Or two letters: P.C.
A picture's worth a thousand words
Sunday September 23, 2007
Categories: Islamic terrorism
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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And while the most recent spat of terrorism has been at the hands of people from the Middle East, it hasn't always been that way nor can you just single out brown men and women in looking at even recent worldwide terrorism. It seems to me that a nun would insist on being searched as a model of moral responsibility and goodwill.
Yeah, it is worth a thousand words, but I'm not certain that PC is (are?) among them. As many of the commenters note, Muslim extremists are not the only terrorists in the history of the world, even recent history. While young Middle Eastern men may be a comparatively greater risk than any other demographic group right now, it would be foolish to pretend that they are the only threat. One can simultaneously believe that it's fine to pay extra attention to Arabs and Muslims while simultaneously ensuring that security pays attention to all passengers. I think most people overestimate their ability to distinguish among ehtnic groups. Do a Google image search for "Ziad Jarrah." Jarrah was the hijacker believed to have piloted the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11. Jarrah could have passed for "John Smith," or, at the very least, Italian/Greek/Latino. It's not PC, it's common sense. If it becomes clear that only swarthy stereotypically Arab-looking males are drawing enhanced scrutiny, then the terrorists will find people who don't look like that.
It's a funny picture, but I can't disagree with the principle of random searches. John M's especially on target. In light of the disruption of the German terrorist plot, which involved converts who'd blend in nicely at Oktoberfest, complete with lederhosen, you have to cast a pretty wide net.
Oh, and El Al has a deterrent culture built in: personal interviews with each passenger, combat training for all of the crews, and so forth. That's an approach your American flying cattle car companies with their razor-thin margins aren't going to do.
"Oh, and El Al has a deterrent culture built in: personal interviews with each passenger, combat training for all of the crews, and so forth. That's an approach your American flying cattle car companies with their razor-thin margins aren't going to do."
You are very likely, and probably disastrously, correct.
"It's not PC, it's common sense. If it becomes clear that only swarthy stereotypically Arab-looking males are drawing enhanced scrutiny, then the terrorists will find people who don't look like that."
Exactly. And also further evidence how intellectually lazy it is to toss around meaningless terms like P.C. It makes for good red-meat barbs in conservative elite circles, but is ultimately meaningless.
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