"Rand K. Peck, a captain for a large US airline, said: "I've observed matronly-looking grandmothers being practically disrobed at security checkpoints and five-year-old blond boys turned inside out, while Middle Eastern males sail through undetained." Is it true that in the US you can only randomly search two arab looking men per flight? Doesn't make much sense but i want to know if thisis true or not. Thanks (Here is an interesting article. I think it is paranoia but i am not sure yet : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ly25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/25/ixworld.html
Why the focus on 'arab looking men'? For one, concentrating the search on anyone by the way you perceive their ethnic background would be a definite act of racism. Secondly, after the OK city bombing, the first person arrested was an arab gentleman on a flight, who was detained for having 'bomb making equipment' in his briefcase (some scissors and sticky tape). Of course we all know OK was bombed by a homegrown white boy, Timothy McVeigh. Also this was the worst terrorist attack on US soil at that point in time. McVeigh was indoctrinated by the Michigan Militia. So what did the govt do about US 'Patriots' such as these militias? Did they start searching at least two rednecks boarding each plane? Terrorism wasn't born on Sept 11th. Terrorism wasn't invented by 'arab looking men' either. The author of that article by the way, is the typical post 9/11 racist, spineless piss pants yank. I'm apalled the Telegraph printed such junk. If you do your research on this one, you'll discover that the group of travellers were a band, there's a picture of them in a covering article on the WWW somewhere. So all that article was, was a spewing of her insecurities and prejudices, and hd she actually made more effort to research the facts, she'd have easily discovered the innocuous travellers' occupations. But then, she'd have perhaps felt embarrassed about being such coward.
For what it's worth, the 9/11 commission report seems to support racial stereotyping in airport passenger screening (although they don't actually say it), and recommends biometric identification and new, secure standards for birth certificates, drivers licenses, and so forth. The reason given being that while no American can hide from his debt by changing his name, a terrorist can just toss his passport aside and change his name slightly and he's fine.
Personal note: My passport is filled with stamps from Indonesia and other places in south east Asia that seem to be considered 'dangerous'. Oddly enough, every single time i go through an American airport I'm subject to a 'random' search.
And I'll agree that it's embarressing that such an artical would be published. I'm sure that there are things far more terrifying than watching Syrian men go to the bathroom.
I know of a similar scenario. Being as geeky as I am, I'm very pale white; I travel every once in awhile (twice a year/two maybe, often out of the country, I go back to Russia for summers) I have never been searched beyond basic procedure. A friend of mine who is Israeli, slightly dark, short and well built is stopped and searched every time, usually several times, and 'randomly' strip-searched... from where I'm looking, the system is very biased.
No shit? I got searched on the last internal flight I took. It was because of the way I was dressed. I was wearing black combat boots, and a pair of black combat trousers, because about 14 hours earlier, I'd just climbed a small mountain. So obviously, I was a threat to security, and needed frisking. The guy got all funny over my wallet chain, and said it could be used as a weapon. I laughed, and pointed out his tie, shoelaces, the rope handles on the shopping bag of the lady in front me, and the strap on the laptop bag of the guy in front of her could all be used as weapons too, so are these items to me removed too? Well, logic doesn't come into it when you're being singled out due to prejudice, so I had to check my wallet into the hold, which meant walking halfway across the airport and queing again.
update The story still continues..the ambassador of Syria is also involved now. I somewhat think the same tough..This woman is paranoid and racist : http://www.womenswallstreet.com/WWS/article_landing.aspx?titleid=1&articleid=726
that insane! That Syrian band is a terrorist group base of the fact they are Arabic and “look suspicious”?
It's not insane. It's perfectly reasonable. It just so happens that right now the biggest threat is from Islamic extremists who are generally young middle eastern looking men. If the Oklahoma City bombing had been followed up by a world wide wave of terrorist attacks involving blond haired, blue eyed Americans, then I'd recommend searching them. But it wasn't. Meanwhile, young, middle eastern men are blowing shit up all over the world. Not subjecting them to extra scrutiny is absurd.
you are only seeing what your government(americans) wants you to see, although the iraqis kill like 50 people in a car bombing once a week approximately 36 americans are murdered each day
that racist! I look Arabic does that mean I’m a terrorist? What about Oklahoma City Bombing, the second most deadliest terrorist attack in Americas history? It was done by a white man!
Wow, you've got guts. I get really intimidated when I get body searched, and it seems to happen a lot. It's not random, I always seem to set off the metal detectors somehow, even did it when I went into the Houses of Parliament a couple years ago. The thing is, last time I caught a plane (from Canada to UK), what set off the alarm was a chewing gum wrapper - as soon as the guy/woman saw I had that, they stopped searching me. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Having read this woman's follow up artical, this is very absurd. The passangers ate MacDonalds, talked with each other, and went to the bathroom. The 'issue' is that she and others felt scared (The nation was just attacked; i don't blame them). But how is this still an issue? Why the hell are people on Capitol Hill talking about this? How is it that this woman feels that she has a cause? Someone ought to buy her a ticket for one of China's Airlines, or maybe even Geruda (Indonesia's main carrier). She'd see plenty of behavior that she wouldn't recognize then. BTW, i just flew down from Calgary to Huston, and predictibly i was searched. I can empathize with phlogistician. I generally wear all black (I work in Theatre, it's pretty much dress code) and usually wear steel-toe boots. Now, this time i figured that i wouldn't get searched, because i have a new passport. All the stamps from China and Indonesia are gone. However, US customes apparently has a file on me, because they knew that i lived in Indonesia. I was searched there. Honestly, what the hell?
that's one of the reasons I have chosen not to visit that paranoid big brother police country aka the usa
Please don't visit; we have a lot of problems getting people through the metal detectors here if you haven't noticed Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
McVeigh was an aberation. The 'exception that proves the rule'. Why don't you try to cite another example of terrorist attacks against America or American interests by "white men"? You can't. The whole militia movement pretty much died out after the Oklahma City bombing. Islamic fundalmentalism is unique in the world and is at war with just about every group they come into contact with. Hindus, animists, Christians, Russians, Chinese, and of course, the US. Hell, they just attacked the US embasy Yesterday! Of course people from countries where these groups are active should be subjected to extra scutiny. I'm sorry if the fact that they tend to have a darker skin tone then most Americans offends you.
