Now there’s a headline I never thought I’d write.
In one short week, it seems I’ve offended sadomasochists and great white sharks with my commentary. I feel an apology is in order.
Let’s start with the S&M practitioners. In a post about the recent problems of the TSA in Orlando, I made an offhanded reference to the those who derive pleasure from pain.
Earlier this week, a TSA officer at Orlando International Airport was arrested on charges of molesting a minor. Turns out he was reportedly a fan of bondage and sadomasochism.
The “turns out” section was actually a link to a follow-up story, and I didn’t really give it a second thought. Perhaps I should have.
Charles Henry Bennett’s MySpace profile identifies him as “Master Charles or Sir.” The online page shows the 57-year-old airport security guard has “many years experience” as a bondage and sadomasochism master and is looking to meet people, especially “submissive females.” The TSA’s blog said the agency was “deeply saddened and disgusted” by its employees actions. Bennett resigned on Monday.
The unfortunate juxtaposition of the TSA officer’s alleged crime and his sexual preferences drew an immediate response in the comments and in the blogosphere. In a post entitled, S&M practitioner = Minor molesting paedophile? NOT!! (warning: adult content) Chaz Antonelli commented, “The sort of discrimination expressed below could have been aimed in another direction (i.e. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, etc.) — we need to be ever vigilant to the subtle ‘joining’ of one lifestyle to another.”
Another reader demanded,
What does being a fan of bondage have to do with molesting a child? Are you trying to say that if you are into bdsm that makes you a molester?
As I clarified in the comments, I didn’t mean to imply a link. What you do in the privacy of your bedroom, or kitchen — as long as it’s legal, or course — is your business.
But the anger of the S&M community paled in comparison to the wrath of the Australians after I wrote about one woman’s ill-fated trip Down Under. The highlight of her tour was to have been swimming on the Great Barrier Reef. But the trip was just not meant to be; there were multiple airline delays and other problems. In my answer, I assured her she should have just stayed home:
Your trip really wasn’t meant to happen. Trust me on this. After two mechanical delays and a missed flight, can you imagine what would have awaited you in Australia? Think of that swim on the reef. Think great white sharks and box jellyfish.
Most people correctly read the last as a facetious remark. As a scuba diving instructor, I don’t for one minute believe Australia’s reefs are infested with sharks and jellyfish, waiting to devour tourists. But some literal-minded readers felt otherwise.
Peter Belmer was one of them:
I am very disappointed by [that] comment.
I live in Australia and have dived on the Great Barrier Reef many times and there are absolutely no problems with great white sharks of box jellyfish. It is a beautiful part of the world and I think it is irresponsible of you to portray it as a dangerous place. You provide a lot of good information and people trust the information you provide – what happened in this case?
What happened? Well, I guess my American sense of humor didn’t translate so well.
So to all the practitioners of sadomasochism and bondage and to the great white sharks and box jellyfish of the Great Barrier Reef, and to the great white sharks who practice S&M and the box jellyfish who are into bondage — I’m sorry.
(Photo of a great white shark whose sexual preferences are unknown by hermanusbackpackers/Flickr Creative Commons)
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No implication that child molestation and bdsm are linked, but the openly hypersexualized nature of the person in question IS relevant to public policy — in a world where TSA wants us to trust them with nude-o-scopes. Who will be watching those machines? What employee screening processes are in place? Who slips through those processes?
This story suggests a reasonable probability that the person watching you go through the machine will be Pervy Smurf…
You should NOT have to apologize for the few idiotic, interpreting everything literally, PC people out there. It’s time political correctness went the way of the dinosaur. These people need to get some thicker skin!
I do not think this apology was necessary. It’s sad that we live in a world now where everyone is so damn easily offended. In my opinion, you didn’t say anything that was out of the ordinary. I would have said the same things. I don’t walk on eggshells because I might offend someone, someday.
My advise to those that were offended: Grow a thicker skin and get over it! Don’t take everything so literally.
Actually, the way it is written, this paragraph does give the direct implication that TSA was upset that he was a BDSM Master and gave no implication that they were upset with his on the job actions. The paragraph was poorly written.
“The online page shows the 57-year-old airport security guard has “many years experience” as a bondage and sadomasochism master and is looking to meet people, especially “submissive females.” The TSA’s blog said the agency was “deeply saddened and disgusted” by its employees actions.”
In our society, we like to use aspects of a persons personal life to implicate that same person in their professional life. Its in our nature to try and come up with a reason for someone’s actions, even if that means we come up with false reasons.
Elliott, it takes an adult to realize when they made a mistake and I appreciate you taking the time to, in a humorous way, to admit yours.
Your sense of humor is priceless.
Doug, I second the motion you just made.
Oy! If sadomasochists like pain, why are you apologizing for offending them???
And here I thought you were about to apologize to some of the lawyers you’ve had to put up with recently.
As a S&M loving Shark I take Great offense of anyone but other S&M loving Sharks thinking that they have the right to take offense for any insults directed my way. How dare you!
Steve. I am with you. Let us all stop this silly political correctness. We should all lighten up a bit.
What…seriously? Seriously.
And Chris, I was only kidding earlier. :)
@Chris: If someone says, “I do so have a sense of humor but THAT’S NOT FUNNY.” that person very likely does NOT have a sense of humor.
Poster @Carabobarrel, above, really does have a sense of humor. Got a big smile from that.
As for the questionable qualifications of TSA frontline staff —- it reads better in Latin, but the quote, “Who shall guard these guardsmen?” seems to apply here.
Really? You should see the Australian sense of humor!
Crikey!
Amusing photo caption!
Chris, great column! LMAO
Chris: Your apology was well-worded and most of us do appreciate your sense of humor.
For the rest of you who are complaining about political correctness run amok: the problem is not simply “thin skin”. Imagine for a moment if Chris’s post had been about a TSA agent stealing from travelers’ luggage and it had said “Turns out he was black.”
Just as African-Americans have often unfairly been stigmatized as criminals, and (this is the important part) that stigma has been used to justify government harassment against them and to limit their opportunities (e.g. we can’t have blacks working the register, because they might steal from it), those whose perfectly legal erotic and sexual orientations and interests lie outside the mainstream are often unfairly stigmatized as perverts who are probably rapists, child molesters, and the like – and they, too, have frequently been harassed by the government and had opportunities limited. For instance, the police have a long history of raiding gay bars, citing all sorts of miscellaneous laws against public indecency (which they extended to cover, say, two men dancing together or holding hands or kissing). After a compliant press published the names of everyone arrested, along with a lot of salacious but irrelevant details about the supposed voracious sex lives of these “perverts”, the charges would quietly be dropped – except that a lot of people’s lives, in the meantime had been ruined: jobs lost, family relationships disowned. This is not in the dark past; a raid like this took place in Fort Worth just a year or so ago.
More recently, the target has been BDSM-related organizations, charging every one present with whatever they can think of (usually trying variations of public lewdness and/or prostitution).
And the problem is complicated by the public’s mania for sex offender registries, which often sweep up every possible sexually-related offense and require public disclosure and prohibit living within 1000 feet of any place children gather. It’s one thing to apply such laws to child molesters and rapists; but these registries usually also include crimes that have nothing to do with children or violence, such as prostitution or public urination. It also includes consensual teen sex, typically targeting the boy but not the girl.
So yes, the BDSM community is VERY much on the alert for public portrayals of their interest in a light which suggests it has anything to do with crimes like sexual molestation.
To Kevin M: You said “For the rest of you who are complaining about political correctness run amok: the problem is not simply “thin skin”. Imagine for a moment if Chris’s post had been about a TSA agent stealing from travelers’ luggage and it had said “Turns out he was black.”
You can’t compare the two statements. Being a fan of bondage and sadomasochism is a choice, one can’t help the color of their skin. One would clearly be wise not to say your statement…it is a sterotype. Chris’s statement was not.
Chris did not have to apologize for anything. As an American citizen, he is entitled to his opinion and as a writer his speech is protected by the First Amendment, for even the most oddball and offensive remarks.
However, his apology shows that Chris does acknowledge the thoughts and feelings of his readers, and is ready to own up to the fact that he makes mistakes, and to make whatever amends are appropriate.
Wouldn’t it be nice if others took his lead… TSA… DHS… airlines… cruise ships… car rental companies…