My whole point is, profiling, whether it be racial or not is wrong in and of itself. To profile a person is one thing, we all do it every day in our heads. To act upon that profiling without further justifying our actions, like not calling the SS agent's employers, is to lower ourselves to the level of animals.
The followup argument going around in my head is that, if we are profiling our own people, because they look like the enemy, then why stop there? Profiling is a weak response to the threat. Not only does it not effectively stop 100% possible hijackings, it also violates our civil rights. Two little wrongs, better than one big one? I guess this is the balance that all the newscasters have been talking about since day one, and the root of the debate. jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Dinowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:52 PM Subject: Re: We are in big trouble > My brother has 'standard' Semitic features; olive skin, dark hair, etc. My son has the same. Would they be victims of racial > profiling? Maybe. But when you start getting terrorists that are as white skinned as your average redhead then it'll all change. > It's a temporary fear factor. At least we're not lynching people en mass. > Yes, I know there have been some attacks but by and large there has been a very calm response. I don't see a rash of mosque > burnings, killings, beatings or a dozen other bad things I can imaging. All I'm seeing is some racial profiling. It might be > considered just as bad but it'll pass. And in many cases those profiled seem to not have much of a problem about it. > > > Ayn conveys my opinion in better words than I can ever hope to... > > > > "Like every form of determinism, racism invalidates the specific attribute > > which distinguishes man from all other living species: his rational faculty. > > Racism negates two aspects of man's life: reason and choice, or mind and > > morality, replacing them with chemical predestination." > > --Ayn Rand 1964 > > > > If we are going to start kicking every Arab looking person off of airlines, > > then let's stand up and say it not hide behind the new "profiling" buzzword. > > I mean, why should we even let one of those people on board? It doesn't > > matter who he works for, it's the color of his skin, right? I'd bet if we > > ban all Arab's from flying, the we won't have any more hijackings at all. > > > > jon ______________________________________________________________________ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
