(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

This article in Salon today made me very sad.

Fourteen dark-skinned men from Syria board Northwest's flight 327 [from Detroit to LA], seated in two separate groups. Some are carrying oddly shaped bags and wearing track suits with Arabic script across the back. During the flight the men socialize, gesture to one another, move about the cabin with pieces of their luggage, and, most ominous of all, repeatedly make trips to the bathroom. The author links the men's apparently irritable bladders to a report published in the Observer (U.K.) warning of terrorist plots to smuggle bomb components onto airplanes one piece at a time, to be secretly assembled in lavatories.

"What I experienced during that flight," breathes Jacobsen, "has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats."


The Syrians were, of course, a band of musicians. The kind of people fundamentalist Islamicists despise.

Jacobsen's kicker: "So the question is ... Do I think these men were musicians? I'll let you decide. But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play instruments?"

The paranoia boggles the mind. Detroit is home to the largest Arabic population in the US (maybe second to NYC? anyway, a sizeable population) and as Patrick Smith points out in the article, it's not at all unreasonable to expect to see several Arabic men on any given flight in or out of Detroit. Although I suppose the entire city could just be a giant sleeper cell pretending to be musicians, engineers, plumbers, storekeepers, etc.

I didn't read the original article by Annie Jacobsen at Wall Street Women because I don't want to give them the hit stat. Also I would probably start screaming.

Comments

[ex-sjc.livejournal.com]

More info. (http://www.catch.com/comments/32882_0_17_0_M/).

[alonewiththemoon]

Nooooooooooooo!!!! Not a Julliard-trained jihadist!!!

see, now that's what I'm talking about!

[ayun.livejournal.com]

I read it - it's deliberately alarmist, and plays to knee-jerk fears - I freaked out a little on first reading, but settled down once I started to read the metafilter thread about it, where people pointed out a few glaring logical problems with her scenario.

Also, supposedly a flight attendant told her that they were "surrounded by air marshals" - eh? Are there like, twenty dudes on every flight carrying guns? No wonder it's gotten so hard to get a window seat.

[alonewiththemoon]

I think it's illegal for a flight attendant to point out the air marshals--she should have reported on that!

[liza.livejournal.com]

I was alarmed until she quoted Ann Coulter with a (literary) straight face.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's an instant credibility kill right there.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

I think there are things that could be a legitimate concern, like bringing objects into the bathroom with you. (Hello, who brings FOOD into the toilet?) But the rest of her article is sensationalized, and for all we know she could be lying about a lot of the details. Maybe just one person went to the bathroom with a container. Maybe the McDonald's bag was empty when he went to the bathroom.

Without giving in too much to the fear, our government hasn't changed it's policies on terror or the Middle East. So we are still a big target for terrorists. People bringing things into the toilet on a plane should raise a few eyebrows. Their nationality shouldn't be a issue, though.

[alonewiththemoon]

(Hello, who brings FOOD into the toilet?)

Well, Muslims who observe the Koran's strict rules about hand-washing might. Leaving the bathroom and touching the door handle, seat backs, etc on the way back to one's seat would sully one's hands, so he'd have to eat the food in the bathroom. Muslims are also required to wash before they pray, so that could be another reason for the multiple bathroom trips all at the same time. I do think that perhaps the men could have told a stewardess why they were monopolizing the bathrooms for so long, but they weren't really required to.

Even if she wasn't lying about the details, she didn't do any fact-checking. It was pretty easy for other readers to do a little basic research and find that these men were in a band booked to play in LA. Also, she might have been freaked out, but if there really were all these air marshalls aboard, they clearly weren't freaked out, so shouldn't she have just trusted the professionals? Blah. Stupid lady.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

So eating you food ON THE TOILET is more sanitary that touching the doorknob? Religion is wierd. Like that no eating meat on Friday, what's up with that? *sarcasm, for those who don't know I'm Catholic*

The washing before they pray would explain the frequent trips.

She is a very stupid lady. She is also playing right into the fear and paranoia, and just making things worse.

[alonewiththemoon]

Well, most airplane bathrooms I've been in have room to stand up next to the toilet, and there's usually a little sink counter as well that perhaps one could at least lean on. I doubt a Muslim would consider eating food on the toilet okay, no matter how wierd religion is in general ;-)

[brigid.livejournal.com]

this version is scarier
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040721-101403-1508r.htm

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

The remedy for hate speech is more free speech. Let's keep those cards and letters to the editor going.

Still, it's so frustrating. Like Patrick Smith, it burns me that someone is making money on that claptrap, and I'm not making any with mine.

[anechoic.livejournal.com]

Remember: Terrorists don't kill people, musicians kill people.

[xenoglaux]

Espically JAZZ musicians.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

with their syncopated rhythms, and their reefers!

[heatray.livejournal.com]

Jacobsen's kicker: "So the question is ... Do I think these men were musicians? I'll let you decide. But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play instruments?"

Oh my god! It's just like that G.I. Joe episode where Zartan and the Dreadnaughts became a rock band and hypnotized people by rocking!

I was willing to let it go when they used our own jets against us, but using our own Rock against us? That's going to far!