MUSLIMS ON PLANES: STILL SCARY
Jan. 5th, 2009 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: A Muslim family of nine is kicked off an AirTran plane after one of them makes a remark about the location of the safest seats on the plane. Which was suspicious. Obviously.
Nice to know that fear is still the lowest common denominator in the airline business.
Nothing new here (sadly), but what’s worth paying attention to is the people who justify this kind of thing.
1. AirTran apologized for the incident and gave the family a refund, but added that the steps taken were “necessary to ensure security and safety”.
2. The Transportation Security Administration maintained that the proper protocol had been followed.
3. In the comments section of this post (and, I’m sure, on the conservative blog of yr choice), a number of readers blamed the Muslim family for “not knowing better” than to watch what they say in an airport – because we should ALL watch what we say at the airport.
I reject all three of these claims, as well as the implication that they are necessary and normal and the way things have to be. This is, how you say, bullshit. For a start, it doesn’t make air travel any safer.
More to the point, to argue that we must all watch what we say at an airport (or anywhere else) because the slightest utterance might bring you under “suspicion” is to give in to The Fear and embrace a lifestyle of paranoia and xenophobia. Making jokes about bombs in yr pants is one thing. Being kicked off a plane for wondering aloud where’s the safest seat on the plane? That’s Big Dumb Fear – especially when the basis for suspicion is that it was said by a Brown Person With A Funny Accent (as opposed to, say, an elderly white guy).
Watch yr mouth,
This is dF
Nice to know that fear is still the lowest common denominator in the airline business.
Nothing new here (sadly), but what’s worth paying attention to is the people who justify this kind of thing.
1. AirTran apologized for the incident and gave the family a refund, but added that the steps taken were “necessary to ensure security and safety”.
2. The Transportation Security Administration maintained that the proper protocol had been followed.
3. In the comments section of this post (and, I’m sure, on the conservative blog of yr choice), a number of readers blamed the Muslim family for “not knowing better” than to watch what they say in an airport – because we should ALL watch what we say at the airport.
I reject all three of these claims, as well as the implication that they are necessary and normal and the way things have to be. This is, how you say, bullshit. For a start, it doesn’t make air travel any safer.
More to the point, to argue that we must all watch what we say at an airport (or anywhere else) because the slightest utterance might bring you under “suspicion” is to give in to The Fear and embrace a lifestyle of paranoia and xenophobia. Making jokes about bombs in yr pants is one thing. Being kicked off a plane for wondering aloud where’s the safest seat on the plane? That’s Big Dumb Fear – especially when the basis for suspicion is that it was said by a Brown Person With A Funny Accent (as opposed to, say, an elderly white guy).
Watch yr mouth,
This is dF
