Poking the bear

Project Veritas prankster James O'Keefe has been getting stopped at the border ever since he published his hilariously embarrassing videos of unchallenged border crossings dressed as Osama bin Laden or an ISIS terrorist.  I can't say I blame DHS for that; if they know he habitually stages illegal border crossings, they might reasonably scrutinize him to determine whether he's carrying contraband to make a point.  Yes, it's fairly clear they would be doing so to avoid embarrassment rather than to prevent harm to the U.S., but I can live with it, as can O'Keefe.

The pointed questions about what his next exposé is going to target, though, and the questions about which candidate he's going to support, are just creepy. This time, the border agents thought to ask him if he was filming the interview, which he wasn't, though they didn't ask if he was recording the sound, which he was. I imagine there will be flak over that, too.

All this is annoying and discouraging, but in a way it's good news.  There are countries where, if you pulled this kind of stunt, they'd just quietly kill you.

4 comments:

E Hines said...

The pointed questions about what his next exposé is going to target, though, and the questions about which candidate he's going to support, are just creepy.

Less creepy in my mind than useful. The questioners are exposing their guilty consciences and identifying themselves as inhabiting areas suitable for investigation.

From the linked article: O’Keefe starts to get peppered with unusual questions about his work — his funding, his revenue sources, and then what his next investigation will cover. At one point, an agent asks O’Keefe whether he’d support Trump, or who he wants as the next nominee. Now, all of this could be intended as just simple curiosity and conversation....

There are a couple of interpretations of this. One is T99's creepiness factor, and it can't be discounted.

Another, though, is this. Both going and coming on a trip to Israel, I was engaged by Israeli security in "idle" conversation as I passed through the checkpoint to/from the airport; this is just part of their security's personality checks as they pass travelers on through (or intercept them). It's been suggested on many occasions that our own border security types could learn a thing or two from the Israelis and conduct such idle conversation checks themselves. What O'Keefe went through could be a clumsy attempt to do that, targeted at "suspicious characters" rather than using the Israeli "check everybody" conversation.

Or not.

Eric Hines

Grim said...

"Why, we're actually doing an expose on DHS. Would you like to be in it?"

Texan99 said...

"You're soaking in it!"

I too, find the questions about his next project marginally less offensive than the questions about whom he will support in the presidential race. That one wasn't random, friendly conversation, and there's scarcely any excuse for including it in an interrogation by a government official.

jaed said...

if you pulled this kind of stunt, they'd just quietly kill you

Kill which one? O'Keefe, or the border guards?

;-), sort of.