Racial Profiling - Should We Use It At Airports?

[rols]

Here is an emotive subject!

Is it wrong in a time of war to treat somebody with suspicion just because they might be of certain
racial types?

Or is it ridiculously politically correct to treat a red headed Scottish lady escorting three children with the same rigorous security search and conditions as a man of Arab extraction aged between 18 and 35?

 

[barjon]

................Or is it ridiculously politically correct to treat a red headed Scottish lady escorting three children with the same rigorous security search and conditions as a man of Arab extraction aged between 18 and 35?

no more so than treating a grey-haired Arab grandmother the same.

profiling - yes, straight racial profiling - no.

certainly profiling would be a better bet than all this over the top "security" which has about as much chance of picking up a terrorist as I do making £1m in 3 weeks from a £10k trading account.

jon

 

[wasp]

There was an item on my local news I half heard the other night about a 12 year old boy who'd sneaked onto a plane. Apparantly, it was no cause of concern because he is 12, he can't be a terrorist! Like they have an age limit!

I personally think everyone should be treated the same. If someone has an English accent, could they not be part of the IRA?

 

[trendie]

Already done: WW2: rounding up of (innocent) Japanese people in the US.

What war? REALLY, what war?

Do we prevent arab (dark-skinned) pilots from flying planes? (Gulf Air, Egypt Air, Saudi Airlines, Indian Airlines, Malaysia Air, etc)

Why stop at airports?
How about stopping arab-looking types from getting on tube-trains and buses?

What about arab-looking types who are Christians, hindus, Buddhists, jews, atheists?

Or are you defining “arab-looking” as “Islamic” ?????

What about black people who are Islamic? (Ethiopia, Somalia )
What about the far-east Asians who are muslims? (Malaysia, etc)
What about caucasian (eastern european) people who are islamic?

Before we clean up the world about terrorism, what about white, british, male terrorism against british women?
(domestic violence accounts for 25% of ALL recorded violent crime, and results in between 60-100 deaths a year. EVERY YEAR. Dont recall reading any of that in my local papers.)
http://home.cybergrrl.com/dv/body.html

Wedge. End. Thin.

I don’t believe in racial-profiling.
It’s the people with their eyes too close together you have to worry about.

 

[Halo]

Very amusing. I usually reside in the more serious parts of the site - but this is fantastic!

"White British male terrorism" Tee hee! "Thin end of wedge" Belly laugh! So, domestic violence is solely a white British male problem? Call the police I fit the profile!

I know someone very well who worked in social services (DV unit in fact) in Newham, London - a highly populated and racially diverse part of the Capital. It would appear that many such incidents are in fact not limited to British white males - a much maligned species. Maybe you could try reading a paper other than your local Shropshire Gazette! Honour killing is a major issue almost exclusive to the Sikh and Muslim communities. 60-100 deaths per year eh? I would suggest, in your defence that the figure is much, much higher - your website data is over 10-15 years out of date and unlikely (as with most statistics) to capture the full horror of the issue.

I don't wish to downplay the problem, far from it but some perspective please and I really don't see the connection between suicide bombers and domestic violence. .......... oh, actually I can see one:

Maybe we should adopt Sharia law to appease the suicide bombers - and you can post again about how 'other cultures' treat women. I suspect those widely surveyed Afghan women who 'enjoyed' life under the Taliban (no education, no social status, no freedom of will, genital mutilation etc etc). Result.

Maybe us whitey British males aren't that bad after all.

Profile away Mr Plod and offend who you like.

This wins my personal Halo award for thread of the week! Crack on!

 

[zupcon]

certainly profiling would be a better bet than all this over the top "security" which has about as much chance of picking up a terrorist as I do making £1m in 3 weeks from a £10k trading account.

jon

Exactly, you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head.

I was flying from the UK last Thursday morning and arrived to find the airport in absolute chaos. Despite the heightened security and restrictions on hand luggage I was able to walk through all security checkpoints carrying a bright blue box approximately 6 inches square containing hypodermic syringes, and a selection of small bottles without being challenged.

I travel a great deal and under normal conditions I’m generally required to provide written authorisation to carry such materials.

Perhaps it’s a little radical, but my solution would be to provide every single person who boards a plane with a gun. I suspect that the probability of any terrorist attempting to hijack a plane where the majority are able to defend themselves would diminish considerably.

 

[thepoliteone]

I find all of this hurrah timed very conveniently for TPTB (the powers that be).

If any 'muslim terrorist' groups wanted to attack, why would they attack just when the rest of the world are condemning Israel for attacking Lebanon, and the US and UK for supporting it? There's no advantage for them blackening their name at that time.

And if we get to racial profiling, then we're back to the Nazi days...

Also, I agree with the idea of everyone carrying arms - some study in the US reckoned 2 million guns a year were prevented by someone using a gun. Also, burglaries and muggings are greatly reduced in states that allow people to carry guns. Of course, how to stop all the chavs and damn idiots getting them...

-TPO.

 

[trendie]

....
Maybe we should adopt Sharia law to appease the suicide bombers - and you can post again about how 'other cultures' treat women. I suspect those widely surveyed Afghan women who 'enjoyed' life under the Taliban (no education, no social status, no freedom of will, genital mutilation etc etc). Result.
...

We dont have to adopt sharia law here, when we can prop up such regimes elsewhere.

20 Eurofighters worth £6billion for Shariah Law enforcing Saudi Arabia.
The price of expediency ?

I agree sharia law is barbaric and brutal. And it should be stopped. EVERYWHERE.

Its no good jabbering on about how other cultures treat women, when we do business with them, and help to prop up the very regimes that enforce this brutal behaviour.

 

[trendie]

Very amusing. I usually reside in the more serious parts of the site - but this is fantastic!

"White British male terrorism" Tee hee! "Thin end of wedge" Belly laugh! So, domestic violence is solely a white British male problem? Call the police I fit the profile!

I know someone very well who worked in social services (DV unit in fact) in Newham, London - a highly populated and racially diverse part of the Capital. It would appear that many such incidents are in fact not limited to British white males - a much maligned species. Maybe you could try reading a paper other than your local Shropshire Gazette! Honour killing is a major issue almost exclusive to the Sikh and Muslim communities. 60-100 deaths per year eh? I would suggest, in your defence that the figure is much, much higher - your website data is over 10-15 years out of date and unlikely (as with most statistics) to capture the full horror of the issue.

I don't wish to downplay the problem, far from it but some perspective please and I really don't see the connection between suicide bombers and domestic violence. .......... oh, actually I can see one:

Maybe we should adopt Sharia law to appease the suicide bombers - and you can post again about how 'other cultures' treat women. I suspect those widely surveyed Afghan women who 'enjoyed' life under the Taliban (no education, no social status, no freedom of will, genital mutilation etc etc). Result.

Maybe us whitey British males aren't that bad after all.

Profile away Mr Plod and offend who you like.

This wins my personal Halo award for thread of the week! Crack on!

...
I don’t believe in racial-profiling.
It’s the people with their eyes too close together you have to worry about.

... and Daily Mail readers.

 

[trendie]

....
Perhaps it’s a little radical, but my solution would be to provide every single person who boards a plane with a gun. I suspect that the probability of any terrorist attempting to hijack a plane where the majority are able to defend themselves would diminish considerably.

A plane with, say, 300 passengers. All carrying a handgun.

This assumes everyone knows how to treat a gun.
ie; keep the safery catch ON when not being used.
(and having the presence of mind, in a tense situation, to take the catch OFF before firing)
knowing how to aim, and fire. knowing when to STOP firing ??

In the event of a firefight:
many people all firing, at relatively close range.
So, people, untrained in such tense situations, making emotional/fear-fuelled decisions.
If there is a ruckus, somebody has to make a clear-headed assessment of the threat level.
All it takes is one person opening fire, and every one else firing in same direction, in fear.

If you miss: what with the density of people on an aircraft, you hit someone else.
Or a part of the aircraft.

Why should a suicide bomber be concerned about armed people on board ?
If the bomber dies in an explosion, or in a hail of gunfire, what does he/she care?
May I direct your attention to the word "suicide".

aftermath; successful shooting of a bomber on an aircraft over the atlantic.
however, several innocent passengers also killed, by well-meaning, poorly-trained passengers.
Many more injured, requiring urgent medical attention.
And your 4 hours flying time from the nearest hospital. ( assuming trans-atlantic flight, taking 8 hours to reach destination)

I am assuming the bullets dont blow out any of the cabin windows. (depressurisation)
Or penetrating any of the fly-by-wire conduits that help the plane to fly.
Or any of the hydraulic actuators.
Or any of the cabin crew who might offer first-aid.

We do live in an increasing mad world, dont we??

 

[fxmarkets]

Here is an emotive subject!

Or is it ridiculously politically correct to treat a red headed Scottish lady escorting three children with the same rigorous security search and conditions as a man of Arab extraction aged between 18 and 35?

hmm wishful thinking , I see where your going or would like to maybe, Ive got some of those medical gloves and they conjur up strange feelings when you snap em into place

So in answer to your question, yes we bloody well should or at least have a bloody good look..

Next......

 

[barjon]

................................We do live in an increasing mad world, dont we??......................

We sure do, trendie

The terrorist leaders must be laughing in their caves at the the "official" mass panic they have created. Not only has officialdom introduced wildly over the top security measures which inconvenience millions of people with virtually no chance of those measures trapping any terrorist, but they have provided a tempting target by the resultant massive congestion at security examination points.

I suppose if some lunatic takes advantage of that (god forbid) officialdom will decree that we can only enter airports one at a time .

A year or so ago I checked in my cases and was told that they had been randomly selected for a full turn out security check. I was then given my cases back and told to take them to a security room some two hundred yards away. My protest that this was pointless since if I had anything untoward in my cases I would now take it out or leave the airport fell on deaf ears. (I would have said "if I had a bomb in my case you are now giving me the opportunity to explode it" but I knew I would likely have been arrested for such a comment )

Mad world indeed.

jon

 

[counter_violent]

I usually reside in the more serious parts of the site

Do you have a link

C V

 

[The Beyonder]

It looks like some people have already started to do their own racial profiling. sadly I see more of this to come.

Passengers on a Manchester-bound flight have described how two men were removed from the plane because they were acting suspiciously and speaking Arabic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5269106.stm

 

[thepoliteone]

Not being funny but on a flight from Malaga to Manchester, I bet the majority of people weren't exactly the cream of english society...

Stupid fecking idiots, if it wasn't for them Bush/Bliar/etc wouldn't get away with this rubbish.

-TPO.

 

[trendie]

I am a big fan of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits etc.

There was one episode of Twilight Zone called something like "Nightmare on Elm Street" or something similar.
It was about a spaceship that lands in an undefined mid-Western town.
They turn the power off to the town. And stop their cars from working.

Except for one house. Their car works.
Except for another house. Their lights come on.
The townsfolk start getting paranoid and turn on each other.

Last scene:
The aliens discuss how easy it would be to invade Earth without many weapons, as the best weapon is the paranoia of these simple Earth-creatures.

 

[Halo]

Do you have a link

C V

LOL!!!

 

[roguetrader]

Racial Profiling - Should We Use It At Airports?

The term is "profiling" plain and simple, the addition of the word "racial" is simply done to wind up the gullible do-gooders, and any race who happens to fit the profile. Police and counter terrorist agencies all over the world do it every day. It's a common sense method to concentrate limited resources as effectively as possible.

 

[Splitlink]

A section of human society, this time the British, is about to go through the same witchhunting process as did the jews in pre-war Germany and the Americans in the McCarthy period. It is getting around to that and it isn't a pleasant thought. What to do about it? I'm damned if I know but, as someone said earlier, the terrorists must be very pleased with the results of their campaign.

A friend's report of her experience through an English airport on Wednesday was of resignation and good humour by most of the passengers as they removed their shoes and belts etc. The passengers went through in sixes, four of whom got searched and two went straight through, so the process is not 100% secure.The flight to BCN was 50 minutes late but one passenger she spoke to had been waiting 15 hours for anopther flight. People's luggage was still lying around from the police raid a few weeks ago, waiting for someone to pick up, apparently anyone, as there seemed to be nobody protecting it.

So there you have it. The country is still facing the aftermath of the Jul 05 attack in London and, when that dies down, there could well be another attack, with the whole process starting over again.

If another method of search is not invented soon, then the patient travellers will be reduced to essential business ones, with the holidaymakers figuring out other ways of getting about or,probably, staying at home.

Split

 

[dick_dastardly]

Profiling is just another name for a technique that was used hundreds of years ago to establish the identity of witches.

We still do it today,

If you're middle aged and single then you're gay.

If you're a woman that cohabits with another woman then you're a lesbian.

If you're married with kids then you're straight.

If you're a lonely old man who lives on the corner of a council estate then you're a peadophile.

If you're a nervous looking young Asian male boarding an aircraft then you're a suicide bomber.


Now then, we all know there are no such thing as witches ( well most of us do )

whereas, young, male, unaccompanied, muslims that get on public transport systems and blow themselves up along with as many innocent people as possible......?????