Racism or street smarts? |
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In the last few weeks, I?ve spoken to many of my friends here about the terrorist attacks, and how it?s changed their perceptions. I was very surprised to hear how many close friends have seen people that fit the terrorist profile and had internal (and sometimes external) panic attacks. Some embellish their stories with descriptions of suspicious behaviour. However, the majority simply see a Middle Eastern man who?s, for good reason, looking uncomfortable. Since the bombings I?ve gone about my day as usual, somewhat blind to the potential threat among us. My logic has been that paranoia will only make me suffer and contribute to society?s problems. However, I?m now wondering if keeping a keen eye out for terrorists may help my survival. What if I spot one of these guys before he presses the button. Would I be able to see in his eyes what his plans are? Would I have the balls to act, or at least get out of the way? So, what is the best way to make my way through this city? Keep my head down, and pretend like it hasn?t happened. Or stand up for my right to live, at the risk of staring down an innocent, and now oppressed man? |

August 1st, 2005 @ 4:43 pm
Yeah.. _I_ figured this was plainly obvious. If you notice people heading up to the front of the plane with box cutters in their hand, I hope you’re smart enough to stop them, not turn a blind eye and hope for the best. I agree the prejudice isn’t the best way to go about things, but you’re a smart guy. You don’t have to sort people into catch-all categories. You just look for people acting abnormally. But you don’t have to constantly be on the look out.. that’s paranoia. If you notice something, follow through on it.
This whole thing sucks. It sucks to feel helpless against stupid ass people with bombs. It’s just mean. Yeah, I want to get back at them, I get angry.. but what do you do? They attack our conveniences, things we take for granted. I suppose we can employ more security people, which jacks up the cost of things more and doesn’t guarantee your safety anyway.
I’ve really got no great ideas to help out society. Maybe dreamsicles for everyone.
August 1st, 2005 @ 6:07 pm
well…. What can I say, I looked at the pictures of the bombers these guys weren’t wearing turban’s or anything blazingly “middle eastern”. So what is the answer? maybe look at there skin tone… or if they wear a beard. What about that brazillian guy who was killed because he looked suspicous aka middle eastern. Now what is the greater tragedy the fact that he was killed by accident or the fact that the accident is that he looked like an arab. Now I understand one’s right to survive and to “do what you gotta do”. But in the end what is happening in britan is exactly what happened here in the states feeding into that fear. But the counter argument is that these middle eastern countries need to clean up there own mess. They need to hunt down these extremeists and take them out and they need to speak out against it as a community and as a country. Arabs for too long have tried to live on both sides of the fence. Have been sympathetic to the extremeism while saying they themselves are not of the same cloth and those are fringe groups. Maybe it is time to take an active role in squashing those people out of there own society. In egypt Sadat tried to do that he hunted down the extremists and got rid of them and it caused them to assasinate him. I hate being starred at because I am an arab man. And Arabs have suffered as well because of these attacks actually more arabs have been killed then westerners by these fanatics all over the world. They are very good at killing there own people.
August 1st, 2005 @ 9:16 pm
A number of articles have been circulating through the papers trying to explain how men, native to England, could become suicide bombers. I myself have been unable to explain it, but I found these two articles insightful:
Our prisons are fertile ground for cultivating suicide bombers
Real life is unfolding like fiction