Vent Out Loud

This story came out on Monday, January 5, and I’ve been thinking about how and what to write that wouldn’t a) target anyone, b) make me look like a racist or c) provide fuel for anyone to vent out loud at me.  Today I thought, “screw it”.  That is what this site is supposed to be about, isn’t it?  Besides, I don’t think my audience has surpassed the single digits and I know most of them.

AFP released a story on Monday, January 5, about a passenger who was awarded $240,000 from the U.S. Transportation Security Authority and JetBlue Airways when he was forced to cover his T-shirt.  The T-shirt had Arabic writing which said, “We will not be silent.”  An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said, “The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling.”

The passenger, Raed Jarrar, is a US resident and eventually covered his shirt with another provided by JetBlue.  In addition to covering the shirt’s “We will not be silenced” message, effectively silencing it, Jarrar lost his seat and was forced to sit in the back of the plane.  My condolences, Raed.  I’m sure you got over it.

There are so many things wrong with this story and I’m not referring to any grammatical or spelling errors. 

Let’s say over the last 20 years, a Lilliputian (tiny person from Gulliver’s Travels) walks into Starbucks and steals all of their pastries.  The thefts happen almost on a regular basis.  Everytime you turn on the news you see that some coffee shop, Starbucks or other, getting robbed of their baked goods by these tiny people who are clearly Lilliputian.  Then one day, a mass robbery occurs in which all of the Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston and Chicago get robbed of their donuts.  A subsequent investigation reveals that all of the thieves were, guess, Lilliputian.  Now, according to the ACLU, the authorities should spend just as much time and effort at screening other people, like the Brobdingnags (the giants from Gulliver’s Travels), as is spent on Lilliputians. 

That’s a mild way of supporting racial profiling as it uses fictional characters who are on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of height.  The purpose was to draw an exagerated comparison, in which the identity of the thieves is clear.  You probably realized that but I was merely trying to provide a good bedtime story for your children about racial profiliing.

Now, the adult version.  Everyone hears about Middle East violence everyday.  Let’s assume that everyone knows about the extreme measures that some people will take to prove themselves in the name of religion.  I don’t think I learned the meaning of the word, “jihad”, until I was in college.  Today, middle school children probably understand the meaning of the word well.  If lives are being lost on a daily basis and one particular group of people are responsible for a majority of those deaths then logic should tell you to look at them closer than others.  Certain groups fail to use logic and would rather be blind.  Lady Justice is blind, that’s all well and good (sometimes).  Precautionary measures should be based on research and logic.  I’ve taken the liberty and provided the following:

1. Arabic nations have been at war with one another for thousands of years.

2. Certain Arabic nations and their citizens have a strong hatred of anyone and anything non-Arabic or non-tribal.

3. Most of the nations which make up the aforementioned statement do not like Americans.

4. Arabs were found to be responsible for the World Trade Center attacks of 2001.

5. Jihadists, or religious warriors, like to strap explosives to themselves, run into crowded public places and detonate them.

6. Jihadists are typically Arab.

7. History repeats itself.

Taking all of that into account should tell you that racial profiling is okay under certain circumstances.  The WTC towers were taken out by airplanes.  The Pentagon was hit by an airplane.  Therefore, screen airline passengers and pay closer attention to certain people.  Another way to look at it is that if you are not strapped with C-4 then you are proving to others that not all people of Arabic ethnicity are terrorists.  That message will be a bit slow in getting across but hey, they’ve been fighting for millenia.

In conclusion, someone should slap the heads-of-state of the ACLU into reality, or at least into the modern day.  Also, no disrespect was meant towards Lilliputians.  I read about what you did to Gulliver.  I don’t want any of that.

One other problem with the AFP story;  Jarrar was paid $240,000 because he had to put on another shirt?  Are you kidding me?  Someone buy the Lady Justice a spine.  She’s barely tolerable being blind but spineless too?  When did the U.S. become a nation of jellyfish bitches?  Will someone please amend the “Pledge of Allegiance” from “One nation under God” to “One nation divided into many as per the request of organizations like the ACLU, under (but not in a submissive or offensive way) the deity of your choice, unless you are agnostic, than by whatever you wish to claim, if anything (because that’s okay too)”

P.S.  I love this country but it was way better when it wasn’t trying to please everyone.