Care to say why, or is it just cause you say so?
What bugs me about incidents like this is the alarmist little bitches who can’t wait to call over a flight attendent and breathlessly report that a guy with a turban went into the shitter or that some Muslim-looking lady said something about a window. They’re really the ones who cause all the fucking trouble. The weasels who go running to pull the fire alarm every time they see a swarthy complexion should be beaten within an inch of their lives and made to pay restitution to the people that they fucked with.
The why is because you think their dress has anything to do with it. You’re basically admitting that if Joe and Marge WASP said the same thing, you would not be suspicious.
Care to explain why their appearance should have anything to do with your honor-bound duty to ‘‘alert someone?’’ You ARE saying this wouldn’t be cause for alarm if they had a closer resemblance to the Cleavers, right?
I’m curious as to why that would bother you if anyone talked about such things. Bombers want the plane to crash, so a bomb probably would go off at a really bad time, like when the plane is way high in the air. They would also almost certainly have the bomb on them or planted in their checked bag, so proximity to the engines wouldn’t factor in. If someone’s talking about a survivable explosion or similar plane problem, they’re worried or curious.
What kind of dumbass terrorists would be discussing their plans right out in the open before the plane even took off?
Well, that’s how the terrorists win. They’ve got us grabbing families off of planes because they dress funny, and a couple stupid idiots can just say “oh my gawd, I felt threatened by like, those people who were like, so totally like, not like me!”
Sorry, I’ll have to accept the horrible shame of being considered close-minded, I guess. To me, it is self-evident why someone of Mideastern descent wondering aloud about where the safest place to be on the plane should an explosion occur is cause for at least “let’s make sure this isn’t a problem” concern, depending upon the nature of the comments. I’m not saying they should be locked up, or not made whole. My advice to people of that heritage, don’t speculate about explosions on an airplane. Some of the fundamentalist ilk in their religion ruined that for them. That sucks–it really does–but that’s the world we currently live in.
And, as I said, I’d just like more details–if it truly was an innocuous statement, I share the reaction in this thread. I was simply reacting to two pieces of the cites that stuck with me.
Ferret Herder, on preview I saw your question, and I concede that their comments may well have been innocuous. But if I was sitting behind them, and I did NOT take the comments as being innocuous, I would not wonder about whether this was consistent with where the likeliest place to plant a bomb might be. I’d mention it to someone and hope it was all a misunderstanding. I wouldn’t wait and see if it was after we took off.
I’m starting to think that it would honestly be better to get blown up than to live in the state of abject fear so many Americans seem to embrace.
My guess is that he has experience dealing with people exactly like you.
Schminstitutionalized!
Maybe not the best word for the point I was getting at. I can see the use of having a distinction for a case where they pass an explicit rule of “No Muslims on board.”
What I meant is… boarding the plane, chatting with family and getting dirty looks from other passengers… at this point, they have come across some random racism. But the fact that the racists know they can complain about petty shit and know that ‘the system’, or whatever authority is present, will respond to their racism means something deeper is going on.
Like I said before, I expect the flight attendant knew it was a bogus, racist complaint, but felt like they still had to respond in their official capacity, probably in fear of consequences for NOT responding.
Anyway, whatever you call it, it’s a shameful situation. People are people, eh? Remind me not to become a flight attendant.
I don’t think they’re legitimately afraid. I think they just get off on harrassing Muslims.
I feel bad for him if people, without provocation or cause, treat him and his family as pariahs. And I’ll say yet again, perhaps that’s exactly what did occur. All I’m suggesting–and apparently this is just wild-eyed bigotry–is that a less-than-innocuous comment about explosions on a plane, coming from someone of Mideastern descent, is disquieting; and that I’d like to hear more details. And I honestly don’t believe anyone really thinks that’s so wild, at least when they’re not safely posting on a message board.
That’s just silly. Even for someone with baser motives, they had to know this would end up being a big inconvenience for everybody. I would have, anyway, and I don’t get off on harassing Muslims.
This Muslim family was exactly that, family. There were women and children in the party. Did the complainers think that terrorists would take their wives and children with them? Also, I thought that ‘safest seat’ conversations were common when flying. This is bigotry, plain and simple.
You feel bad for him while you’re filing your complaint about the scary brown guy?
And you wonder why the man might, just might, think that the fucking morons surrounding him will try to cause him harm?
Jesus wept. Of course, he looked utterly terrifying while doing it, so we had to file a complaint. Damned middle easterners!
Some people get off on harassing smokers, breast-feeders, non-snow-shovelers and well… you name it. People get off. Yeah, they get off, and they’ll get off stopping a plane because they can. Don’t think they won’t. Family dresses Muslim? Easy target.
Okay, at this point I’ll assume you simply can’t understand or refuse to acknowledge any further clarification and would much rather rant about people who blindly hate “scary brown guys.” Have fun.
Stratocaster, let’s say we were seven years out from the Oklahoma bombing. Would you be disquieted if the white American, corn-fed looking family standing next to you during a tour of the White House started talking about explosions?
Why or why not?
But none of them were from the Middle East, strictly speaking. Of the adults one guy was black ( probably not from ME ), six were from Pakistan ( not considered part of the ME ), two from Turkey ( sometimes, but usually not considered ME either ). Fact is it could have just as easily been a bunch of Sikhs from India. Three were little kids.
I get suspicious activity as per Jack Batty’s post.
But an obvious family group herding three young children down the aisles towards their assigned seats, talking openly about the safest seats on a plane? C’mon, you kinda have to be a moron to misconstrue that.
1.) Suicide bombers don’t give a shit about the safest seats on a plane - they’re going to die regardless.
2.) Hijackers don’t give a shit about the safest seats on a plane - they’re not blowing anything up.
3.) Terrorists don’t usually have last minute discussions loud enough to hear about their plans to create mayhem while strolling down the aisles at boarding.
4.) Family groups with toddlers aren’t a good profile for terrorists in general.
5.) Even if you got some ( a mixed sex group of six in this case ) depraved enough to expose their very young children ( remotely possible, if pretty unlikely even for a deranged fanatic ), having a terrified seven year old clinging to your leg while you are trying to threaten a stewardess with a boxcutter has got to slow you down. My guess most quasi-rational terrorists are going to opt out on the complications such a plan would require.
No, I think enough facts are present now to say this was a pretty miserable overreaction.