A message board with what, 30,000+ members discussing everything, with people from all over the world?
I’d be a bit surprised if they didn’t drop in from time to time. Probably in the form of lurkers but there’s no reason they couldn’t post from time to time as well.
An e-mail list I’ve been on for, oh, 10 years has certainly had FBI on it - both openly and retired and probably active agents. After 9/11 someone with poor English skills signed on from a European country and started asking extremely specific and pointed questions of a suspicious nature. We were discussing how to handle it when an agent popped up and said “It’s taken care of”
(very condensed version of what all happened - don’t want to bore anyone)
Having a government file on you isn’t necessarially doom-and-gloom. When my sister was working for the Department of Defense we know the rest of the family was checked and briefly investigated. Can’t say we were thrilled about it, but even with another sister being a rabble-rousing politcal demonstrator type with some radical politcs didn’t cause a problem. That was all, oh, over 20 years ago. So I know there’s at least one “government file” on me somewhere, and I pity the poor fool who has to read it because I’m sure it’s very b-o-r-i-n-g. Either that, or nearly empty.
As for the East Indian angle - at my local airport our chief flight instrutor and charter pilot was East Indian. After 9/11 he had some trouble with folks getting suspicious of a brown-skinned man with a “funny accent” climbing into airplane cockpits and was intercepted several times in the following couple months. Got to the point of the Feds showing up and saying more or less “Look, we know you, and we know you’re not a problem, but we were told to check things out so here we are again.” This stopped happening after about 6 months when folks were starting to calm down a bit.
I’m sure your average East Indian is getting a little extra scrutiny from time to time, but with a few ignorant exceptions probably not the hardcore suspicion some of the male Muslims I know have had to endure. Of course, one hardcore ignoramus can make your life really unpleasant - I sincerely hope you can avoid them entirely.
On the other hand, even Senator Edward Kennedy has been barred from boarding commercial aircraft on several occassions - certainly not a result of his skin color or religion!
After 9/11, the Feds supposedly did a check on everyone with a pilot’s license in the country - which includes me along with 700,000+ others - looking for terrorists and suspicious characters. Gee, guess now I have two government files. I’m sure that one is really thin and boring, too. In fact, me with my pilot’s license might look more suspicious than a citizen of East Indian origin with no such “terrorist” skills as far as security screening goes.
If you haven’t encountered a problem by now you’re probably in the clear (the occassinal random crazy excepted). You may have already been checked by some agency without your realizing it, and found completely non-threatening.
The Muslim formerly known as Cat Stevens is a nice British boy of Greek descent who converted to Islam and been a strong promoter of a conservative (although not, to my knowledge, fanatical or violent) form of the religion and culture. In the past, prior to 9/11, he has publically said things the US government wasn’t too fond of - such as supporting the call for Saloman Rushdie’s death. He has also publically opposed US involvement in Iraq - a position that the current administration isn’t happy about its own citizens taking, much less a foreigner. He’s not the first celebrity who has been barred entry from the US because of his politcal views. Personally, given his statements condemning both the 9/11 attacks and the more recent Beslan attrocity, and his fundraising on behalf of 9/11 victims I’m inclined to think he’s not working with our current enemies - I mean, the man has never hesistated to speak his mind before. It is certainly possible he is acquainted with some of the Bad Guys, but may not know that individual is a terrorist. After all, the local grocer and the garbage man probably know criminals and terrorists, too, but don’t know they’re terrorists. Bumping into someone at the local mosque once in awhile is not the same as working with them on a secret project. Then again, I don’t have all information in this case.
It didn’t really scare me too badly - we have nothing to hide, but it did creep me out (plus I started yelling “Bomb!” on the phone at regular intervals - jsut kidding), and obviously there was something (we’re not sure what - perhaps just his “Indian-ness”) that made him a potential terrorist suspect.