DW&F: Chris Rock and Racism

Hello everyone!

I don't feel like composing much of an intro today, so let's just get to it...

Daily Win and FAIL!

Win: Classic Chris Rock

(Warning: potty mouth language)

FAIL: Racism

I posted the above clip because I was reminded of it after reading this:

9 Muslim Passengers Removed From Jet
Others on Flight Say a Remark Was 'Suspicious'

Here's the gist of the story: A group of six adults and three children got onto an airplane. One of the adults mentioned that his seat was right near the jet engines. Someone paranoid eavesdropper overheard this and complained to the airline staff. The airline staff then kicked all nine of them off the plane, and the airport security detained them until the FBI showed up and questioned them.

Did I mention they were all Muslims of South Asian descent? The men had full beards and the women wore scarves on their heads. Scary, eh?

If that wasn't bad enough, after the FBI cleared them of any wrongdoing, the airline refused to book them a new flight, so they had to scramble at the last moment to find another airline to get where they were going. At least the original airline was "nice" enough to give them a refund.

Did I also mention that these people were American citizens taking a flight from Washington, DC to Orlando?

If any Muslims who thought they were off the hook just because a guy with the name "Barack Hussein Obama" was elected president of the US, or because most of the bigotry seems to be focused on gays and Mexicans these days, they can think again. As Chris Rock says, "That train is never late."

Here's what we can learn from this incident: If you look Muslim-ish, South Asian, or Middle Eastern (presumably), that's enough of a reason to throw you off an airplane, and have the FBI detain and question you. That's also enough reason to continue to ban you once your name has been cleared. But if you overreact to something you overheard while eavesdropping on someone else's conversation, or if you simply are racist and think all people who look Muslim-ish, South Asian, or Middle Eastern are terrorists, you get to stay on your flight.

I realize that one of the Muslim people mentioned something about the safety of one of the engines, but really, if a white person had said the same thing, would he or she have been kicked off? Hell, I've probably said "worse" on an airplane, and no one even batted an eye since I'm about as white-looking as it gets, not to mention cute and lovable.

No, the issue is that there is a different set of rules for people who look Muslim-ish, South Asian, or Middle Eastern. That, my friends, is racism in a nutshell. FAIL!





Well, that went way longer than I had originally planned. And of course the FAIL section is much longer than the Win section. What can I say? I guess I just like to complain.

Rob