasonable salary who actually care about their jobs, I think that the previous method was working fine. The problem now is that since they decided to use the body scanners, there is a company making a butt-load of profit from this and they probably can’t cancel the order so they pretty much feel as thought they ought to at lease use them. And since they spent so much money on this, they can fire or layoff the minimum wage salaries of the workers at each walk through. It makes no sense financially or otherwise. The TSA is not making ‘flying the friendly skies’ any safer.
Yeah, it’s really disappointing how common this response is. Jay Rosen had a great blog post linking to a dozen examples in the MSM.
Kathy E. Gill’s Rebuttal To “Just Grow Up” Response To TSA Security has some excellent responses, and a link to Jay’s article.
Worms who side with power do so because they can’t stand the emotional stress or because they feel this makes them share in the power. The TSA policies are akin to power on the march. It is confident enough to come out of the shadows and become a public Police State.
To those who say “Get over it,” I say grow a pair.
I would say – Well, I’ve gotten over a lot of things in my day – my mother’s death, a handful of bad breakups and the death of a pet. But I find it hard to get over the death of the Constitution of the United States, because the Constitution is bigger and more important than you or me and the effects of its death would reverberate down through the ages. I find it disturbing that you can just lie back and relax as the government strips you of your privacy, your dignity and your Constitutional rights and even more disturbing that you can’t be bothered to care about your fellow citizens who have been intensely distressed, humiliated and molested by the government. Call me crazy, but I find it hard to get over the fact that my government is now in the business of sexually molesting and harassing my fellow citizens.
I’m sure it could be more eloquent, but that’s probably what I’d say.
No no, your response is perfect.
Nice job! We are with you and in agreement. The government has easily crossed the line of “reasonableness”, which should render their procedures illegal. The Founders are rolling in their graves, as our recent ancestors are as well.
Or I would say “Get over your ridiculous childish fear of the infinitesimal chance that you will die in a terrorist attack, a threat less likely than being struck by lightning. Get over this fear of the big bad boogeyman so that the rest of us rational people can fly in peace.”
Cause really – We’re the grownups here. We’re the ones not running around reacting to every scare like chickens with our heads cut off. It’s ridiculous. I’m living in South Korea right now where we were just attacked, essentially, by a dangerous rogue state. But no one here is walking around in fear. Everyone’s just going about their business. Americans have turned into a bunch of cowards with no principles or convictions. “Home of the brave” indeed. I scoff at it.
Jennifer, well said. As an American living in the U.S., I weep for my nation. We have become a mockery of what I always believed we stood for, a nation of cowards and sheep, always seeking the path of least resistance. R.I.P., America. You were a hope to the world, once.
Hi, all, I’ve enjoyed reading the comments. I WILL NOT FLY because I refuse to agree that the simple act of buying an airplane ticket turns me, a 66-year-old grandmother of three, into a potential terrorist. Now I hear TSA are feeling around pantiliners. Oh, Godzilla! Why don’t they try to gross me out! Ugh!
I think “get over it” is a way of pressuring you to submit because the person who said it is a good docile sheep and expects everybody around him to be a good docile sheep too.
When people experience major cognitive dissonance they direct their anger at the ones who disrupt their rosy view of the world.
The healthy and smart thing to do is to keep questioning what reality is as new facts come in.
I am a born debater and I love to engage in all types of political debate. Maybe I am becoming jaded but IMO the majority of people I meet have a difficult time engaging in a reasonable and logical debate. I have lost count of how many times people commit non sequiters, ad hominems and other logical fallacies. No one is perfect and I have been guilty too but I attempt to correct these and strive for better arguments.
Our modern society seems to present strong emotional arguments and anger when confronted with opposing ideas. I sympathize with the author here as I am constantly shut off with statements like ‘get over it’. The hatred that has been spewed by people posting here is a testament to that lack of reasonable debate. Where does this hatred come from? Fear? Desire to remain ignorant? Feeling of powerlessness? I have no answer for these.
If we as a society won’t strive for rational debate can we really solve anything? If our emotions succeed in ruling us will we spend decades backpedaling into some Hobbesian nightmare where life becomes more ‘short, nasty and brutish’? I am not so jaded as to say we are doomed but it is laughable to say we live in the ‘age of reason’. We seem to be ruled by the fear that modern power-brokers instill in us and have become too paralyzed to stand up for our rights.
Is there something under me?
Oh, They have already won!
Mission Accomplished!
https://shop.doctortees.com/Mission-Accomplished-MA-WHT-YLW.htm
It is quite disturbing to think that the country opted out of complaining and the newspapers and news broadcasts are reporting that NO one is complaining. La de da. what a utopian world we live in. The enormous amount of sheep that will be railroaded into lines that allow the TSA Government molesters touch them and X ray them is so overwhelmingly stupid that words cannot express the disappointment that I feel concerning the attack on our personal space and integrity just to go on a vacation that requires a plane. This country and lying controlled media, deserve what is coming. Unfortunately I am part of this generation and must be grouped in with the people who are afraid to join together and stop the government from controlling us to the point of being fascist.
good one, Brad!
“Get over it” is sometimes very good advice, when we are dealing with a tendency to blame our current problems on someone from our past (parent, teacher, peer, authority figure, etc.) who “did us wrong” … It is telling us to step forward, live in the present and move on with life.
In this case, this valuable self-help advice is being bastardized to mean “step back in line, comrade citizen, and accept the power of the state over you” … Valid advice? not so much
Get over it…
hmm. how about the fact that I will no longer fly because of a sexual assault when I was seven years old….
Just the thought of having to go through the scanner or the pat down, and a complete stranger seeing my naked body or touching me almost gives me a panic attack…
geez, people.
And, I was reading an interview with a TSA agent, someone had asked the question of, how are they taught to respond to someone who has been sexually assaulted and the pat down resurfaces that, and the agent responded with a, well, that has actually never been brought up. get real, TSA. an estimated 1 in 5 women is sexually abused by age 25. Now think of how many women go through the airport everyday.
I’m so glad that the TSA has done in a few weeks what no terrorist has done my whole life. I am scared shitless to fly.
And I know I’m not the only one.
I wonder how many people who say “get over it” have children, and would allow their children to be put through these procedures. In my experience, the ones who want to tell the rest of us what to do DON’T have children… so when they die, they must figure the rest of the world can rot because neither they nor their progeny will be here to suffer.
That’s not true. I know plenty of people with children who are on the fear bandwagon, and pretty much all the people I know who are violently opposed don’t have children.
It’s the fearful people versus the rational people in this case. You can predict how someone’s going to fall on this by how much they’ve bought into the fear of terrorism. Well, this gets shaky with Republicans, though. They’re all afraid of terrorism, but some of them are against these new regs because they want to stick it to Obama, or because even though they’re okay with a bunch of non-Christian brown people being shut up in Guantanamo, nice little white children should not be felt up.
I find it hilarious that I’m having to be on the same side as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and that news sources I previously respected – like Slate – have turned into rah-rah TSA fans. Ugh.
Oh, and Obama – whatever faith I had left in him (and it was little, at best, I’m a real liberal) is completely gone.
Who would have thought that liberals, conservatives and libertarians would all find solidarity in an issue like this? It’s encouraging to see rational thought emerge from all camps – setting differences aside to stand up for what’s right and against what’s wrong.
If we all stand together we DO make a difference. The question is, will everyone back down now… or will this movement facilitate REAL change at the TSA? Turning off the machines for the Thanksgiving rush is great. But until the PTB are convinced that other methods would prove more fruitful and actually keep us safer than these Gestapo-esque tactics, they will continue to justify these egregious violations of our rights.
The battle may have been won, but the war isn’t over yet.
Get over it? I don’t think so. I haven’t gotten over 9/11, WTC 1 & 2 falling at freefall speed into their own footprint (possible only by the removal of resistance, i.e., planned demolition), WTC 7 falling for no sensible reason (the Commission report didn’t even mention it), no Boeing hitting the Pentagon, and now still reactive thermite chips being found in the dust (this isn’t merely a smoking gun, but live ammunition). Get over it? The struggle is just picking up steam.
Is everyone aware that these scanners may be put in court houses? I just wrote a letter to my representatives about my pat downs. I also stated I will not report for jury duty if a scanner is required. I’m not flying anymore in protest. This is insane.
Why are people so upset about this and not all the other things that really impinge on our privacy? Since 9/11 the government has changed many many laws that really are terrible for our privacy and not a whimper from the general public. Now they want a picture of my bum and it’s a big deal ?
Don’t get over it but fight to get our real privacy restored ! Please
Amen, WWF. Get over a fascistic government that is parting me from my rights? No. I won’t fly until sanity is restored and the innocent are no longer presumed guilty.
In respons to questioning to TSA practices, Pres. Obama on Barb Walters’ show last night stated that if a plane got blown up, it would be unfortunate that it had not been prevented. I heartily respect the Obamas and also Hillary Clinton, but also caution them to not generalize. Frisking a 6-year-old boy (see the video) and removing another small boy’s shirt in TSA security checkpoints is not going to reveal an explosive. It will hurt the children’s psyche and sense of self. For a woman under TSA “examination” it also hurts her sense of control of her own body, as she has learned and practiced since she was a little girl. When a person’s sense of self is intruded upon in those ways, that person becomes demoralized and it is hard to bring back that person’s mental and emotional health.
What are they going to say when, despite all this invasive nonsense, a jet IS blown up? Sorry for the PTSD everyone, we were wrong? No, they’ll somehow find a way to blame it on us, the innocent… and make themselves come out smelling like a rose.
When flawed logic is the foundation, anything built upon that flawed logic can not help but be faulty.
Answering a person’s comment that no one has proposed a better solution, I want to reiterate a plan I posted on another site or two. Approaching security in an airport, establish a friendly-designed area such as a quiet room with windows visible to the other passengers, in which a qualified “law man” (sheriff, policeman, FBI, court judge who has earned trust and respect) and a “holy man” (rabbi, pastor, priest, Buddhist monk who has earned trust and respect) sit and interview family units or individuals in a short question and answer session. A consensus can be quickly established about the purpose for flying today, and if there is any underlying motive for hurting airline passengers or committing suicide in the airplane by an extremist. A computer assistant can photograph the family unit or individual and give them a permanent laminated photo with name and identifying information which states they have “Gold Citizen” status. With such status, these passengers will never again need to remove their shoes, show their luggage, submit to xrays, walk through metal detectors, or have their clothing removed or their bodies touched in unconsenting ways. Experienced law and clergy have the skill to “read” people, and to give them our corporate fellow citizens’ blessing that he/she is safe with whom to fly.
They are already discussing a “registered traveler” program which would allow those who submit to biometric screening and obtain a “pass” will be able to bypass security lines. I see two things wrong with this.
1. It still treats us all as if guilty until proven innocent, the opposite of what the rule of law is supposed to be in the United States of America
2. A suicide bomber is not going to care that they have his biometrics on record, and will obtain the security pass, walking through unmolested with his bomb.
No. I say – and will continue to say – that DOGS are the most realistic solution, and that EVEN THOSE WITH SECURITY CLEARANCE should have to walk past a bank of dogs in every airport (including foreign airports with flights coming to the U.S.!) each dog trained to alert on a different substance. If any of the dogs alert, that person will be subject to further screening – and the government will have their “probable cause” so that innocent people are NOT treated like criminals.
Sounds like an internal passport.
And what happens when these “gold citizens” snap or are blackmailed?
Exactly, Rebecca. Which is why my consistent answer is DOGS. You can’t bribe or corrupt a dog… and they can smell a substance even if it’s inside someone’s body.
I can only imagine the money to be made by developing a “registered traveler” program, whether through a government contract or a private one with the airlines.
That’s the real problem with dogs… the PTB can’t see the profit in it. Well… dogs have a limited lifespan and new ones would have to be in training constantly. Probably 50% or more of the dogs currently in animal shelters would be suitable for this purpose. Unfortunately, if you let the government do it, it would probably lead to horrible puppy mills.
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I still say, however, that dogs are the best solution. Even better if they’re handled by an independent non-partisan non government organization.
I like the idea of dogs being used to sniff out possible explosives. Their senses are so keen, they can pick this stuff up no problem. But of course these new scanner machines are big money makers for some, so of course they won’t use the dogs, b/c dogs don’t make these folks the big money. So it comes back to not just government power, but also greed. Gee, what a surprise.
I refuse to believe that common sense and reason will not win out over greed and fear. I still have hope that we can stop the continued assault on innocent civilians and restrict the use of invasive procedures to Constitutional limitations.
I have faith.