I gather you’d rather sit in an exploding airplane, than have suspicious persons held up by the police. You should change blog your name to extremely bright devil.

Well, y’know there’s been a media blitz advising people (New Yorkers for sure, how many other cities/groups it reaches, I have no idea), “If you see something, say something.” It would appear that someone speaking an unrecognizable language is cause for alarm—to some people, at any rate.

Sadly, it would appear that the War on Terror has been an abysmal failure, since rather than feeling safer folks have been terrorized to the point that they’re jumping at shadows (or languages, overheard, that are unfamiliar to them). It’s maddening.

I gather you’d rather sit in an exploding airplane, than have suspicious persons held up by the police. You should change blog your name to extremely bright devil.

I know this was directed at Les, but I’m going to comment anyway.  Perhaps it’s just because we’re sporting IQ’s 30+ points higher than those to whom the message of “report suspicious people” is directed, but someone talking on their cell phone in a foreign language prior to getting on a plane wouldn’t make ME suspicious of that person. For one thing, I’m pretty sure anyone planning to blow up a plane they’re preparing to board would be smart enough not to make a call about it, even in a foreign language, because it’s quite likely someone overhearing that call would UNDERSTAND exactly what was being said. Jihadis may be delusional and violent, but they’re definitely not stupid.

Andreas, please demonstrate one example of this way too typical form of overreaction that has resulted in the detention of someone at an airport who was an actual, verifiable threat.

I await your reply with bated breath.

Another example of why we are swimming in a sea of idiots.

I gather you’d rather sit in an exploding airplane, than have suspicious persons held up by the police.

It appears that Andreas is fond of logical fallacies, particularly the false dichotomy and the straw man.

I’m sure it was an honest mistake and fairly common among multilingual people.  When speaking to my friends, I often switch between french and english without thinking about it.  What`s more surprising is that this type of thing hasn`t happened more often, given the current “fear everything” mentality in the US.

Well O.K. I do have more to say! After all, what the hell can you do without going on a rant.

I now pratice the same philosophy as the guy who went into the doctor and said; Doc, it hurts when I do THIS! To which the doctor said; “So don’t do that!”

When I lived in Sarnia we went into Port Huron all the time for shopping, nightlife, etc. etc. Now, I just “don’t do that!”

I fiqure that going into the States is a lot of unnecessary bother and pain, especially when they tighten up the border documentaion next year ..... so I just don’t go and spend my money at home. So there!

Your frugal scribe;
Allan W Janssen

I now pratice the same philosophy as the guy who went into the doctor and said; Doc, it hurts when I do THIS! To which the doctor said; “So don’t do that!”

Something seems wrong with that - to me at least.

Not doing something doesn’t make the situation go away and only tends to make it worse. I see it’s short term benefits but in the long term, it may end up hurting other people - even though you may not realize it.

I guess a senario that comes to mind is… more people take your advice and just stop visiting.  Now you have a few people who need to come over or still like coming over… but they are now harassed even more because “If all the other Canadians don’t want to bother with us, why would these guys?  What are they up to?”.  Then people who really need to come over now have an even harder time because the borders figures Canadians hate us and the only ones who want to come over are ones that “mean us harm”.  Who’s to argue with that?  The few people who come over?  No one going to listen to them because most Canadians don’t speak up for those guys because they decided to “not do that”.  They don’t even know there is an issue because they just stayed at home.

Maybe it seem dramatic but I never know what people are thinking now-a-days and it seem plausable given all the crap we do to anyone who tries to do anything (even our own people).

Anyways, I just needed to get that out.  I do see where you are coming from and short term wise, it seems like it would be the best thing to do - that’s if I thought all this crap would blow over.  It’s not though… *shakes her head* so I just think that we just need to address it rather than “don’t do that”.

I see you don’t suffer from a brevity of words!

I see you don’t suffer from a brevity of words! 

Hahahaha… you don’t want to catch me when I’ve been drinking. 

Just in from Reuters

… Detective Winston Smith said “We arrested him after a fellow passenger pointed out he was a man- exactly the same gender as all the 9-11 hijackers, most rapists and a majority of violont offenders ...

Kantpronounceitstani officials today confirmed they would arrest all Texans on the basis they can think of at least two who have bombed neighbouring countries..."[we] cant risk that happening” said a government insider…

The International Olympic Commitee today confirmed it will press for all white men to be banned from visiting all future Games inside the U.S., as the all terror attacks on U.S games have been committed by white men.

I just like the ‘sound’ of other languages.
I especially like the sound of the African Bushmen’s clicking language which I first heard in The Gods Must be Crazy from 1980.

I especially like the sound of the African Bushmen’s clicking language…

As in the !Kung? It’s believed that the “clicking” sounds might be prototypes of some of the earliest forms of human language. I remember reading that in a college anthropology class.

Oh yeah, and The Gods Must Be Crazy? Great film.

I can’t imagine what you’re all on about.  Imagine the oddity of hearing an unfamiliar language spoken in an international airport!  A sure sign of a terrorist plot because all non-terrorists have the good sense to speak English even when talking to their mothers.

I have had Indians apologize spontaneously to me for speaking Hindi in my presence.  I just smile and say ‘Quite all right - you were not speaking to me’.  What wonderful music one’s own language must be when living in a foreign land.

The U.S.A. has never been the “Land of the free”.

It was taken by force from its original inhabitants. [Native Americans]

The “new” Americans then revolted against their former rulers. [The Revolution].

But even then all men and women weren’t free. [Slavery].

Even after emancipation the former slaves were second-class citizens subjected to all kinds of prejudice and barbaric acts. [Segregation & lynching]

Then there is the “American Dream”, which has resulted in a materialistic society that ultimately puts the needs of Americans before all other peoples, to the extent where the world is heading towards a disaster unprecedented in human history. [Globalisation, Global warming, Oil crisis, Disease, War, Famine, Pestilence, Armageddon ... woe is me and probably everyone else in time]

PS If the U.S.A doesn’t like your government, even if it is democratically elected, they will undermine or overthrow it and place some dictator or puppet regime in charge instead, all in your own best interests of course!

[/rant]

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (from Monty Python)

words and music by Eric Idle

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…

And...always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

If life seems jolly rotten
There’s something you’ve forgotten
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that’s the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

For life is quite absurd
And death’s the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it’s your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life’s a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show
Keep ‘em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the right side of life…
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the bright side of life…
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life…
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you’re going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life…

I was gonna point to a YouTube ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE clip as a comment on your pessimism over here.
Glad I didn’t. 

given the current “fear everything” mentality in the US.

There are signs in Australian airports that if you make a joke [about something security related, i.e. say ‘bomb’], they are going to check you out rather promptly.

While it makes a lot more sense than the example given here, it still shows how far into the fear-mindset we have gone.

The final straw is really that it was an AIRLINE employee. Yeah, very wordly of you, guy. Just came in from the sticks to work in the big city, did ya?

Stupidity of my countrymen seems endless these days.

I really like that song though.  Alyways look on the bright side of life.  Funny as hell, and a great way to end “The Life of Brian.”

I was gonna point to a YouTube ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE clip as a comment on your pessimism over here.
Glad I didn’t. 

Hope you liked my little rant, it was done late at night and i was quite tired at the time, the inclusion of the lyrics to Always Look.. was just to emphasise that I do have sense of humour.

As OB pointed out, if a terrorist was going to attemt a bombing the last thing they would want to do is draw attention to themselves.

if a terrorist was going to attemt a bombing the last thing they would want to do is draw attention to themselves.

Not intentionally.  And yet there are detailed (very effective) behavioral profiles of terrorists, used by security people in the know.  (Think El Al, not TSA) For obvious reasons the details of the profile are not public.  But I betchya talkin’ loudly on a cell phone ain’t part of the profile.

UBL and his cohorts are, generally speaking, a lot smarter than most NAmericans, unfortunately. ElAl’s profiling can be easily countered.  And, with a little research one can learn what pantomimes are security flags.

Let’s remember the following:
[] alQaeda knows how-to and trains individuals to circumvent/mask such security-risk pantomimes (e.g., many suicide bombers are given drugs before a mission)
[] alQaeda has developed fabrics which are soaked in explosives (e.g., we even recovered kids’ dolls dawning such explosive-fabrics during the Bojinka flat raids)
[] alQaeda has researched surgically implanting explosives into humans, in both adults and children (and tested such)
[] puffer-machines can only look for explosives they are programmed to sift against—do you think alQaeda has chemists working on new types yet unknown in the West?

One day…
[] You will apply for a licence to “mass-travel”
[] Your body will be x-rayed
[] You will dawn a disposable jumpsuit when flying
[] You will not be allowed to carry *anything* onboard

We need better security, and we need to be seven steps (hard-ware/technologically and theoritically in terms of research) ahead of alQaeda.  And, the public needs to better educate *themselves* about such threats, as is common elsewhere.  (NAmericans are the Earth’s most evolved ostriches.)

Such stories as this thread result from Disneyland-born-mentalities and general ignorance, so common amongst NAmericans.  Wake up while you still have cities and mass-transit worth saving.

[] Your body will be x-rayed

I beg to differ.  The day the gov wants to X-ray me before I fly somewhere is the day I stop flying.  The highjackers on 9/11 used boxcutters and other stuff that is no longer allowed to carry onto flights.  And items that should have been picked up by the metal detector.  I see no need for the X-ray device.

Personally I think it would be smarter to allow the cockpit access to a tazer or a gun that shoots rubber bullets.  Something that can stop a terrorist pretty damn quick but wouldn’t puncture the hull of the plan.  Or have the cockpit door mechanically shut itself once the plane starts moving, and only is allowed to open when the flight has docked at the airport.  Either one would do more than an X-ray machine ever would.

As i said…

UBL and his cohorts are, generally speaking, a lot smarter than most NAmericans, unfortunately.

Case in point:

...The highjackers on 9/11 used boxcutters and other stuff that is no longer allowed to carry onto flights.  And items that should have been picked up by the metal detector.  I see no need for the X-ray device.

My-o-my, we’re in deeper ignorance than i even thought possible. Since when do magnatometers detect explosives ?  Not all bombs (or detonators) are metal in nature.

Learn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_(explosives)

Shed your Disneyland-mentality.

Rob, where does

The highjackers on 9/11 used boxcutters and other stuff that is no longer allowed to carry onto flights.  And items that should have been picked up by the metal detector.  I see no need for the X-ray device.

say explosive?