# The Unitd States of Cunts **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 25, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738 "2017-02-25T15:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/1 "2017-02-25T15:37:57Z")
> [@](#): > > The Australian children’s book author Mem Fox has suggested she might never return to the US after she was detained and insulted by border control agents at Los Angeles airport. > > Fox, who is famous worldwide for her best-selling books including Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes and Possum Magic, was en route to a conference in Milwaukee earlier this month when she was stopped. > > She told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she was questioned by border agents for two hours in front of a room full of people – an experience that left her feeling like she had been physically assaulted. > > \*\*“I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness,” Fox said. > > “I felt like I had been physically assaulted which is why, when I got to my hotel room, I completely collapsed and sobbed like a baby, and I’m 70 years \*\*old.” The good news is she wasn’t abducted in the street in some third country and disappeared to a black ops site by a private company. Or waterboarded. Or made to stand on a box wearing a hood with electrodes connected to her genitals. You just never know with these 70-year old Australian children’s writers. > **[Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by US border control: 'I sobbed...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/25/australian-childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-by-us-border-control-i-sobbed-like-a-baby)** > > Author of Possum Magic was aggressively questioned over her visa status and later received an apology for her treatment by border guards ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/2 "2017-02-25T15:44:55Z")
Well, just look at her picture! She’s obviously one of those Ay-rab terrorists who just happen to look like a bit player on Downton Abbey! ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/3 "2017-02-25T15:48:12Z")
This was at Los Angeles International Airport. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/4 "2017-02-25T15:49:03Z")
She received an emailed apology. What more does she want? Mohammad Ali Jr was [detained at a Florida airport](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/24/muhammad-ali-jr-detained-immigration-officials-fla-airport/98379082/) for hours. > [@](#): > > Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?” > > When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport. Welcome to a new kind of tension… ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/5 "2017-02-25T16:17:55Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > She received an emailed apology. What more does she want? > > Mohammad Ali Jr was [detained at a Florida airport](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/24/muhammad-ali-jr-detained-immigration-officials-fla-airport/98379082/) for hours. > Welcome to a new kind of tension… I don’t like that they asked him what his religion was. Also, I don’t like that they wanted confirmation that he was a Muslim. It’s like asking the fucking pope if he is catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/6 "2017-02-25T16:22:30Z")
Given that she wrote a book called “Possum Magic”, it’s surprising she wasn’t strip-searched. On the bright side, “Detained And Insulted” is a fairly good album title. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/7 "2017-02-25T16:30:57Z")
What the fuckity fuck? The Champ’s kid? I can see “'Yeah, but which George Foreman, Jr?” since that can get confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/8 "2017-02-25T16:32:26Z")
Methinks the next competent President is going to need to (actually) drain the swamp. Clearly, it’s badly infiltrated with jackboot assholes who are letting their swastika flags fly now that Mango Mussolini has given them a green light (and even more contaminated with cowards and incompetents who let them get away with it, which is arguably worse). ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/9 "2017-02-25T16:35:36Z")
Badge heavy assholes that only seem to understand respect when they don’t get as much of it as they think they deserve. As someone who lives in a border state, I’ve crossed the northern border quite a few times. I’d go so far as to say that 99% of them were professional and courteous to me, but the assholes in that 1% really stand out, especially since we pretty much (de facto, anyway, if not de jure) lose all of our rights when we cross a border, thus being at their mercy. We need universal freedom of movement, though we’re definitely a million miles further away from that with the right wing in charge of the country, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/10 "2017-02-25T16:47:07Z")
“Your papers are in order, citizen. \*Why \*are your papers in order?” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/11 "2017-02-25T16:59:37Z")
If I understand correctly, a semi-celebrity got the same treatment dozens of thousands of anonymous people get every single day, and so it becomes an issue? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/12 "2017-02-25T17:02:52Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > If I understand correctly, a semi-celebrity got the same treatment dozens of thousands of anonymous people get every single day, and so it becomes an issue? You do not understand correctly. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/13 "2017-02-25T17:03:35Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > If I understand correctly, a semi-celebrity got the same treatment dozens of thousands of anonymous people get every single day, and so it becomes an issue? You actually think that dozens of thousands get 2 hour interrogations? Can you explain why not a single person didn’t complain? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/14 "2017-02-25T17:05:23Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > If I understand correctly, a semi-celebrity got the same treatment dozens of thousands of anonymous people get every single day, and so it becomes an issue? Another way to look at it is: A semi-celebrity highlights how anonymous people are treated every single day, thus exposing an issue. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/15 "2017-02-25T17:17:01Z")
She’s not any kind of “celebrity”, nor does she claim celebrity r entitlement. She’s a 70 year old trying to enter the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/16 "2017-02-25T17:17:29Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > If I understand correctly, a semi-celebrity got the same treatment dozens of thousands of anonymous people get every single day, and so it becomes an issue? How many semi-celebrities have complained about this kind of treatment in the past eight years? The US gets about 75-80 million foreign visitors a year, or around 200,000 a day. Do you really think that 10% of them are subjected to 2-hour aggressive interrogations? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/17 "2017-02-25T18:49:53Z")
So why was she questioned for two hours? One of the news stories I just read said that perhaps the border control people at least thought that there was something wrong with her visa. Could that even be true? I’ve tried to read through the online explanations of whether Australians need visas to enter the U.S. and I remain confused about the requirements. In any case, this sort of questioning is rare. There’s nothing particularly exceptional about someone like her visiting the U.S. Nobody in the U.S. thinks that Australians are all terrorists. If anything, they find them to be cute. Did the border control agents demand that she put another shrimp on the barbie? Nobody thinks that children’s book authors are dangerous. What happened? Did the border control agent tell her, “Give me all the copies of your books that you have with you or I’ll send you back to Australia. I have a daughter just learning to read and I need more books for her.” Incidentally, did she mean that she’d actually been questioned for two hours? How many questions can you ask someone to fill up two hours? Did they ask, “What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?” Or did she sit in a room and wait for two hours before the border control people got around to her? Seriously, the news stories I’ve seen don’t give nearly enough detail about what happened. Of course, it’s only been one day since this incident hit the news. We need to know more about what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/18 "2017-02-25T18:54:47Z")
I missed the cunts part. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/19 "2017-02-25T18:55:39Z")
Next time, bring paragraphs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738/20 "2017-02-25T19:04:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Wendell Wagner** : > > Incidentally, did she mean that she’d actually been questioned for two hours? How many questions can you ask someone to fill up two hours? It doesn’t take very many, if the questioner doesn’t like the answers. “What is your name?” “Mem Fox.” “No, what’s your real name?” “I already told you, it’s Mem Fox.” “Shut up, we know you’re lying! Now tell us your real name, or we’re going to have to get tough on you.” “Mem Fox is the only name I have. What more do you want?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-unitd-states-of-cunts/780738.md?page=2)