At the airport

[Truthiness Inspector]

Imagine you are at the gate, about to board a flight, and you notice some unusual characters. If your life depended on it, who would you most like checked out?

A) A grandmother reading a newspaper.

B) A young kid, with nose piercings and tattoos, hooked up to an iPod.

C) An adult male chanting "Allah Akbar."

If you had the power to boot one person off YOUR flight, who would it be, and why?

[LovinLife]

1. A. The elderly shouldn't fly. NT

[timeforpeace]

58. Kudos to the OP for use of logic. Logic hurts and is the bane of PC.

[HughMoran]

2. What is the purpose of inflaming the obvious?

Yes, I invented that expression, but it applies, even if it doesn't make sense :P

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Do any of them have flaming underpants?

[noamnety]

4. I'm trying to imagine a scenario

where my life depends on booting off one of three specific people from a plane.

Is this a hypothetical flight to the pearly gates and I'm stuck in a bad ethnic joke?

[Truthiness Inspector]

8. Ethnic joke? I guess that's in your head, not mine.

You did not answer the question, why is that? I asked you to imagine it, and you didn't answer the question...at least not overtly.

[noamnety]

10. Oh, bull. The OP is asking us to do ethnic profiling.

The thing is, I've had a friend kicked off a flight for wearing a shirt that had arabic writing on it.

People who engage in (or promote) ethnic profiling are assholes. Short and simple.

I'm hoping your OP was designed to point out how stupid it is ... but if you're gonna deny that's what it's about, then it's hard for me to have faith in your motives.

[Truthiness Inspector]

16. I really don't care what you think

you are just the type of idiot who will make the wrong decision so you can feel touchy-feely and all good about yourself, the human race be damned. But at least you can lie to yourself and feel "good."

Review my OP, I said nothing "ethnic." That's in your own head, because you see what you see but pretend you are peace and granola while casting stones.

[Clio the Leo]

37. And you do realize Muslims dont walk around chanting Allah Akbar right?

At least my friends don't.

My friends are more apt to read newspapers while they're hooked up to ipods, but they're my friends, so that automatically implies that they're weird.

[RumJungle]

50. So when your family is killed

in a plane explosion and you find out that a muslim extremist did it, was suspicious but was not searched because there was not obvious cause and that would be profiling you will be fine with that.

[jberryhill]

60. There is nothing extreme about praying /nt

[uppityperson]

66. How can someone be "suspicious" but there not be obvious cause?

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. That kid with the iPod is plugged into the only outlet at our gate

and my phone needs charging.

True story.

The kid goes.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. No, the kid is still stuck in the security line because all his piercings

keep setting off the metal detector.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. But he wants that outlet

True story. I am in an airport and my phone is about dead. I need to call my husband to tell him my plane is late. I find one outlet but a kid has his iPod plugged in. So I ask him can I please plug my phone in long enough to make one call. And he just glares at me. So I ask again, a little louder, figuring he is listening to music and can't hear me. His mom says "Can't you see my son is USING that outlet?" And she is pretty snotty. So I say "Yes I can see that but I just need to make ONE phone call and he can have the outlet back after that." The kid leans over to unplug his iPod and the Mom yells "DON'T YOU DARE!" And she looks at me and tells me to go find a pay phone.

So I walk over to the next gate looking for an outlet there and a security guard asks me if I have lost something. I say no, just looking for an outlet so I can plug in my phone. And he says "Oh, there's an outlet over at the next gate" and he walks over to the outlet the kid is using and tells him I need to plug in my phone. The kid unplugs his iPod and the security guy plugs my phone in. I make my call and unplug my phone.

The mom glared at me until it was finally time to get on my plane. I guess she figured I went and got the security guy, like I was tattling on her kid.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. Wow. Kid will probably grow up to be a serial killer or a Republican.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. He seemed okay but his mom was a bitch.

[uppityperson]

67. No, it's a "young kid". Why would a "young kid" have piercings, tattoos, be unaccompanied?

Shit, I see an unaccompanied toddler with piercings, tats, iPod, I'm gonna call me some security to get him/her some help!

[Ian David]

7. I would pick the one traveling in Business Class so I can try and steal their seat. n/t

[Truthiness Inspector]

9. You didn't answer the question either. Only you made it about yourself.

[Ian David]

14. Yeah. I know. I don't mind. n/t

[Truthiness Inspector]

18. Best and most honest answer on this thread, LOL!

And, Happy New Year!

[MichaelHarris]

11. the

with butt stink, I always get behind that guy.

[lynne]

12. C obviously as he fits the profile of an extremist -

- but you already knew that, didn't you?

[Drunken Irishman]

13. I'd take 'em all into the bathroom...

Rob the old lady of her Percocets (she probably has some because of he pain). Maybe take the newspaper.

Then beat the shit out of the punk kid with tattoos (most likely wouldn't fight back because I find kids who dress like that and can afford an iPod are most certainly posers) and steal his iPod.

Then probably leave the airport and allow Allah Akbar onto the plane where he doesn't have to worry about some annoying grandma complaining about Obamacare and Death Panels and some snobby teen who likes to play dressup.

[Ian David]

15. I would think that someone planning on harming the plane would avoid "suspicious behavior"...

... such as audibly praying to Allah and whatnot.

The guy with the prayer rug who is willing to stick-out like a sore thumb is probably NOT the one trying to sneak something onto the plane.

Same deal with multiply-pierced dude.

[Drunken Irishman]

19. Wait, Ian David...

Are you telling me when those 9/11 terrorists boarded their flights they didn't scream, "I'z gonna blow the shit out of the WTC and fly this muthfucka into the goddamn Pentagon"?

You're a liar.

[Ian David]

22. I'm pretty sure this is NOT what the 9/11 hijackers looked like inside the airport...

"Never mind us... we're just like all the other passengers."

[noamnety]

28. That would explain a lot.

Apparently we noticed some "unusual characters" inside the airport, but then only three fairly normal people were described - a grandma reading a paper, a kid listening to an Ipod, and a dude praying in arabic.

If these other folks are at the gate too then that explains the unusual characters - and they are the ones I want kicked off the plane because the elephant's gonna take up too many seats and they look like they might be kind of annoying in general - breaking into showtunes and whatnot during the flight.

[vaberella]

49. That's why I voted for Granny to be kicked off. Granny's don't read papers--they knit. n/t

[Ian David]

56. Not true...

[vaberella]

73. You realize you totally killed the joke. n/t

[Ian David]

75. Oops. n/t

[dionysus]

81. i like your answer best.

[dionysus]

82. you win the thread.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Here's what's really happening:

The chanting guy is chanting because he's terrified of flying.

The iPod kid is on his way back to Yale after spring break.

Granny with the newspaper is the last surviving member of the Baader-Meinhoff gang and she's stuffed her Depends with semtex.

So ya never know...

[csziggy]

41. She's the little Tiffany in the crowd.

Reminds me of MIB - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7ebfrcv4tc from about 3:30.

[Hekate]

46. You have to watch out for Little Tiffany. She has no business in that neighborhood at night...

GMTA strikes again.

I was just about to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. LOL.

Hekate

[last1standing]

20. If you only have 24 hours to find a bomb in NY, is it Okay to torture a suspect?

These ridiculous hypotheticals only answer one question: Who is a racist on the board?

If you fear brown people that much, stay off planes.

[Truthiness Inspector]

23. That wasn't my question, why are you afraid to answer?

Coward.

[last1standing]

25. I'm afraid that I'd say what I really think of scum who post racist shit.

And calling other cowards when you're afraid of anyone from another culture is hilarious! Why don't you post a thread with a scenario justifying waterboarding or hooking electrodes up to "furriners"?

[Truthiness Inspector]

35. Weak

You are making unfounded accusations, a sign of desperation.

[last1standing]

36. I think your "Allah Ahkbar" scenario started the unfounded accusations.

Once again, if you're that afraid of brown people, don't fly. Let the rest of us get on with our lives without trying to isolate everyone from another country.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

68. Men are a race? You are equating muslims, arabs and rapists? Fee fi fo fum...

[jberryhill]

61. My favorite answer to that is...

The suspect says, "I'll only tell you the location of the bomb if you give me a blow job."

What do you do then?

[gateley]

27. My instinctive, initial response would have been C, raising my hand here for racial

profiling (although I assure myself I don't do that -- I just did, didn't I?)

But some others have brought up some really valid, and now that I think about it, obvious reasons why that probably isn't the one to boot. Hopefully I've learned a lesson here and would remember to look beyond the "obvious".

Who would YOU boot off?

[Ian David]

30. I'd boot Truthiness Inspector off the plane.

I'd be afraid he'd go all paranoid and attack the Muslim guy for no good reason.

[gateley]

34. But I learned something about myself from this - that I'm not as "color blind"

as I thought I was. Seriously -- it's upsetting. So the Inspector gets my gratitude, regardless of his motivation for the OP.

[tledford]

87. +1 lol

I was going to respond (with just as much legitimacy as the OP) with:

"Just to be safe, I'd grab the Uzi under a row of seats in the waiting area that had been secreted for me there in advance by a maintenance person and kill all three of them, along with everyone else in range: Just to be safe, you know."

[lynne]

32. Racial profiling? His race wasn't mentioned and religious extremist come -

- in all races. Maybe religion profiling would be a more accurate term.

[gateley]

40. See? My brain just clumped it all together. I didn't read it clearly enough.

In my tiny little mind I saw Mohamed Atta. If it hadn't been (again, apparently in my mind) a Middle Eastern looking guy, I most definitely wouldn't have considered booting him or her, any more than I would someone saying the Rosary or reading the siddur.

Jeez -- Am I a Republican???

[dave29]

29. How are any of these people unusual characters?

That's what I want to know

:shrug:

[Ian David]

31. At some airports, the one NOT kneeling on a prayer rug is the suspicious one. n/t

[jberryhill]

62. Bingo!

I've flown to Cairo and Marrakech. If you voiced security concerns about praying Muslims, they'd probably put you in a rubber room.

Even US airports have nondenominational chapels that Muslims use for prayer. While there are travel exceptions, I think their commitment to that obligation is admirable.

[Ian David]

33. Jewish man wearing tefillin triggers bomb scare on Indiana commuter train

Jewish man wearing tefillin triggers bomb scare on Indiana commuter train
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=316x1393

Welcome to the Post-Bush world.

[dave29]

39. Is there anything stupid can't do?

Being raised Jewish, and in Indiana.... this is both hysterical and infuriating.

[noamnety]

38. I guess the grandma would be an unusual character

because the only way I'd know she was a grandma was if she was surrounded by younger kids ... otherwise she's just an older woman.

Normally a grandma with grandkids would be interacting with the kids, or at least keeping an eye on them in an airport. If she's ignoring them and letting the kids run around while she reads a newspaper, that's a little unusual.

Holy cow, I hate to see the flame war that's gonna break out in this thread if she's about to let her kids run wild on an airplane.

:rofl:

[CreekDog]

42. I guess it's all really simple, might as well just disband TSA now

because Mr. Truthywhatever has simplified it all for us.

oh thank you. i'm indebted.

:rofl:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

45. I'd look for a newspaper with two eyeholes cut out.

[FrenchieCat]

43. If your behind was there, I'd say you!

[boppers]

44. I kick off the paranoid assholes trying to "report" on others.

I don't know if A, B, or C would kick others off of a plane, as they're all pretty normal descriptions of folks. I'd likely look for the asshole with the shifty eyes wandering all around, checking everything out, trying to clock everyone.

[Hekate]

47. You're just disappointed that people don't want to bring matches for your flamebait, Truthiness...

:shrug:

[vaberella]

48. All of the above---no one is above suspicion. If I had to kick one person--latas, granny. n/t

[onenote]

52. Here's a better question than the one posed by the OP

Imagine you are at the gate, about to board a flight, and you notice some unusual characters. If your life depended on it, who would you most like checked out?

A) A white grandmother chanting "Allah Akbar"

B) A young African American kid chanting "Allah Akbar"

C) An adult male wearing an Arab headdress chanting "Allah Akbar."

If you had the power to boot one person off YOUR flight, who would it be, and why?

[vaberella]

74. I'm still going for granny. African American could be muslim or it could be in a rap song.n/t

[billh58]

79. Easy answer:

"Allah."

[Phx_Dem]

53. B & C. But I'd only kick the kid off if his

music was bleeding through his earbuds. }(

And yeah, I know we shouldn't kick people off a plane for "praying," but when someone is chanting muslim prayers, it scares the crap out of people so, tough shit. They can pray silently or somewhere else. I'm very sorry that muslims have to put up with this crap because of the extremist radicals among them, but there are extremists among them that clearly still want to blow up U.S. airplanes.

[renate]

54. assuming this question isn't intended as flamebait, I will be honest:

C, although someone's chanting "Allah Akbar" at the boarding gate seems a bit unlikely. But I think I get the point you are trying to make.

In 2002, less than a year after 9-11, I was at the boarding gate with a visibly VERY nervous (sweating, jumpy, etc) young Middle Eastern man who didn't speak good English (it was a domestic flight). I had been behind him at the check-in desk and he had checked in at the same time as another young Middle Eastern man who was now at another boarding gate, so I assumed he was on another flight on the same airline--much like the simultaneous attacks on 9-11. So, yeah, given the choice, I'd have liked for him to have been checked out in preference to a grandma or a teenager.

Maybe I'm not supposed to be aware of whether someone who is sweating and nervous before getting on a plane is from Vermont or from Saudi Arabia, but I kind of can't help it, having been blessed with functioning eyeballs and cursed with an awareness of how much certain people hate us. I considered getting off the flight (and I am not a person who overreacts--around the house if I hear a loud thump or a noise I just figure it's the house settling and don't even bother getting off the couch), but I'm too cheap to pay for another ticket. And everything was fine, of course. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried, and so was just about everyone else at the gate. If it had been the movies the director would have told him "I know you're supposed to look creepy and nervous, but you're overdoing it."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

55. The bigot looking nervously at the muslim. I'd boot him off.

Let's say these three people wanted date your pure teenage daughter? Which one would you run out of the house with a shotgun?

A. The clean-shaven well-postured captain of the football team.

B. The well-groomed valedictorian with the college scholarship.

C. Some thuggish black guy with a chee-wee hairstyle who obviously wants to rape her?

:eyes:

[AspenRose]

83. Chee-wee! You remember the dude from LA! I'm impressed.

[jmowreader]

91. I'll choose A

Yup. I'll throw out the captain of the football team. That dude thinks every girl in school owes him sex, just because he's a football hero.

Because what you don't know about the thuggish black guy with the chee-wee hairstyle is he's been working in the stockroom of the biggest department store in town ever since he was legally able to work, he puts half his paycheck in a savings account, he's in three AP classes and carries a GPA over 4.0 and next year, he's going to West Point.

The captain of the football team? He might be clean-shaven and well-postured, but his GPA is just high enough to keep him from getting benched for academics, and he majors in shop.

[Amimnoch]

57. Hmm, racial profiling.. perhaps it could be applied equally?

John Wilkes Booth
Charles Guiteau
Leon Czolgosz
Lee Harvey Ozwald..

all presidential assassins.. all white. Perhaps we shouldn't feel safe with white people near the president? Perhaps white males should have additional body search requirements when attending Presidential functions? Perhaps people shouldn't feel safe when around white males when the President is nearby? Heck, that's a 100% record of all white male racial profile of people who have successfully killed the President of the US.

[jberryhill]

59. None

Some nervous guy praying doesn't bother me. A lot of people are afraid of flying, and pray.

Good golly, I hope you never fly Egypt Air. I've flown them twice, and you get a prayer to Allah right after the safety video.

[uppityperson]

63. How can you tell (A) is a grandmother? How young is "young kid"? 3 yrs old?

If it were a 3 yr old kid, unaccompanied, with nose piercings and tattoos, hooked up to an iPod, I'd call security.

[uppityperson]

64. Why do you call these people "unusual characters"? What is unusual about them?

[agentS]

65. Need more evidence

I see where this question's going, and thusly I don't like it. But if I were a TSA guard, I would look for other clues like body movement, smells, or something off the blotter before I would pull someone to the side.

The problem is that if we focus on Arabic speaking people only, the terrorists will find a differently looking person (A teabagger) to make the attack for them. This is one of the fundamental flaws of profiling- you get distracted by looks and other bad guys slip thru because they didn't meet the profile.

For instance, if grandma's holding a rather large Sarah Palin book with wires hanging out of it, then she's getting pulled off my line.

[billh58]

69. Uh, I'm gonna

go with "D" which would be the bigoted OP.

[treestar]

70. C)

That would scare me. But that's why we treat all equally. So prejudices like mine don't overrule reason.

That guy may not be a terrorist and shouldn't be prejudged as one because of other people who share his religion did something awful.

Young white men who leave cars in front of buildings should be scary too.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

71. Yes, I'd kick Muhammad Ali off the plane.

:eyes:

[coti]

72. This one:

Sucks to be wrong, eh?

THAT is why bigotry is looked down upon- because it's flat-out incorrect.

[Sparkly]

76. You do make a point. nt

[busymom]

77. At this point, I would agree that we need to do some profiling...

GASP...I know.

Until little old ladies and children pull off a terror attack, then we need to target the group that is. It sucks, but at this point, we are punishing everyone for the actions of what currently is a certain group of people.

My mom (little old lady) tried to fly home after xmas and she was pulled aside. It was ridiculous. They pulled apart her bag and her carry on and then she wasn't allowed to take her carryon on the flight because it contained breakable items (made by her grandkids for HER) that could be broken and used as a weapon on the plane.

So..she had to check her carryon and the items were tossed about and broken.

We have reached a level of ridiculousness in this society. Soon, we will be flying naked.

[hedgehog]

78. All three need to be checked over carefully, just as every other passenger needs to be.

[LanternWaste]

80. D) I would boot irrelevant posts.

D) I would boot irrelevant posts.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

84. Is "C" alone?

or is he with a "Sharp-dressed" Indian guy fast-talking the airline folks into ignoring the lack of a passport?

If had the power to boot one person off MY flight, it would be the flight attendant in first class. Let them sit there with no champagne or food!

:hi:

[Name removed]

85. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mass]

86. A/ Reading a newspaper is suspect in itself. Who needs to get its news from somebody else than Glenn

Beck?

More seriously, I somehow doubt a terrorist would be singing "Allah Akbar", waiting to go on board.

My 89 year old MIL took a plane at the end of the year with her 84 year old friend. She was asked to take their shoes off, put them through, leave her wheel chair to go through the metal detector, and it was fine. Stereotyping is useless. The man in the flight from Amsterdam was Muslim, but he was not Arabic. He was a black man from Africa.

[RoadRage]

88. I'll just book a later flight.

None of them is doing anything illegal.. and if I personally had a problem with anything that any of them are doing - it's MY problem, not theirs.. so I won't have any of them checked out. I'll check myself onto a later flight if i'm uncomfortable.

[kegler14]

89. What an idiotic question.

Please tell us how many times there have been reports of adult males yelling Allah Akbar at a gate? And how many times has it been ignored and the guy's been allowed to board.

I'll answer for you. None.

[CBGLuthier]

90. the bigoted asshole who always sits next to me

That would be my choice.