It was summer of 2003. I waited at the gate at Spokane Airport for my flight home. Then security decided to pick two people for “wanding”. I (a 60ish Grandmother) was one and the other was a five year old small boy in his tiny shorts and t-shirt. We had to again remove our shoes and sandals and submit to the wand. Meanwhile three Muslim ladies in burqas filed unmolested and unwanded onto the ramp to the airplane. Only their eyes could barely be seen under the drapery, one guesses that they were women but who knows?
Fast forward to the morning December 26, 2009. Ft. Lauderdale airport. Another gate. I had just learned about the terrorist attempt at Detroit. I’m betting the passenger manifest has been scanned for suspicious names. Seven airport cops surround us. They pull out two young men to wand and pat down. One young man is black the other is middle-eastern looking. No old ladies or little kids this time. This is the day after the Christmas Day Amsterdam to Detroit terrorist attempt. The lesson here is that if the precautions taken on December 26th had been taken on December 25th the terrorist would never had made it onto Flight 253. Yes, it is profiling. But I doubt if Al Qaida could convince any old ladies to assemble bombs in their laps. Or find five year-old kids with baggy enough pants, or the engineering skill necessary to cause trouble. Common sense just HAS to prevail, doesn’t it?
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So---is political correctness out the window?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don't feel there is political correctness anymore. No; it shouldn't be taken for granted that certain activities are always carried out by certain religions or radicals of one race or another... However, check your statistics. Serial killers are usually of a certain race and sex. Armed robbers and rapists are usually of a certain race and sex. Terrorist attacks against a group of people at one time are usually from another certain group of people... the list goes on. Ofcourse, you will have your deviation from the norm. That is not my arguement. Political correctness went out the window with liberalism. And I'm not talking about being a "Democrat" as liberalism. Members of my family are Democrat and don't go along with many of the Liberal views in this society. I'm talking about the liberalism this country feels as it degrades itself. We, as a nation, have conditioned ourselves to everything wrong and immoral, because it is politically correct. Look where we are now... very incorrect.
My heart breaks for my kids and the next generation...
Stephanie