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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> Or, what do common sense and US government policy have in common?
>
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ucwb/20041129/cm_ucwb/justsayno&e=5
>
> Answer? very little!
Not sure what Buckley's driving at, honestly. Any article that cites anything
"wonderful" about an Ann Coulter book surely qualifies as delusional from the
get-go, but of course I'm not one to dismiss an argument simply because its
proponent is biased.
Regardless, I'm not comfortable with racial profiling in any case, simply
because it's based on the same kind of quackery and bogus anecdotal analysis
that guided phrenology more than a century ago. At its most basic, such
olive/Mohammed-based racist discrimination overlooks the many Arabs who have
fair skin and and have names like Joe. More importantly, it ignores the fact
that the vast majority of Mohammeds, along with the vast majority of
olive-skinned people have no plans to hijack or sabotage any planes at all.
Neocon Darling Michelle Malkin has lately argued for the "need" for racial
profiling (and internment camps, by the way), yet, like Malkin, Buckley is
notably silent on the "need" to profile white American militia members.
Likewise, I don't recollect Buckley's argument that Saudi Arabia should be
considered as a possible source of funding or ideology for terrorist attacks;
after all, more than 78% of all terrorists who've crashed planes into US
buildings were from Saudia Arabia, yet Buckley appears to think it's sufficient
to frisk a few olive-skinned guys in the airport rather than address the problem
at its source (namely, our goverment's all-too-cozy relationship with Saudia
Arabia, along with decades of uneven and oppressive foreign policy).
Certainly it's ridiculous that women are stripped, groped, pawed, and fondled in
full view of a crowd; on that much Buckley is correct, and he appears to
recognize that such futile efforts do not improve airline security. However, he
seems blind to the fact that it's just as futile to discriminate against
passengers based on the "oliveness" of their skin or the "Mohammedness" of their
names.
White American males have caused (ie., have initiated) far more death and
destruction in the past three years than olive-skinned Mohammeds have caused;
should we therefore profile all white males as potential killers of 100,000
innocent civilians?
Amazingly, Buckley also calls for some kind of national database of employment
history, police record, family status, and economic holdings, presumably to be
scrutinized whenever one of us wants to board a plane. Perhaps one's voting
record might eventually be added to the list, or maybe a quick, statistical
summary of one's political views as they've been portrayed on LUGNET?
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Just say no
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| (...) Seems pretty clear to me (1). He's asking why make things easier for the hordes of people that clearly are little no threat whatever in order to be a bit less PC to people that fit the threat profile more closely? Quoting from the part you (...) (20 years ago, 17-Dec-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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