A White mother who said she was questioned about human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the company of “blatant racism.”
A White mother who said she was questioned about human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the company of “blatant racism.”
If I’m honest, I’m kinda okay if that happened to me, because if their methods are helping to stop actual human trafficking, then it’s worth it.
I remember me at the beach with my girlfriend once. She was 22 at the time, but looked younger than that - 16 or 17. I looked like, well, the 23 year old dude I was. She fell at some point and I crouched to assist her. A lifeguard walked up to us and the whole time he was addressing her: “are you okay? do you feel safe?” Etc. My girlfriend answered all his questions and then he went away. He probably thought I was some pervert trying to take advantage of the situation. And I was like “I get it.” If she was an actual minor and I was some pervert stranger, I’m glad someone was paying attention to the situation.
If stopping Arabic-looking people stopped actual terrorist attacks, would it be worth it?
I gave this question far more thought than it probably deserves and the answer is no.
The only world in which this is possible is one where you define terrorism by appearance (which already hits pretty damn close to home). So I’d want the same mechanism applied to all people to catch the violent extremists of all appearances.
Fair point, but that’s a different context, and I agree with you with that sentiment.
The 9/11 terrorists didn’t even have beards. They tried to blend in as much as possible. So, you’re right. Harassing people with, say, beards and turbans is bullshit.
How often would it stop terrorist attacks for each person stopped? We are talking about saving lives versus saving people from being offended correct?
You’re talking about formalising the concept of treating an entire demographic of people as 2nd class citizens who experience additional social barriers that others do not have to.
“I racially profiled every Mohammed in the US and 128,000 improper searches and surveillances down the list I discovered a terrorist. Mission accomplished.”
Thank you for providing a ratio. No I would not be okay with that.
I’m sure I wouldn’t be okay with racially profiling based on the real world numbers either. But I would be okay being questioned because I matched a statistically significant group of people who commit a crime that impacts the safety of others.
But I think the point is that race and gender are most often not statistically significant identifiers and shouldn’t be used. And if they are indicative, then it better not be used for any of amount of time longer than needed.
If we had intelligence that suggested we should expect a terrorist attack from a specific country during a specific time period at a specific airport then it might make sense on a temporary basis. I don’t know, I’m not a professional at preventing terrorist attacks.
If there were rules against race on a more permanent basis because of events in the past or something then that would be stupid, ineffective, and would needlessly offend people.
My only real issue with threads like these is the over generalization and trying to say that something should never happen or always happen. I don’t think life is like that.
How many times would it have to happen to you before it got old and you stopped being okay with it?
Let’s cross that bride when we get there?
You do not want to cross the bride. Don’t do that. Though, seriously, that’s no good for anyone who it has already gotten very old for and that people are explaining away the feelings of.