Travelling Whilst Asian

[mushroom25]

There have now been 2 instances of what Chief Supt Ali Dizaei might call "guilty of travelling whilst Asian",

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/ 5259264.stm
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5267884.stm

Hysteria, or justifiable caution?

[Oneeyedvic]

Hysteria - a bit like this one from April: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4879918.stm

[Monster-S]

Whos fault is that then?

[noxlumos]

I just typed an enoermous fact filled amswer and to be honest can't be bothered to do it again as the site timed out, but the gist is in 13 years al-Qaeda have killed an average of 29 people per month WORLDWIDE even in times of low security and I'm also attriubuting things to them they may not actually have comitted so the figure may be even lower.
You are more likely to win the lottery 3 times on the trot than be killed by anything Al-Qaeda does, so YES absolute hysteria which will lead to race wars on the streets and more and more deaths as a result.
We need to protect our tolerant country not buy into the terrorists hands with this mass stupidity.
You have 29 chances of being killed by Al-Qaeda out of 6,531,824,974. If that was a lottery would you buy a ticket or would you laugh and say that's never going to happen?
I'm not saying don't be careful and vigilant but let's just drop the hysteria and get on with life.

[scotstone]

Muslim terrorists are responsible for all the fear in travelling, so can any Asian Muslims complain if there is a backlash against them. I can understand their point of view so why can't they appreciate the travelling public's concerns and fears.

[THECORBYLOON]

Is one of the recent suspects not white? How would you deal with that then?

[dyli795]

........... There's wanting to impose a monoculture on humanity, .............. now THAT'S ludicrous and absurd !

[sandbach99]

According to 2 passengers on the plane on tonights ITV news the passengers removed from the aircraft were waring heavy clothing, kept looking at their watches and the floor and went from the front of the queue to the back and then went and sat on their own.
But most importantly their conversation had been overheard by someone who understood arabic and they were alarmed by what they heard.

I do not believe that Nox, and the others that say it is hysteria, think so little of their lives that they would happily travel with someone who made them suspicious that they may be suicide bombers.

Try telling those killed in the Twin Towers or the London Tube that they have more chance of getting the lottery 3 times than being killed by a suicide bomber.

[jaberwocky]

no wonder people are wary of muslims.did any of the 7/7 bombers seem out of place to others. no,they appeared to be just as normal as anyone else.could anyone tell whether the muslim sitting next to them is carrying a bomb or like most muslims just going from A to B.

[dyli795]

Noxlumos, you have to be in it to win it.

[THECORBYLOON]

The way folk are going on about Muslims, anyone wi a tan and speaking a foreign language is likely to be hoyed off a plane at the slightest excuse. As I mentioned earlier, one of the recent terrorist suspects is a white Briton. Does that mean that ALL white British folk will be treated as potential terrorists now?

If folk continue to treat all Muslims or those assumed to be Muslims, as potential terrorists and anti-Westerners, it will become self-fulfilling as those antagonised will react.

[scotstone]

Corbyloon - How will those antagonised react? Will it be by threatening to kill the antagonisers by blowing them out of the sky. I thought that was the existing situation.

[THECORBYLOON]

If as a child you are constantly telt you are worthless, will amount to nothing or an evil so and so what happens? You begin to believe it, the same will happen to Muslims. If you hate them so much will you be surprised if they react? Instead of fearing Muslims, learn more about them, show you trust them and they will think more of you.

[tara20]

Read above, replace "Muslims" with "Christians" (or anyone else for that matter and it still applies). Tolerance can only work if it's exercised on both sides. Why are we expected to welcome people who proceed to walk all over
the things we value?

[jgs]

Muslims dont want to learn more about 'us'. Muslims would only think more of us if we were muslims.

[brachiopod]

Sandbach99 - these witnesses that said "they were wearing heavy clothing and looking at their watches" - are they reliable? Could they actually speak Arabic themselves and heard it first-hand, or did they just hear from someone, that sat next to someone who was told by someone else that stood in the queue next to someone who spoke Arabic?

Did they happen to be the same witnesses that were at Stockwell tube last year and saw a certain Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, "wearing a thick, heavy jacket and leaping the ticket barrires pursued by police shouting at him to stop" ?

These were all statements made by witnesses to the media within minutes of the incident happening - yet not one element of the above was true.

[noxlumos]

Dyli, We are all in a great big lottery everyday, all I was saying is that in the big scheme of things you are massively unlikely to meet your end at the hands of al-Qaeda. Now I foolishly assumed that people would be overjoyed at that but obviously a lot of people don't want to hear it because you know what, I actually think that some people , not just on here, but generally throughout the country are enjoying their little burst of adrenaline because the country is on high alert even though they appreciate that the reality is there is no significant danger, it gives them an excuse to get all wound up and, they think, gives them an excuse to have a pop at a group they probably didn't much like in the first place.
And before you tell me how preposterous that is, I've see it in Belfast. A riot starts, and before you know it your local bank manager is there hurling bricks about and plenty of other "respectable" people. Why do they not just stay indoors, safe from the bombs and the bullets? Because a minority fcuking well enjoy it, and this whole anti-Muslim thing is starting to look as sick to be honest.
There will be witch hunts on both sides and you will pay the price, in the form of the disintegration of what was a very good multi-ethnic society.Then you'll really understand what trouble is, and you will have brought it on yourselves because good people will not stand back and be villified and persecuted because of the odd rotten apples they have in their communities.Just please wake u[p and see where this hatred is heading.

[andy-hughes]

Increasingly, the UK media are buying into the 'fear factor' that has influenced the American media for decades.

Since the Kenedy administration, Americans have been told that other countries wish them harm, and they must act first - hence Viet Nam, and Iraq, and now, President Bush's 'War On Terror'.

I believe terrorism to be a matter of persective - if you are an Israeli, then Hezbollah are 'terrorists', and vice versa, but just because Bush was democratically (in theory!) elected, does not give him the right to be the world's police force and insist on everyone living in 'freedom' because he thinks it's a good idea. Remember, this is a man who opposes abortion, so 'freedom' is another perspective issue.

The simple fact is, the bombs and assassinations cannot be stopped. The way forward to is examine the situation in whcih fanaticism is allowed to thrive, and stop festering this ignorance and mistrust on all sides - that is the way forward.

If Bush stopped spouting about his 'war on terror' - just how useless and foolish is that phrase - and started trying to co-exist with other races who do actually have a right to their space on the earth as well, everything would be much improved.

It has often been said we get the media we deserve, and as a nation of paranoid slef-righteous xzenophobes, that is more true now than ever.

[Rock'n'Roll]

I liked the arline pilots spokesmans response. He said passengers shouldn't be doing their own profiling,and if they were dubious about other passengers,then they themselves shouldn't have flown. Just a mad guess,but I reckon anyone wanting to inflict damage isn't going to be acting overly suspiciously

[scotstone]

Noxlumos I see from your argument that unless the general public stop being frightened of the Islamic terrorists and their 250000 covert supportors in this country they will take to the streets and threaten them with beheadings, explosions and sundry terror. A case of the floggings will continue until morale improves!