240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by epchick

WOW. First of all, how do you know there are "terrorist cells" within a 10 minute drive? Why do you constitute "terrorist cell" as? Just because they people are Arabs or Muslims? If you come from the "most Arab populated city in the country" shouldn't you be a little more open-minded?

We know because some of them have been arrested, including the owner of a very popular and high profile local restaurant chain who even had a relative working for the government (some of whom have been arrested and some of whom have left the country). It is a fact that there are terror cells within 10 minutes of where PM_Mama lives.

Air Tran has assigned seating, unlike SouthWest.

A lot of people have been deeply affected by 9/11 and are much more nervous about getting on a plane. Have you seriously never been uncomfortable with a stranger on an elevator because they gave you a bad vibe? When we had the big blackout of 2003, the first thing people thought was "terrorism". Before 9/11, we would have assumed "mechanical failure". We are in a different reality than we were on 9/10/01.


While I don't agree with racial profiling in general, the reality is, most Al Qaeda members are not little old white ladies. Profiling is a reality. It's a reality when you're crossing the border between Detroit and Windsor. Young white men who don't look clean cut almost always get stopped and have their cars searched for drugs. I've never had my car searched when crossing the border. Some people are under more scrutiny because of their appearance and demeanor. My brother had friends who were troublemakers and often got labeled as a troublemaker as a kid even though he never did anything wrong himself. He got blamed for stuff anyway because he hung out with suspect kids. This is human nature.

If something similar to 9/11 happened again and one of the terrorists were wearing a t-shirt like that, there would be outcries that nobody checked out the person who was wearing that shirt. We have been encouraged to keep our eyes out for anybody/anything that looks suspicious. This is the result of that. It takes one small thing to completely change how airport security looks at things. The "shoe bomber" led to everybody taking off their shoes and having them x-rayed, even flip flops which obviously have nowhere to hide a bomb. The liquid explosive scare has us unable to bring a large bottle of shampoo in our carry ons. They pretty much HAVE to check out anybody who is making others suspicious. It doesn't mean they'll catch the next terrorist, but if it means they miss one, there would be hell to pay for them.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by AGDee

We know because some of them have been arrested, including the owner of a very popular and high profile local restaurant chain who even had a relative working for the government (some of whom have been arrested and some of whom have left the country). It is a fact that there are terror cells within 10 minutes of where PM_Mama lives.

I don't know that this is something specific to one's closeness to the situation, or that it makes PM_Mama's situation that much different than a number of people...I would imagine there are anti-American elements in a lot of cities, and heck, the planes went right through Boston where KSigRC, myself, and a bunch of other members of this board were going to school. Not to mention the members of the board who were living in NYC at the time, or who lost family members and friends on 9/11...

On a somewhat unrelated note - I always wonder about the difference in feelings by people who lost loved ones on 9/11, and those who did not. In my immediate circle of friends and acquaintances (those who lost friends and family, and those who were living in NYC or working near Ground Zero) have tended to hold softer lines on this kind of stuff than others. In other words, they're the ones who wouldn't mind sitting on an airplane with someone like this claimant.

I often wonder whether my friends are a representative group in that regard. It's not to say that each person is entitled to their own opinions on these things, but I always thought that the split in feelings among my friends was interesting.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I don't know that this is something specific to one's closeness to the situation, or that it makes PM_Mama's situation that much different than a number of people...I would imagine there are anti-American elements in a lot of cities, and heck, the planes went right through Boston where KSigRC, myself, and a bunch of other members of this board were going to school. Not to mention the members of the board who were living in NYC at the time, or who lost family members and friends on 9/11...

On a somewhat unrelated note - I always wonder about the difference in feelings by people who lost loved ones on 9/11, and those who did not. In my immediate circle of friends and acquaintances (those who lost friends and family, and those who were living in NYC or working near Ground Zero) have tended to hold softer lines on this kind of stuff than others. In other words, they're the ones who wouldn't mind sitting on an airplane with someone like this claimant.

I was simply answering the "How do you know..." question. Every couple months there is a news story about someone being arrested for channeling money to militant terrorist groups (not just al Qaeda, but also Hezbelloh and Hamas, etc.)

You do bring up some good questions.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by epchick

Does it look more like this (a Keyyifeh):



or

this (sometimes called a Shemagh or a ghutra an iqal):

Nope it was pretty much a red fabric that they tide around their head. I saw it on both movies, United 93 and Flight 93. It's when they all look at each other, tie them on their heads and that's when people on the plane know that something is wrong. I've never seen it other than on the movies.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I've never seen it other than on the movies.

Then that's probably your answer. It was something the movie producers created to add some "drama" to the movie.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by epchick

Then that's probably your answer. It was something the movie producers created to add some "drama" to the movie.

Wow...did I call it or what?

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by epchick

Then that's probably your answer. It was something the movie producers created to add some "drama" to the movie.

I'd really hope that they wouldn't make something up in a movie like that.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I'd really hope that they wouldn't make something up in a movie like that.

Really? Neither were hailed as documentaries, right?

[epchick]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I'd really hope that they wouldn't make something up in a movie like that.

Seeing as how all the people on that flight are deceased, you don't really know what happened (aside from the recorded phone calls). So most of the movie was conjecture.

[starang21]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Profiling is a reality.

^^^^^

justifying infringing on people's rights.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by starang21

^^^^^

justifying infringing on people's rights.

Did I say it was justified? There are many things that are a reality but are not justified. In some cases it is justified (thinking.. FBI psychological profiling of serial killers, which tends to be very accurate) and in some cases it is not (assuming that a husband killed a wife who has disappeared). Profiling occurs in every walk of life and in almost every situation. Life insurance companies do it (raising rates for smokers and people with chronic illnesses), marketing and advertising agencies do it (beer ads during football games, make up ads during Lipstick Jungle), auto companies market certain cars to certain people. If a newborn is found in a highschool bathroom, they don't search the local nursing home for 85 year old men who may have done it. It's not always an infringement on people's rights. Sometimes it is. It can be a way of narrowing down who you're looking for. If you read the rest of my post, you'd see that I cited times that it didn't make sense, so please don't take it out of context.