Religion
Related: About this forumIn Defense of Profiling
April 28, 2012
Sam Harris
Much has been written about how insulting and depressing it is, more than a decade after the events of 9/11, to be met by security theater at our nations airports. The current system appears so inane that one hopes it really is a sham, concealing more-ingenious intrusions into our privacy. The spirit of political correctness hangs over the whole enterprise like the Angel of Deathindeed, more closely than death, or than the actual fear of terrorism. And political correctness requires that TSA employees direct the spotlight of their attention at randomor appear to do sowhile making rote use of irrational procedures and dubious technology.
Although I dont think I look like a jihadi, or like a man pretending not to be one, I do not mean to suggest that a person like me should be exempt from scrutiny. But other travelers fit the profile far less than I do. One glance at these innocents reveals that they are no more likely to be terrorists than walruses in disguise. I make it a point to notice such people while queuing for security at the airport, just to see what sort of treatment they receive at the hands of the TSA.
While leaving JFK last week, I found myself standing in line behind an elderly couple who couldnt have been less threatening had they been already dead and boarding in their coffins. I would have bet my life that they were not waging jihad. Both appeared to be in their mid-eighties and infirm. The woman rode in a wheelchair attended by an airport employee as her husband struggled to comply with TSA regulationsremoving various items from their luggage, arranging them in separate bins, and loading the bins and bags onto the conveyor belt bound for x-ray.
After much preparation, the couple proceeded toward the body scanner, only to encounter resistance. It seems that they had neglected to take off their shoes. A pair of TSA screeners stepped forward to prevent this dangerous breach of securityremoving what appeared to be orthopedic footwear from both the woman in the wheelchair and the man now staggering at her side. This imposed obvious stress on two harmless and bewildered people and caused considerable delay for everyone in my line. I turned to see if anyone else was amazed by such a perversion of vigilance. The man behind me, who could have played the villain in a Bollywood film, looked unconcerned.
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/in-defense-of-profiling
Oh, he also said this: "We should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim, and we should be honest about it."
laconicsax
(14,860 posts)I started his book "The End of Faith" (I think that was the title) years ago and never finished it because he was writing the same sort of racist garbage as in the piece you linked here.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Goblinmonger
(22,340 posts)And he's an atheist. See how easy that is.
rug
(82,333 posts)What a concept.
Goblinmonger
(22,340 posts)Never met the guy nor talked to him so I am left to judge based on what I have read. When it comes to Muslims, he's very much a bigot. Don't know if that spills over into other areas. Perhaps that is his only bigotry. Not that it is OK to be bigoted in one area, but, again, I can only speak to this area.
LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)'anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim' - well, that's just about anyone, isn't it?!