I'm a liberal, but I'm wondering: why would racial profiling at the airports be so bad?

Question

I travel through the airports at least once a month with my job, and now I can't even bring my travel bag with me on the plane due to hair gel and shampoo. When older ladies are having to surrender their knitting needles and young children are being searched for explosives, why is it that we don't go ahead and target the 18-30 year old Muslim males, which fit the terrorist profile? I'm not trying to be racist or fascist, but I really want to know why would this be so bad? When you hear of a bus explosion in a large city, you don't immediately think "old white lady" or "African-American businessman." Is there really any question as to what religion and race we're dealing with here is?

Answer 1

No, there is no question in my mind as to what religion and race we are dealing with here. It all go back to 9/11.
Having said that...we all should be screened because you never know..........

Answer 2

I just flew from Dallas to Phoenix and back, security was tight after the British Alert and I was checked at the gates and before boarding the aircraft. I am a 63 year old white male. I didn't mind one bit either. My question would be that if they felt it necessary to check me and I didn't mind why then do so many people mind if we check young muslim or Arabic people. Civil Rights? Wait now, Granny and Gramps get searched, Mom and dad do too and so does Junior but we do not want to offend our muslim population? Any person boarding an aircraft should be searched and in particular those people who fit the profile of terrorists. If in fact they, like myself are just taking a trip they have no reason or right to mind the security.

Answer 3

incorrect, my sturdy guy. you're able to desire to recover from your anger and understand some thing. the only (study: purely) lively terrorists interior the worldwide at present are (study: ARE) human beings from the middle East. The FBI fairly lots rounded up each and all of the blond-hair, blue-eyed Tim McVeigh wanna-be's, after 19 April 1995. The some distance suitable skinhead communities are via-and-great contained. maximum black, white, brown and yellow human beings are comfortable with the racial profiling and are uninterested in being hassled on the airport only using fact our government is doing the 'gentle-feely, do not desire to offend every physique' element. pay attention, right this is a tip for you - take a glance at what the Israelis do at their airports. while grew to become into the final time that they had an incident in flight or on the floor? Oh, wait...did I offend you via suggesting that Israelis could desire to have a sturdy thought on the thank you to wrestle terrorism? Soooo sorry...that grew to become into probable too ethno-centric on your gentle eyes. like it or not, the terrorists at the instant are not some African-American grannie (like the single I observed being worked over via the TSA goon squad on the San Diego airport) or some pimply-confronted white teenager...it is gonna be some 20-some thing guy from the Mideast. this is a actuality. this is a certainty. it is not racial profiling. And if it saves one life (of every physique in any united states of any non secular or political theory) then I, for one, am for it. thank you for permitting me to precise my concepts!

Answer 4

OMG! U are a liberal and ask if racial stereo-typing is okay!?
OMG! What is the world coming to!? I thought the rules were....Conservatives were racists and Liberals were not racist......Accept everybody!?...yada-yada!?

First of all, You are a racist! Now that that's out of the way, I see nothing wrong with being alert to the activities of 18-30 year-old Muslim males, since that's pretty much who has driven every bus loaded with TNT, walked into crowded shopping center, bus terminals, airports, mass transit, Airliners, cruise ships, with TNT strapped on their bodies for Jihad. Absolutely nothing wrong with it! Stop being so anal and do what ever you have to survive! Pay attention to your surroundings in public places and be alert and live. So, I guess I'm a racist too!

Answer 5

First, congratuations on being able to think! Your peers will be none too happy about this position of yours though.

It wouldn't be bad. The fear that profiling would turn into some form of discrimination has the left dead set against it. Your logic is correct though you should not expect the left to accept it for the reason above.

The argument that it won't help because they will just convince someone not matching the profile to carry out the task is wrong. Failing to do so tells them that they can continue just as they have. If they do recruit a fat white guy for the next one then I damn well expect to be profiled for the rest of my life...and that's a GOOD thing!

Answer 6

Americans don't understand their own denial

I expect the hysterical cries of "The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!" Have you learned nothing about the world? Can you not see the obvious manipulations of the U.S.-U.K. intelligence community in these bogus "terror alerts"?

Gee, whadda ya know, it's time for a midterm election and George Bush has a 30% approval rating --- and here come the Muslim hordes because they "hate our freedoms"!

Grow up. The American government spends over $500 billion a year on defense, over $60 billion a year on intelligence. That's more than the rest of the world combined. That sound you hear is not a billion Muslims strapping bombs to their chests. That sound you hear is the American military-intelligence complex prodding the stupid citizens who pay for it. They've got plans for martial law in America, and you people are prattling on about Islamofascism.

The first 9/11 was an inside job. The next one -- probably in the next two months, just in time for the elections -- will also be made in America. Open your eyes and see the real enemy.

Answer 7

In my opinion, racial profiling, while it seems to make logical sense, is a bad idea. Because it fosters a sense of distrust. For example, we need the communities to feel safe and comfortable coming forward with any information they might have heard or know. If "all Muslim men age 18-30" are suspect, the innocent men will hesitate to come forward, for fear of being seen as a suspect, too. If you witnessed a crime, would you come forward, or would you worry about being accused of participating? Would you worry that the authorities will think, "So how do YOU know so much???"
Racial profiling creates fear among the people we need to feel safe enough to come forward.
It's like saying "all skinheads are neo-Nazis"-- what if a "skinhead" heard about some crime that was going to go down.... would he want to tell the police, or would he figure "They'll think I'm in on the crime and bust me, too" ?

Now if Muslim men age 18-30 are "profiled" - aren't these exactly the people who might overhear/see/learn about a potential threat? Do we want them to feel "guilty" no matter what? Or do we want to foster trust and community involvement?

Answer 8

Appears that you are someone that can think for yourself and reason. Not one political party is completely right, none are completely wrong. People like Bearable are getting unbearable with their constant spouting of Rhetoric, and paranoid delusions of personal atrocities, and Government attacks. He has more freedoms in America than anywhere, and alot more than he would have had in the first half of the 1900's. He needs to read some history.

Answer 9

Because you simply can't say who's going to be a terrorist. For example, a terrorist could just happen to be married to a blue eyed blond and gotten him/her to sneak in explosives (knowingly or unknowingly). Terrorists come in all colors/races/genders/economic classes

How is targetting a guy who looks like a terrorist but is actually one of your patriots going to help you fly with more peace of mind?

If you really want to feel safe, let everybody get screened equally.
Might be a pain in the *** but it makes more sense than deluding yourself into a false sense of security.

That's not political correctness, that's common sense.

Answer 10

I thought that at first, but I think it's appropriate. The problem is if we do profile, we're responding to the past and not the potential future. Who's to say they won't recruit, bribe, or threaten a caucasian person into taking their weapons onto a plane? Or whose to say that someone who looks normal isn't insane and trying to duplicate what's been done?

I think it's going to a necessary evil that we're going to have to deal with.