I'm sorry... you can't possibly justify violating someone's rights simply because they fit a racial profile. It's wrong.
What part of their rights would be violated? Asking them extra questions? What? A little more inconvenience while boarding an aircraft?
BTW.. did you know that some states require the elderly to come in for more frequent and stringent drivers tests? I wonder why that is.
Hmmm.. how are young females traveling alone a threat?
How about the notion that a young female would be absolutely no threat, thus would be one of the premier smuggling platforms. You see, terrorists and smugglers profile people too. Some people realize this and take apropriate measures, others climb up on the high horse and refuse to acknowledge it.
If 90% of all highjackings involve an individual with Arab features... its pretty safe to say they will undergoe greater scrutiny at an airport. I'm sorry that you feel that is a violation of their rights, but I'm even more sorry that there is so much data to back it up.
Now, if someone is refused service because of their skin color... or forced to move seats so that someone doesn't have to sit next to "a damn A-rab"... then there is a clear issue to be dealt with. But if a recent rash of bombings involved a VERY large percentage of Arab citicenz, then some scrutiny at the gate is expected (I'm sure most being scrutinized will know this too).
Is it a good thing? Nope. Is it necessary? Not really. Is it racist? Perhaps. Is it based on false data? Nope.
I'm all for giving eveyone a serious interrogation before entering a plane to avoid any misgivings here. If that's what would make you feel better. Or, we can endure the hysteria right now and know that it will die down sooner if people prove they are just as if not more trustworthy than those being let by.
On September 16, an Indian immigrant gas station owner was shot to death and a Lebanese Amercan clerk was targeted but not injured by gunfire at another gas station in Mesa, Arizona. Frank Roque was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Roque was quoted as shouting, "I stand for America all the way!"
Racial profiling in action...
Yeah.. right. And this is a person that would not have done this under any other circumstance. This person is a bigot. He is labled a "racial profiler". Anybody that does any kind or "racial profiling" must then be a bigot.
100% of the terrorists that highjacked aircraft were Arab. Therefore, anyone that is Arab is a highjacker.
Wow... this is fun. Lets keep picking and chosing who we can and can't label. Then we can sit back and know that the people we chose to call names really deserved it while the people they chose to call names did not.
According to the tone of this thread, I must be a bigot. I am not a bigot because of how I treat individuals, but rather how apropriate I think an airline's screening methods are. I am a bigot despite working for a multinational group of people from most of the countries recently spat upon in this board with the same level of respect for each and every one of them that I'd have for any engineer with their experience and know-how.
Yes... it is so cut and dry. Labeling should be as easy as it was made in the first post of this thread. That way we wouldn't even have to ask Arab nationals more questions since they'd already be in jail. yeah.. that's the answer... indescriminant descrimination.
AKDejaVu