I’m guessing that this was determined to be a first amendment case, i.e., a violation of the man’s right to free speech. If a French person can board a plane with a T-shirt that said viva la France, then an arabic person must be afforded the same right. I think the monetary amount is ludicrous, but it was a violation of a US citizen’s first amendment rights. ALL US citizens enjoy this right, not just the WASPs.

Your logic is backwards. Are all Muslims terrorists? No. Are all terrorists Muslims? Yes (except for a rare exception that is statistically insignificant). Does every cumulo-nimbus cloud produce lightning? No. Does all lightning come from cumulo-nimbus clouds? Yes (except for a rare exception that is statistically insignificant).

Stereotypes are not reasons, but statistics are.

Stewardess: Sir, are you a Musim:
Man: Yes I am.
Stewardess: Are you a Terrorist?
Man: Yes I am.
Stewardess: Do you have a bomb?
Man: Yes.
Stewardess: Is it a time bomb>
Man: Yes
Stewardess: Do you want an aisle seat, or a window seat?
Man: Window Seat.
Stewardess: Give your bomb and I will put in the overhead storage for you.
Man: Thank you very much.
Stewardess: Enjoy your flight.

Please note: No racial profiling. No problem at all. The terrorist will not collect $240,000, and all are happy.

See, Terrorists can get along with us.

39 Minutes later: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

tau’s (steal your moniker) kendall:

No, not all terrorists are Muslim (some are separatists, nationalists, communists, etc.) and statistics are evidence not reasons in and of themselves. If its statistics you want, then the probability of Muslims wearing t-shirts with Arabic writing and hopping a plane to crash/blow-up somewhere is small indeed! I assume that terrorists would want to be less, not more, obvious to travelers.

I’m interested in how we would implement this religious-based profiling system. Do I need to bring my “I’m a Catholic” card to the airport (Note to terrorists: keep your “I’m a Muslim” card at home)? Or would it be based on one’s ethnicity? If its ethnicity, how do we distinguish between Arabs, Persians, Asians, etc. that might be-could possibly be-or might sometime in the future be terrorists?

Ok all you people that are upset with airlines and goverment agencies trying protect us from evil doers. Lets just go back to the old way. No security check points anymore and anyone can wander thru out the airport with worry about anyone checking(profiling) up on them. It worked so well back in the 50’s and 60’s. Profiling is so much worse than planes being hijacked and then crashed into buildings. Where do you draw the line? Someone is ALWAYS going to upset over whatever rules are used. All the rules for war have been completely made obsolete and unenforceable now that the evil doers have no face,no country or boundaries, or most importantly NO RULES!! The agencies that are trying to protect us have way more knowledge and expertise than ANYONE ON THIS BLOG! Let them do their job, and pray to GOD that our elected officials give them good and wise guidence. Will they make some mistakes now and then? Yes. Who out there is perfect? Certainly not me. We all learn from our mistakes, but we must not be so restricted by them that we become unable to the job required to be successful.

The muslim community has refused to police its own ranks and, until they do, all are suspect. I have a different perspective from most as I come from a counterterrorism background and was in my office in the Pentagon on 9/11. Conversely, my wife taught in the Islamic Saudi Academy, a component of the Saudi embassy, and my personal physican and my surgeon were both muslim.

roosk1:

The case referred to by the post isn’t about security measures, its about an airline’s attempt to enforce a non-arabic dress code. I believe Mr. Jarrar had already gone through security. Don’t conflate an objection to this case with the idea that we no longer need airport security.

Bill:

I assume that all Catholics and Evangelicals are suspect since they have failed to “police their ranks” sufficiently enough to prevent acts of terrorism?

kendall’s toe,

So your opinion is that everyone is just as likely to blow up a plane. Even though virtually all plane hijackings have been perpetrated by arabic muslims, you feel that a 90 year old Catholic is just as likely to come onto the plane and fly it into the White House.

Furthermore, you claim that if a person makes it through the security checkpoint, that person has been cleared of any evil intent towards the plane.

What you need to do is rewind 7 years. Remember what happened and keep in your mind that it can happen again. While the family involved in this incident was likely innocent, keep in mind that the arabic muslim terrorists use women and children in their jihad. The shame is that it is the acts of a radical few that have created this perception that everyone who looks like the arabic muslim terrorist is one.

Is this racist? No, it is fear. Perhaps misplaced fear, but you cannot deny what people would feel on that plane. They observed something they didn’t understand and raised the alarm. They could not read the shirt. It could have said “let’s blow up this plane” or it could have been as innocent as “Obama was born in Kenya”.

When people are belong to a group where some of their kind has done wrong, the others in that group need to learn to adapt their behavior to distance themselves from the rotten apples. It isn’t right, but people don’t pay attention to logic. Take your charge against the Catholics and Evangelicals. See you are no better than those people on the plane.

Think (because you should and I know you can),

I never said that Catholics were likely to hijack planes. My response to Bill was simply that we shouldn’t be accusing innocent Muslims of failing to police themselves when other faiths commit terrorist acts and don’t receive the same dictate. The more we stigmatize, the more the terrorists win.

I also didn’t say that someone who passes a security checkpoint is somehow immune from suspicion. If Mr. Jarrar had acted suspiciously (e.g. tried to light his shoe), then of course action is warranted. I don’t think wearing a t-shirt with Arabic immediately makes you a suspected terrorist. If so, then the terrorists have achieved their goal of instilling irrational fear in Americans. I don’t want terrorists to win, and the more irrational we become the closer they come to winning.

Terrorists are already aware that Muslim-looking citizens are under increased scrutiny. They count on it. Take 9/11. The hijackers made every effort to “look American”. If we focus only on a specific ethnicity, then we miss the Asian terrorist or the next John Walker Lindh.

Finally, I am only talking about the specific situation addressed in the TOD post. There may be instances when one’s background warrants increased suspicion (by, say, a federal agency). Again, stop conflating my objection in this case to all cases and all instances of suspicious airport activity.

Kendall’s Tau,

My comments were based on observations in nearly thirty countries I have been in (not vacation) and my experience in five hostile fire areas. When you are under attack choices become very simple and pragmatism eventually takes the place of philosophy if you intend to survive. Western culture is at that place. I ask you to look at the globe and identify the source of violence and instability then judge for your self.