Should there be Middle Eastern stereotyping at airports and other public places/events?

Question

Should we pick people of Middle Eastern background out of the crowd? Do we stereotype them and prevent further attacks on our country? How do we approach this issue? Any opinions, statements, ideas...thanks!

Answer 1

Consider that not all Arabs are terrorists, but all terrorists are Arabs.

If you check all Arabs at the airport, you will prevent terrorism in the air. If you check little old Jewish and Irish grandmothers, the terrorists will slip right through your defenses.

Answer 2

Sure why not. Blacks have been stereotyped for generations and it still goes on. Why not spread the favor to middle easterners too. I speak from the personal experience of always being pulled over for nothing at all and getting nothing but a warning after they have checked and found me free of criminal background or warrants. I've gotten used to it now and I suppose they will get used to it after a while also. Given time and many more cases of blatant disregard of their rights, they will eventually just adapt as I have. I see a cop car pull out and I expect to be pulled over regardless of the density of traffic around me. Nine times out of ten I'm right. So be it. I can't change the world. I just live in it.

Answer 3

On May 30 1972 a group of three Japanese arrived at Lod Airport at Tel Aviv on an Air France flight from Paris. They dressed conservatively and carried slim briefcases. Entering the waiting area, they produced automatic firearms from their cases and began to fire indiscriminately at airport staff and visitors. The trio quickly expended their ammunition and grenades and then either committed suicide or fell under the fire of airport security staff. They killed twenty-four people and injured seventy-eight others, including a delegation of Jewish Ethiopian pilgrims.

I doubt the Japanese would have had any problems if racial profiling targetting Arabs was in force.

Answer 4

Can you think of a better way? Or should we be searching 80-year-old grandmothers because you want to be 'fair?'

The fact of the matter is that there is a specific profile that a potential terrorist tends to fit. And there are profiles for people who we can safely assume are not terrorist threats. does it not make sense to focus our attention on those most likely to be a threat? Or do you really think that searching grandmothers and uniformed military personnel is an efficient use of resources?