What made the T.S.A. story so sticky and irresistible, a nearly perfect Perfect Storm?

TIMING It arrived during a news season slowed by holidays (how many stories can you do speculating about which turkey will be pardoned by the president?) in the midst of the busiest travel weeks.

EXECUTION The government’s below-the-radar rollout of the new protocol (Memo to the T.S.A.: never sneak up on the American public) gave it a conspiratorial sheen…

DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT At a time of incredibly fractionalized politics, the pat-down was a single issue we could all rally around. For liberals, it was Big Brother grabbing liberties (with both hands) and conservatives once again felt the intrusive touch of Big Government in their pocket…

RACE AND CLASS Even though air travel is far from luxurious, it is a still a big expense during a time of significant economic upheaval, so the people affected tend to be a little better off and more entitled. While many nonwhite Americans have grown up in a country where they are sometimes searched while merely going about their business — unwarranted stop-and-frisks have gone on for decades — white people aren’t used to having the hands of the state on them without cause. Unfamiliarity breeds outrage.