For such a rugged individualist, you sure are quick to fall on your face and worship at the Altar of Security. The State can do no wrong! The Collective is All! We must not question the wisdom of the Agents of State Power!
MEBuckner, shortly before I delurked to post to another thread, I noticed that everyone in this thread was ignoring Rand Rover’s desperate attempts to draw attention to himself. I wish you had done the same.
Not quite accurate, Frank. He got a (perfectly reasonable) reply 10 minutes after his first (trolling) post. Then I followed up with a serious, reasonable reply to his allegedly “serious” post, and he made it perfectly clear that all he’s doing is trolling. You’re right that I did let him bait me after that, though.
I’d put him on my ignore list, but half the time I’m reading the boards I’m not even logged in, so it wouldn’t really do any good.
Quite correct. My mistake.
Oh, you can’t use that gambit anymore. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal apparently owns 7% of NewsCorp as has boasted in the past about getting Fox to change their coverage. Who knows what kind of nefarious pressure he put on them this time?
I’m curious about how this case would have played out if instead of today with arabic flashcards and frequent travel to the Arab world, it had been 50 years ago with Russian flashcards and frequent travel to the Soviet bloc. Didn’t want to hijack the current thread, but you’re welcome to come over and tell me what you think.
Um, no, absolutely not. I’m the neutral one here. I’m saying we shouldn’t pass judgment until the facts are in. You and all the oither circle jerkers are ready to string the TSA upo based on an ACLU article. You also are willing to discuss the ssue as if the ACLU artile is exactly right. That’s a Rahm-and-Palin’s-baby thing to do.
Of the first five posts, including the OP, 2 started with “if the facts are as stated”. The OP came back at post #16 with a non-ACLU citation, which Captain Amazing pointed out was also derived from the ACLU information. So it was established as a relative information vacuum early on.
Most of the rest of the posts up till #30, including mine, are jokes, or else references to other TSA problems. The only other comment of value is the one regarding hair length on the guy’s license.
Rand, this is comedy gold. I think you’re reacting in to what are basically jokes. We all know that the facts are going to develop over time, but based on the information available, you’ve really got to laugh. Besides, the real facts may preclude some of the humour, so you’ve got to get it out there while you can.
If the TSA had a better record, and specifically the TSA at that specific airport had a better record, I’d be more inclined to believe their version of events. As it stands, this particular airfield’s TSA department already has a few other episodes of known malfeasance, most notably the guy who planted white powder on a passenger as a joke.
Too bad the language study cards weren’t for Iranian or Urdu. Does anyone really think this story would’ve played out better for the traveler if they were?
Makes sense to me, presuming your “extra screening” was done by a male employee of the TSA…
By Iranian, I presume you mean Farsi or Persian. Unfortunately, both Farsi and Urdu would look like Arabic to a humble mono-lingual TSA agent – Urdu is written in the Arabic script, and Farsi in a very similar script.
To me, the real problem is not that the guy was given extra scrutiny, but that it took so long to decide that he was carrying nothing that was a real threat.
Heh. You know, if these TSA agents had been sharp, they’d have handed this kid a job application. TSA needs more Arabic speakers. In fact, they need more people who speak any kind of foreign language fluently.
Sadly, these TSA agents were not smart.
I don’t think this has been said yet, but to state the obvious, isn’t it likely that being found to have a “new found” interest in Arabic might be a trigger or flag for more intense scrutiny (for air travel). It’s not completely unreasonable to think that a non-Arabic speaking recruit to “THE TERRORISTS” might demonstrate such an interest.
The “aggressive” questioning that follows would be (I presume) to flush out the real thing (so long as you believe that a “TRUE ZEALOT” could not resist espousing “THE CAUSE” when asked about things like 9/11 and so forth).
Not necessarily great logic, but not totally irrational.
Yeesh, this is a personal nightmare (okay, a minor worry) for me. I sometimes carry research materials in Arabic or other funny-script languages when traveling to conferences, and I’m always a little nervous that some screening agent is going to react in exactly this way.
So far, though, that happy-smiling blue-eyed fortysomething white woman thing still seems to be working for me. Or maybe I’m just meeting smarter TSA agents than the ones in the OP; I haven’t flown through Philadelphia in a long time.
Another testament to how stoopid the TSA workers are. Don’t they know that all you have to do is make people getting on a plane step on a Koran? One quick stomp and you have a foolproof way of knowing who the true zealots and suspicious people are. No stomping = extra screening. Stomping = extra speed. Simple, really.
Remember, some terrorist-wannabes might not be too subtle in their “operation”. It’s similar to the Secret Service and the POTUS. A smart, dedicated team of assassins might well succeed. But there are a lot more crazies out there than there are organized assassination squads. Most of the former are probably pretty easy to spot and thwart without terribly sophisticated means.
Your sarcasm notwithstanding, there is a wee difference between demanding blasphemy and profiling.
Yelp. My post was a reference to the absurdities in the thread: Those who think Muslims aren’t Americans
By all means. Please let us know what the appropriate amount of time is to wait before anyone should discuss any issue. And how many news stories need to be written on a topic before anyone should discuss it. And which news sources those should be.
MEBuckner is right. You’re a tool for state power and coercion. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be mocking people who express concern about this issue.
Tool for State Power and Coercion. Band name or Dopername, either one.