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I thought it was supposed to be global warming :eek2:
Why are you conflating the two?
Nobody is suggesting it's a case of race. Rather, it's a case of religion.
Most people are actually capable of distinguishing between Muslims and (say) Sikhs or Hindus.
For instance, in this very case they seem to have based their assumption that they were dangerous terrorists on the fact that they spoke Arabic, were the 'right colour' and 'behaved suspiciously'.
Given that some of them can't even tell a paediatrician and a paedophile apart forgive me for doubting their ability to judge correctly.
Not that a full-beard, card-carrying Muslim should arise anyone's suspicions anyway. The day we reach that level we'd better close down shop.
If not racists certainly prejudiced idiots. There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in this country. Anyone needs to engage only a small proportion of their brain to realise that a) statiscally only a very small minority indeed are would-be bombers b) the chances of encountering two of them after clearing high alert airport security are about as high as Wayne Rooney winning Mastermind.
I'm sorry, there are no two ways about it. This is no different from seeing a black person (at an airport, no less) and assuming they're going to mug you as soon as you go to the toilet, or a white man who is about to mug you/rape you/kill you. It's bigoted, ignorant and prejudiced.
I'd say far bigger threats, many times over, that you and I as individuals face are being violently attacked by drunken white males on the street or robbed by black crack addicts. Does that justify you being afraid of either group? And at an airport for good measure?
According to reports by the BBC from comments made by someone on the plane. This 'suspicious' behaviour was going to sit down, deciding to sit somewhere else, then deciding that the first place to sit was really for the best. Have they never seen an old lady on the bus ?
The terrorist threat gets more coverage and I'm not sure about the psychology behind it, but the threat of getting blown up on the plane is a lot more scarier to the human mind than the two mentioned above, even though there's fuck all chance of the former happening.
Quite possibily cos the first place they sat down people stared at them, so they moved on and more people stared at them.
or maybe like me they moved around to see all the different planes out of the window
Heath Schofield, an industrial chemical salesman from Cheshire, who was travelling with his wife and two daughters, Emily, 15, and Isobel, 12, said some passengers had become alarmed by the men's appearance. "We were coming back to Britain with a load of people in flipflops and shorts but the two men were wearing jumpers and leather jackets," he said.
Actually if it was me I'd dress the same way if I was going on a flight from Spain to the UK knowing that the weather in the UK is crap and cold that day... and usually that the airconditioning on the plane is freezing most of the time.
If anything you'd look a right prat coming off the plane on a freezing cold day in England in flip flops and shorts and then making your way home in that kind of outfit.
What the hell is a funny-looking Islamic man????
Apart from being a defamatory and a racist remark, it's simply stupid!
Presumably Muslim men wearing coats in the summer, speaking Arabic, checking their watches and changing seats.
Or, ever been at an airport where they're bording people by rows, gone up to the front of the queue to have a listen for what row they're checkin in now, sit down, realise that they're gonna start checkin in your row soonish so goin to sit nearer to where you'll join the queue, joining the queue at the back, realsie you're the last lot to be boarded anyway so instead of standing for ages you might as well sit down and get back in the queue right at the last minute? Up, down, front, back, chatting to your mate- ooh so suspicious...
Yup gotta agree, happened to me loads of times - they say something from the fornt desk and you have to go nearer to hear what they're saying..
If this was on a tube train or something then fair enough but these men along with everyone else had been checked and gone through metal detectors I pressume, etc
Even if these guys wore jackets and jumpers they'd have been checked anyway through the metal detector.
As it is airport security is such a hassle these days when I fly I don't even wear a belt cos I know the buckle will set off the alarms.
The fact these men aren't wearing shorts could well do with their race, maybe they're not in Spain for a sun tan. Maybe their bodies are naturally able to adapt better to hot climates and so they don't need to resort to wear shorts to keep cool. Their brown skin helps protect them from skin cancer. People aren't all the same - the various races have evolved to suit their natural enviroments and passenger planes have only been around about 50 years - our bodies have taken thousands of years to evolve.
People aren't all the same... people from all over the world are different. When I go to visit relatives of mine that live in Kenya they're shivering whilst I find it's baking hot. When I was on holiday in Spain I was sweating like mad, whilst the locals looked perfectly fine.
The fact is if the captain of the plane took control most of the people would fall into line and seen sense. Instead it looks like the Captain took the easy way out.
It sounds a bit nuts to me. So if you saw a little old lady hobbling towards you you'd be wary?
Why is everyone scared to walk anywhere. No one walks anywhere any more. I think we should all start walking and then more people would and people wouldn't feel the need to congratulate me just because I'm not scared to go out after dark.
I walk about after dark, its no big deal really as long as you dont live in one of the rare dodgy parts of the UK. Most places are really quite safe.
I avoid going out after dark, & I always check through the peephole before opening the door. If I don't know the person no way do I open the door.
I might draw the line at feeble old ladies, but TBH I'd still be wary - it's not unknown for criminals to use innocent-looking people as decoys.
I live in a nice area now but for the last 6 years after I left home I lived in some of the shittiest inner city areas of Birmingham. In winter when it's dark at 4:30 you can't really avoid going out and I certainly never allowed fear to force me to stay inside when I was going to meet friends/to work.
Night time doesn't really make a difference, apart from there being fewer people around. I was assaulted in the middle of the day out of the blue, couldn't have done anything to change that.
Maybe the old lady is really a 6 foot mugger dressed up and hunched over.
Anyway, rough things happen everywhere but are usually between people who know each other. There was quite a lot of shootings where I used to live, and while it wasn't great, it didn't particularly affect me as it was to do with drugs/gangs and wasn't going to happen to me.
Either way, regarding the actual case here - I am in two minds.
Logically I understand that it was wrong to treat these guys so badly with no evidence etc. On the other hand, the situation reminds me of coming back from Israel 4 or 5 years ago, after experiencing bombs flying everywhere, and we were stood outside school talking and this arabic man was wearing a huuuuuge coat (it was april-may, and I myself have enough middle-eastern blood in me to be cold when everyone is stripping off cause they see two rays of sun) and I went into a panic cause I seriously thought he was going to blow us up.
Logic and the human mind are two different things. In some cases it's better to be safe than sorry - though the actual point of focuse here should be how they justify not just re-checking the guys but taking them away for further investigation - surely it shows a flaw in security if they find it wasn't good enough the first time.
What on earth are you on about you silly little smoggy?
Aladdin, no, the actions once the men were off the plane were not justified. But if passengers were reporting suspicious behaviour the men should have been removed and searched. The police would not have been doing their job if the suspicious behaviour was not investigated.
The men were treated badly, but in the current climate I cannot blame the passengers for being scared. And the reason why the men were treated badly was not because of racism or bigotry, it was because the terrorists now are Arabic men.
What I said was that the actions of the passengers was understandable. There have been several high profile cases of Muslim bombers getting on planes, through all that security, and I think it is perfectly understandable that people would be jumpy about two men speaking in Arabic, moving around the plane and wearing seriously unseasonal clothes. It is suspicious behaviour, especially a week after a major terrorist plot.
In the current climate certain behaviour will attract suspicion, and that has got NOTHING to do with racism. If Arabic men keep trying to blow people up, people are going to be scared of Arabic men, its not rocket science.
Pakistan is in the peculiar situation that it's an Islamic State. Other countries in Central Asia like India are not. It's not surprising you'll get some of these nutters from Pakistan. Most are Arabic though.