By now, the video of a passenger being brutally attacked and dragged off a United flight for failing to comply with airline personnel has gone global.

That such an incident ever occurred should not be surprising.

It is only the latest in a long line of similar over-reaches and abuses of power, which have included humiliating TSA feel-ups of children, WW II veterans, and special needs folks. And, the spinning of legitimate customer service queries by stressed-out airline workers into “security threats” .

Such events occur so often they are now viewed as commonplace.

In the post-9/11 world, the traveling public has become “infantilized”.

That is, the expectation from the airlines, law enforcement, and security staff is that passengers will remain submissive and compliant at every step throughout the air travel experience.

Anything outside the “conventional view” of appropriate behavior is deemed a threat at the same level of al-Qaeda or ISIL. And, it gets handled accordingly. The bloody images from this incident are evidence.

What we saw earlier this week on the United flight is merely a symptom of a far bigger tumor that has spread throughout the U.S. air travel system.

When there is no accountability, and “security” is used as a justification for any activity- regardless how repugnant that activity might be- things will only get worse.