On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that flight has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats.
What??? Middle-Eastern men are not allowed to travel? What are you saying? Ban them from getting on the plane because they are swarthier than thou? So what did they do that was so unnerving? hold up a plastic fork and ask the stewardess for a new one at which the cowering US domestic passengers breathed a sigh of relief? Maybe Americans should be banned from flying as the presence of Americans increases the risk of death by vengeful terror for the rest. Take the boat, or even better, take a hike!
That has to be the biggest bunch of racist, overreactionary bullshit I’ve ever read. That woman’s chances of her and her family getting killed while driving their SUV to the grocery store are much greater. More proof of how stupid Americans can be (and I am American, so I should know) and why the world hates us.
It does represent the xenophobic paranoid nature of the US citizenry at present. The current administration passively encourages it as a cowed and fearful populace is easier to control.
I wonder how the 3,000 innocent women and children who died in the World Trade Center incident would feel about your excessive concerns about “racial profiling.” Its easy to look at the suffering of one group and get all “outraged” as is the wont of most liberals on this forum, but where are the mea culpas from the left when so many people were killed? Hmmm? I don’t hear any cries from the left about how sorry they are about the 19 getting through because of lax security. Also, it came up that the Clinton administration was responsible for separating information that various security agencies picked up to protect people’s rights. Today, Bush is being blamed for “lax security” in the lead up to 911. Well, what is it people. Use your damned brains for a change and decide once and for all just what the hell it is you want.
I think I would have been pretty scared too if I were on that flight. Call it xenophobia or paranoia, but when certain members of a cult religion seem hell bent on killing inocent people, I think it’s understandable.
That’s just authoritarian BOLLOCKS, Fred and you know it. One day you might find yourself part of a group of people, some of whom may have committed a heinous act and it might be YOU on the receiving end of profiling, discrimination, harrassment, internment, gheto-ization and extermination…because that’s what you advocate will lead to. Read your fucking history books. All the more reason to get rid of Bush if this is what his acolytes advocate. If you want Bush to STAY in power, go and VOTE for him!
Too true MT! Too true. But…I wonder what your feeling would have been had you, your wife and child been on that flight. Oh sorry!!! You’d probably be too stoned to notice anything, right? Like Michael Moore said, you (as a white man…and I use the word man loosely here) would have been too afraid to do anything. Hopefully you’d have had some big strong black men to save your sorry butt.
Anyhow, given that nothing happened and no dangerous items were found on them what makes you conclude that there was lax security?
Are there no X-ray scans for hand luggage on domestic flights in the US? Never been there so I don’t know.
I have flown many times since 9-11 and have never complained about them searching my bags or making me remove my shoes. However, unlike the woman who wrote that lame article, I believe that ayrabs should be allowed to fly. Further, they probably weren’t even ayrabs anyway. They were probably mexicans, but you know all those dark-skinned people look the same.
You are hyperventilating. Did I say Arabs should not be allowed to fly? No, but given the risks they should be checked more thoroughly. If you do not believe so then complain about insurance. Old people pay more for insurance why? Young people pay more for car insurance why? Use your brain for a change and stop putting words into my mouth. I believe that profiling can and should be used. It has proved to be very effective. Now, don’t come squealing to me that it is never 100 percent and that this one nun once tried to yaddah yadda. The point is that nothing is 100 percent effective but look at how Israel has been able to reduce hijackings and bombings. WE should do the same. WE are at war.
You are hyperventilating. Did I say Arabs should not be allowed to fly?[/quote]
Not me, Fred, the lady who wrote the article was hyperventilating. How could I be responding to you when I posted before you. I was responding to the woman who was scared because a bunch of ayrabs were on her flight and was apparently urging some kind of action. I didn’t read it very closely, but my recollection is that none of them had any weapons or did anything wrong. So what was she so excited about? What did she think the airline should have done – banned them from traveling because they are ayrabs? Apparently that was her position, though she didn’t explicitly state that.
I’m not saying one is unreasonable in today’s climate of fear to feel nervous if there are 15 arabs on ones plane, but if they’re not carrying weapons, if they’re not on the FBI’s list of suspected terrorists, if they’re just a bunch of musicians traveling to their next gig, I say let them fly.
No arguments there MT but the link does not give the full article. It is just a intro so you don’t really know what the woman saw or what she experienced.
Second, are the Liberals and ACLU going to apologize to the American people for pushing for laxer security?
Rascal:
Stop trying to beat up on me because Tigerman bested you in your last argument. You lost. Deal with it. Leave me out of it.
And this old so off to war thing is just so well old. Do you have children in public schools Rascal? Does that mean you have no right to an opinion about that subject. Ergo since you are not an American citizen you have no right to discuss American foreign policy. I am glad that you agreed to that. Not having to listen to your vile anti-American bile will mean that I no longer need post on this forum. haha
You’d probably be too stoned to notice anything, right? Like Michael Moore said, you (as a white man…and I use the word 
)