more on Fascinating Airline Security Story

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Perlman <perl () lucent com>
Date: July 20, 2004 4:24:41 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Fascinating Airline Security Story

Dave:

There is a disturbing undercurrent to this current discussion re: civil
rights and airline passengers.  There appears to be an unstated 
association
between "men of middle-eastern decent," the Moslem religion and 
terrorism.

I have seen groups of white, anglo-saxon (probably protestant) people 
arrive
on planes in ones, twos and small groups, congregate, go to the 
bathroom,
talk in the aisle, etc.  Most of the time they were part of some team or
performing group and, as a native born American, their behaviors seemed
normal to me.  By the same token, in my travels around the world I have 
seen
behaviors that were down-right odd, approaching the bizarre, that were
completely normal in the cultural context of my location at the time.

The point: that which we know, seems normal and safe, that which we do 
not
know may seem confusing, even threatening, even while, in the context of
another culture it would be perfectly normal.

So, we could certainly start treating people of "apparent middle-eastern
origin" differently, search them, etc.  Of course, we would then be
completely open to an attack of what looked like a college basketball 
team.

We must resist attempts to drag us into a state of jingoism and 
xenophobia
to protect us from a threat that may well be of our own making.

Richard

On 7/20/04 12:58, "David Farber" <dave () farber net> wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Hiawatha Bray <watha () monitortan com>
> Date: July 20, 2004 3:01:12 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: RE: [IP] more on Fascinating Airline Security Story
>
> Actually, some bloggers have checked into the Jacobsen "Terror in the
> Skies"
> story and say that it appears to be substantially true.  They also say
> that
> the "creative writer" Annie Jacobsen is a different person.  A good
> roundup
> may be found at http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000207.htm.
>
> Hiawatha Bray
> Boston Globe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com]On Behalf
> Of dave () farber net
> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 2:22 PM
> To: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: [IP] more on Fascinating Airline Security Story
>
>
>
> ___
>
> Dave Farber  +1 412 726 9889
>
>
>
> ...... Forwarded Message .......
> From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks () MSNBC COM>
> To: dave () farber net
> Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:11:59 -0700
> Subj: RE: [IP] Fascinating Airline Security Story
>
>
>
> I thought this story was fascinating, too, when one of my sources
> alerted
> me to it.  The story started to fall apart pretty quickly when I dug
> into
> it.
>
> The woman at the core of this story fancies herself as a "creative
> writer"
> (just Google her) and indeed, it seems she got a bit creative in her
> narrative.
>
> Like Bruce, I believe that this kind of "boots on the ground" vigilance
> is
> what is needed on a larger basis.  The trouble, as I found with this
> story,
> are over-zealous, over imaginative or out right paranoid people that 
> are
> unable, unwilling (or both) to step back and ask themselves some 
> logical
> questions before pressing the panic button.
>
> --Brock
>
>
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