It would depend upon whether or not their comments seemed innocuous, just as it would in this case. I don’t know how else to answer it.
Yeah, but at least you arrive on time.
I’ve read your posts. You seem to think that your position is so new to the rest of us that we all need you to explain it to us in detail. But we’ve seen it before, with all of the same justifications and all of the same eyelash batting and double standards.
In any case, you said that if it made you close-minded, so be it. It does, so, well, be it.
Right, again, because you say so. Got it.
I’ll grant this point and even more: the fact that “the airline”, meaning those empowered to represent the airline at a higher level, supported the decision to keep this family off of the airline even after the FBI assured them that there was no risk and requested reticketing the family, and only relented and offered apologies refunds etc. 24 hours or so later, after the incident received CNN level bad press, does bespeak to some level of accepting discrimination at an institutional level.
So peanut I’ll grant you some level of schminstitutionalization but I will still differ with your last assessment:
My experience is that few racists would see themselves as that. Those who heard something as threatening because they see a Muslim appearing person as intrinsically more likely to be a terrorist than a June Cleaver appearing individual do not see themselves as racist or even discriminatory. To them that seems like commonsense. They don’t believe they have a racist bone in their bodies. And the flight attendant may have the same biases or not but a report of suspicious and threatening language gets a report to the security detail who must investigate.
On the airlines part or the people who reported it, or both?
If the comments truly were innocuous, I agree, the “reporters” overreacted. But what can the airline do at that point, other than investigate? That’s not to say that handled it well after the FBI cleared the family, BTW.
Absolutely! You have said nothing that anyone in this thread would ever in a million years take as even remotely bigoted. I simply announced that you were and voila! You are!
The power I have, it’s astounding.
It’s astounding, all right.
Or blinded by fear.
But I’m betting moron.
Bolding added. Note that according to Atif Irfan, they never said the words “bomb” or “explosion”. They merely discussed where was the safest area to sit.
But those people, you know, people who look like that, they can’t expect to be treated like normal people. That’s insanity.
Dewey, see the other cite from Ferret Herder (quoted in my first post). That one suggests that the witnesses heard differently. That was one of the reasons I said I’d like to hear more details.
The people who reported it firstly.
As you said, once reported the airline was probably duty bound to investigate and under the circumstances ( air marshalls on board filing reports ) I can understand the captain’s decision. Though frankly if I were the captain, I’d have personally made a quick and discrete visual check. If the now seated group was acting like a normal family, I probably would have been inclined to dismiss it as hysteria. But I won’t come down too hard on his decision not to.
But as you also said, the airlines then went on to bungle the aftermath.
So both, in different ways.
And that you ride a bus to go to hell. (Is this seat taken?) 
That’s the problem, they have to overreact and investigate.
Only a fool puts power into the hands of a child.
Did I miss the part of the story where their skin color or dress was discussed?
When all is said and done, we still have this statement from an earlier cite that gives me hope.
:dubious:
I thought it was a handbasket?
Too bad those suspicious passengers couldn’t see his patriotism before they flagged down security.
Altogether too reasonable for some members of your “omigod Amerikans so panicky racist stoopid” audience here.
Let’s remember that making casual comments about explosions or weapons while flying has gotten some lily-white Caucasian members of the flying public in trouble before. Whether anyone in this family actually mentioned explosion is another matter, and AirTran does owe them an apology and compensation for not rebooking them as soon as the F.B.I. cleared them.*
I have been treated to a full pat-down and luggage search at the preboarding security checkpoint, and I do not look Middle Eastern. I do have a beard, though. :eek:
*if you’re a would-be bomber into martyrdom for Allah, don’t you want the least safe seat on the plane?
**as for someone behaving dumbly meaning they’re harmless, being a terrorist does not imply that you’re Brainiac (remembering Richard Reed, the attempted shoe-bomber, who’s responsible for all of us having to take off and put our shoes back on every time we board a goddamn plane, may he rot.