Boarding call for flight G.O.1984, flight G.O.1984

Making the world safer, conformiterrr…uh, less different.

(I bet he had plastic explosives woven into the garment.)

[quote=“BBC”]An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words “We will not be silent” before boarding a flight at New York.

Raed Jarrar said [color=blue]security officials warned him his clothing was offensive[/color] after he checked in for a JetBlue flight to California on 12 August.

Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US.
[…]
‘Authoritarian regimes’

Mr Jarrar’s black cotton T-shirt bore the slogan in both Arabic and English.

He said he had cleared security at John F Kennedy airport for a flight back to his home in California when he was approached by two men who wanted to check his ID and boarding pass.

Mr Jarrar said he was told a number of passengers had complained about his T-shirt - apparently concerned at what the Arabic phrase meant - and asked him to remove it.

He refused, arguing that the slogan was not offensive and citing his constitutional rights to free expression.

Mr Jarrar later told a New York radio station: "I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen.

“But I’m shocked that they happened to me here, in the US.”

After a difficult exchange with airline staff, Mr Jarrar was persuaded to wear another T-shirt bought for him at the airport shop.

“We Will Not Be Silent” is a slogan adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq and other conflicts in the Middle East.[/quote]

eye
ball
huh? where’d it go?

'cuse me, I’ve got to go seal my protective, plastic bubble with duct tape.
Buzz me when either the Enlightenment sparks up again, or the tribes disband.
Oh, and until then, everyone turn in the keys to their cars, airplanes, and all of the security gates; we’re obviously having a little trouble demonstrating sufficient maturity and responsibility to be free to play with power tools.

It’s pretty sad that it has come to this. Over a seemingly innocuous T-shirt, bearing a slogan that reportedly originates with the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.
That said, if I was of Midle Eastern descent, and about to fly in the US, I would try not to do anything that would draw negative attention to myself, esp. in the current climate of fear-inspired racial profiling.

[/quote]

Anybody still flying with JetBlue is suspicious!

[quote=“TheGingerMan”]
That said, if I was of Midle Eastern descent, and about to fly in the US, I would try not to do anything that would draw negative attention to myself, esp. in the current climate of fear-inspired racial profiling.[/quote]

“Fear-inspired”? I’d call it simple common sense.

I’m scared of Arabic letters too. Ever since 9/11 I’ve had nightmares about them. They just look evil. Why should I have to put up them in public? I’ve got rights too.

Flying is traumatic enough without wankers in stupid T-shirts trying to make political points. Just STFU and get on the plane. Have people just taken leave of their senses altogether? What sort of a reception do you expect if you walk into a Royal Marines barracks with “All Marines Are Poofy Wankers” on your T-shirt.

Fuck the guy. He should have been stripped and made to take the flight starkers. An airport is a private place of business anyway. It is not a venue for political protest. By walking into the airport you accept the terms of the licence to be present on airport property granted to you by the owner of the property. One of those conditions is not to fuck around with the security staff. Having exercised your constitutional right to be a fuckwit, you can take the T-shirt off or cover it with a shirt for the duration of the flight.

A Middle-Eastern looking guy in a T-shirt that says “we will not be slient” getting on a plane is going to be stopped. Period. What would the bleeding hearts and artists say if he had been allowed on the plane and blew it up? I know what they would say. They would say: “The guy was wearing a fucking T-shirt that said ‘we will not be silent’ fercrissakes!!! And nobody stopped him!!!”

Jesus wept. It’s not like the guy was shot where he stood or anything.

Agree for the most part with the good lord. Cries about authoritarianism are a red herring as it was customer complaints that lead to the man being asked to remove his t-shirt. The company was just responding to the nervous complaints of their customers. And if they hadn’t and a disaster had resulted, yes of course everyone would be after the security guards’ blood.

The security guy were obviously in a dilema not wanting to make a big deal out of a t-shirt but also not wanting to cause panic among the general flight members. Sorry, but in this day and age a little overkill will happen. As LL said, he was not shot, he was not refused passage, he was not fined, he was not rounded up and sent to a POW camp. He was asked to remove a t-shirt.

I don’t understand the reference to George Orwell in the OP’s title. No government agency was involved in this matter. You can chalk it up to prejudice and fearmongering if you like but then such human behavior belongs to Orwell’s earlier work on race and imperialism which is surely not what the OP had in mind. There is no 1984 scenario going on here. Just a tense situation that the people in charge tried to diffuse.

Middle eastern people acting suspicious or arousing suspicion on a flight are going to be asked to explain themselves. Hell, anyone acting suspicious will. And a t-shirt with that kind of statement on it is certainly enough to arouse suspicion.

Remember the show-bomber? Were his fellow passengers at fault for watching him carefully whenhe started to do soem strange things around his shows? Or should they have just ignored him. Oh well, he’s just doing somehting weird around his shoes. Why should that alarm me?

[quote=“Muzha Man”]
Remember the show-bomber? [/quote]

Yeah…they were showing “Lawrence of Arabia”…I fucking hate in-flight movies too.

Agree with LL and MM.
Remember that guy who was chucked off a United (?) flight for wearing a t-shirt with ‘F*ck You’ on it as it was offensive? I’d say that was a less clear-cut issue than this one and they still booted him off the plane.

Yes it is sad that people are afraid to fly, but that doesn’t mean those that do fly should just be sheep and trust the airport security measures.

Let’s all have a good laugh at that: Airport Security Measures! What an oxymoron.

I’m afraid whenever anybody who even looks Middle Eastern gets on a flight with me. I think at the very least they should be forced to undergo a little pre-flight ideological screening and do something about the way they look.

A simple multiple choice test would probably be good enough for the screening part. Something along the lines of “Is George Bush right?” Yes/No/No opinion.

If they answer wrong they’re outta here.

And as far as the way they look, I think they should be made to apply a little whiteface at least before they get on board to help calm everyone’s nerves. It should be done in a completely fair and balanced way though so nobody feels as if they’re being profiled. In other words, all dark-complected people should be made to lighten up a little until we’re all at least within a shade or two of each other at the outside.

That ought to do it. I’d feel completely at home then.

[quote=“spook”]I’m afraid whenever anybody who even looks Middle Eastern gets on a flight with me. I think at the very least they should be forced to undergo a little pre-flight ideological screening and do something about the way they look.

A simple multiple choice test would probably be good enough for the screening part. Something along the lines of “Is George Bush right?” Yes/No/No opinion.

If they answer wrong they’re outta here.

And as far as the way they look, I think they should be made to apply a little whiteface at least before they get on board to help calm everyone’s nerves. It should be done in a completely fair and balanced way though so nobody feels as if they’re being profiled. In other words, all dark-complected people should be made to lighten up a little until we’re all at least within a shade or two of each other at the outside.

That ought to do it. I’d feel completely at home then.[/quote]

Are you serious in wishing us to draw a parallel between what you wrote and a man actually boarding a flight wearing a t-shirt which shows apparent support for the people causing the air panic in the first place? At this point in time, and wearing that t-shirt, I think they’d have asked for him to be removed even if he was an eskimo or a 7 foot high Masai warrior.

Think you shouldn’t extrapolate along a point so much fella.

[quote=“TomHill”]
Think you shouldn’t extrapolate along a point so much fella.[/quote]

Tom, that flapping sound you heard was common sense flying out the window.

Are you familiar with the White Rose movement? It was a non-violent, anti-Nazi resistance group.

I have a little trouble getting worked up over somebody who references it being secretly pro-Al Qaeda.

Now if I was ignorant of what the historical reference was I suppose I might be just as worked up as the rest of you guys.

I guess that ignorance isn’t always bliss.

[quote=“spook”]Are you familiar with the White Rose movement? It was a non-violent, anti-Nazi resistance group.

I have a little trouble getting worked up over somebody who references it being secretly pro-Al Qaeda.

Now if I was ignorant of what the historical reference was I suppose I might be just as worked up as the rest of you guys.

I guess that ignorance isn’t always bliss.[/quote]

And knowledge doesn’t always equate with intelligence.

Yes, thank you. Taking a few words out of context is fun, isn’t it? And so, it that spirit, are you familiar with the Unabomber? Why don’t you take this little quiz?

crm114.com/algore/quiz.html

Enjoy! :laughing:

I still haven’t seen or heard anything yet that even remotely demonstrates ties to support for terrorism. Is that too much to ask?

Spook, it’s a fucking T-shirt and he was made to take it off because it insulted people. Like many white, middle class, middle aged people have been asked to remove their t-shirts because they were regarded as offensive to the people on the plane.

It’s an offence issue, not a one sided “lets all point at the muslim terrorist on the plane” issue.

The message on the t-shirt does not demonstrate ties to support for terrorism. But the people flying on that plane were not familiar with the details of the White Rose Movement (unsurprisingly).

Why mistake stupidity/ lack of knowledge for racism? Call it what it was. Fear overtaking rationality.

[quote=“Dangermouse”]Spook, it’s a fucking T-shirt and he was made to take it off because it insulted people. Like many white, middle class, middle aged people have been asked to remove their t-shirts because they were regarded as offensive to the people on the plane.

It’s an offence issue, not a one sided “lets all point at the muslim terrorist on the plane” issue.[/quote]

Is it reasonable though to be offended by Arabic script or an historical reference to a non-violent anti-Fascist resistance group?

Ignorance of the facts just doesn’t suffice for me.

[quote=“spook”][quote=“Dangermouse”]Spook, it’s a fucking T-shirt and he was made to take it off because it insulted people. Like many white, middle class, middle aged people have been asked to remove their t-shirts because they were regarded as offensive to the people on the plane.

It’s an offence issue, not a one sided “lets all point at the muslim terrorist on the plane” issue.[/quote]

Is it reasonable though to be offended by Arabic script or an historical reference to a non-violent anti-Fascist resistance group?

Ignorance of the facts just doesn’t suffice for me.[/quote]

Oh for fuck’s sake spook, they were at an airport waiting for a flight. No one had an encyclopedia on hand. A quick decision had to be made. Was it reasonable? Yes, considering all they asked was that he remove the T-shirt and put on the one they had bought. Yes, considering the results of making the wrong decision could be death for hundreds.

Have you never made a hasty decision based on insufficient information? Give the people a fucking break.