Should the United States start using racial / ethnic profiling? (Israel, drugs, stereotypes)
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Lets face facts; it is not Aunt Mildred from Omaha, or the group of college kids on their way to Fort Lauderdale for spring break that is of real concern regarding terrorist threats.
It is Males (some Female), usually younger, who are Middle Eastern decent who are the usual / common threats - with a few exceptions.
Is it time that this nation does what other countries around the world are doing - profiling those boarding various methods of transportation?
It is perhaps distasteful to discuss but, it is quickly coming, IMO.
Your thoughts?
Well, I have some news for you: the airlines have been racially profiling ever since 9-11. And why not? Isn't it merely good commone sense security practice to look a bit harder at, say, a young male travelling alon who looks Middle Eastern, than an "Aunt Millie from Omaha" type? Of course it is. And what's the alternative? To let some suspicious-looking dude slide for fear of effending him or seeming prejudiced? And then say that "suspicious looking dude" waved throught the airport terminal by authorities, and he ends up trying to set off a bomb on the plane. The media and everyone else would be all over the airport security for not checking him out.
Look, everything changed after 9-11. We just have to accept that. A few years ago when I had a beard I was boarding a plane at Sky Harbor in Phoenix. I was wearing shades too and was wearing a long black duster. They pulled me to the side after I clearesd the scanner and went through my carry-on bag, item by item, and I almost missed my flight. I was a little annoyed but I manned-up and bit the bullet and didn't complain at all. They were just doing their jobs and trying to make us safe. IMHO it's better to hassle 1000 innocent guys like me than to let one dirtbag terrorist get thorugh. I'ts just the world we live in and the hand that we've been dealt since 9-11.
No...we can't use profiling. I know most suicidal terrorists these days DO seem to be Middle Eastern muslim males....but there's always the possibility the next spectacular outrage will be the work of an elderly Japanese female...or a group of disgruntled Amish farmers....or even a nun. You never can tell.
I say we take the high road. I know we're all upset about 9-11...but it COULD have been Mormons who did it...no one really convinced me. I fully realize that some day, we may all wake up to find that instead of a pair of skyscrapers being blown up, we may very well find that this time, Denver has simply been 'obliterated'...or maybe Cincinnati or Omaha. And that will be sad, of course...and we'll all be upset, of course...but at least we'll be able to look each other in the eye, because we didn't use profiling.
I don't think we should watch our airports or port cities, either...not when any terrorist with half a brain could simply walk in, over one of our borders....(borders which we've repeatedly announced that we 'can't possibly control').
No profiling...even if it costs us a city or two. Let's do the right thing.
"It is Males (some Female), usually younger, who are Middle Eastern decent who are the usual / common threats - with a few exceptions."
That's weird since, Jose Padilla, a Puerto Rican; Richard Reid, a Brit of Jamaican ancestry; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a black Nigerian; weren't of middle eastern descent.
I think you're figuring out why this wouldn't work. I heard Michael Chertoff say just that recently.
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