Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until asians are removed

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I'd look at you even more oddly if you called an Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, or Bangladeshi person a 'caucasian'. In the world of cricket, we would refer to those people collectively as being from the 'subcontinent', but also as 'Asian'. I think 'Middle Eastern' is a bit silly as well, because the Middle East is more your Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon part of the world.

There are significantly more people from the subcontinent than there are in the whole of North and South America put together so the collective name used for them is even more relevant and important than it is for "America" (which was the subject of a whole separate thread).

 

I seem to remember that there were a few people on SP that are from that part of the world. Anyone here from those countries that can tell us what YOU preferred to be called?

 

Well, some part of Turkey is on Europe but a greater part is on Asia. We are just north of Iraq and Syria so we can be counted as middle eastern too. Actually i don't care if someone calls me as 'Middle Eastern' , 'Asian' , 'European' or 'Chuck Norris' . (the last one is preferable though)

 

My sentiments exactly, it's an absolute disgrace. And seeing them trying to justify it on TV was laughable.

At least the two lads seem reasonably relaxed about it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5278210.stm

[ August 23, 2006, 16:16: Message edited by: Carcaroth ]

 

They stood around waiting with everyone else and that is 'intimidating'? Why? Because they are Asian?

They went under their seats. Wow! Did they perhaps put one of their bags under there? No, of course not, they must be preparing a bomb because they are Asian.

They were laughing? Christ, young lads laughing together? Whatever next? Ok everyone, note this down, whenver you see Asian men laughing together on a plane, it means they are getting ready to blow the thing up.

Pathetic. Surely they could find a better way to try and hide their racism than this. Knobheads

 

Cacaroth and Barmy Army, at least your both making sense of the situation. I just wish there were more educated people who would understand that not all muslims are terrorists. If they were terrorists then what security checks were done on all the passengers before boarding the plane ? I thought all bags were checked anyway, but clearly these passengers thought better than the airplane staff.

 

The main problem with most ignorant people is that they believe the Muslim religion is one based off suicide bombing and other terrorist activities. If I remember correctly (any Muslims on the board please correct me on my wording) the Qur'an states that one should tolerate those around them that are different, not try to kill them. Hell, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and countless other people are Islamic, if the Muslim religion was the way my scared American brethren saw it, there wouldn't be too many people left on the planet.

[ August 23, 2006, 21:41: Message edited by: Ironmancal2131 ]

 

@Ironmancal2131. I agree with you completely. Islam being the religion for Muslims teaches us to be tolerant of all people regardless of who they are. The arabic words Islam and Allah translate as peace and God (same god as in christianity) respectively. And Islam has a strong connection with Christianity as both religions believe in Jesus. Terrorists who commit atrocious activities in the name of Islam, whilst using the reason Jihad (war against evil), Iraq, Afghanistan or whatever reason are not muslims. They are murdering scum.

 

It looks like those guys are not the only ones:

and

[ August 24, 2006, 17:28: Message edited by: Cúchulainn ]

 

Barmy Army, it seems your name is a good reflection of most Brits these days. Barmy: they're utterly loony/stupid. Army: there's alot of them.

The last Muslim Arab I saw was yesterday, I smlied at him and let him cross over my lane while driving home. He smiled and waved back. They're NORMAL BLOODY PEOPLE... *sigh*

 

Just when I think I've found a new low for Americans and Pommies...I see this.

Bravo you guys! You are truly global citizens!

Edit: I was really angry when I said that...but the sentiment still stands..except, it obviously doesn't apply to all you guys on here who are obviously not the kind of people we read about in that article.

Now, I'm having second thoughts about studying in the UK as well...where else can I go do my MBA in peace do you reckon?

 

You could do a lot worse than N.Ireland

 

Yeah you shot yourself in the foot there, Faraaz

 

Have you ever noticed how when you start screaming in the street, people just look at you, but if you start screaming on an aeroplane, everybody joins in?


The pair appeared on british morning TV yesterday. They were bored and fooling about in the departure area.

I am speculating here, but it is possible that their erratic, attention seeking behaviour drew more concerned and suspicious looks than it warranted. I am also guessing that this reaction only served to encourage the duo to act even more suspiciously. Winding other passengers up would give them instant payback for any dirty looks they may have gotten.

The only problem was that the pair were acting like jerks on an aeroplane, not in the street.

Is it possible that a reluctant suicide bomber would try and draw as much attention to himself as they could without actually claiming to have a bomb, so that they would be caught and prevented form killing themselves?

It was right for the pair to be removed from the plane to be questioned about their behaviour. Of course they are OK about the whole incident, they provoked it afterall for ****s and giggles, not realising how serious the repercussions would be.

It reminds me off the scene in Jaws were a pair of kids decide that it would be fun to strap a fin to their backs and go swiming by the beach.

People may find it hard to believe that anyone could be so daft as to do what they did, and chose to put the blame elsewhere. But once you see these guys being interviewed, and listen to them telling half-truths on national television you realise that they have an limitless supply of daft on tap.

In this incident everything was done correctly and anyone in authority who says differently should be challanged to find out exactly what their agenda is and whether or not they are fit to hold the position that they do.

(Due to the duo's persistant telling of half-truths and the media's need to sensationalise the story it is perfectly understandable to think that a feasible issue has become a real problem. This is not the case.)

[ August 25, 2006, 20:52: Message edited by: Ahrontil ]

 

Well, as far as we can tell from the article:
1. They were speaking what seemed to be Arabic... so is it wrong to speak one own's mother tongue? And the people weren't even sure. For all you know, they weren't even speaking Arabic!
2. They have beards, long hair, look scruffy, wear thick jackets and jumpers... nobody told me about any dress code in airports.
3. They have an Asian appearance... would you like it if you were singled out for your race? I wouldn't. And its racism.
4. They were regularly checking their watches... so? I check my watch all the time. Especially when I am waiting for something (be it a plane, bus, whatever).

But I have to admit, I haven't watch the interviews and can't make any comments on it.

 

1. The language was Urdu, from Pakistan. They are both fluent in English, being Britons and all.

2. One has a George Michael style stubble/beard. They both looked scruffy and out of place because they had been on a day trip from Manchester to Malaga. During the day they had been drinking and eating at McDonalds. They didn't have a change of clothes or anywhere to clean up. They would have looked completely out of place beside all the lightly dressed and rested holiday makers returning home.

3. They are Britons of Asian origin. They claim never to have experienced racism before. Due to their erratic behaviour after a Spanish beano it is unlikely that they actually experienced racism this time. They were discriminated against for being odd, unkempt, erratic and anti-social. Was that fair? I have never seen a civil rights march for nerds before. Maybe its time to start campaigning.

4. Checking their watches would give this pair hours of amusement, I have no reason to doubt they were doing it manically. Its almost as much fun as standing in the check-in queue for 40 mins until you reach the front desk then deciding to go to the back again. In their defence I must admit they were obviously tired. Tired enough to lie down on the terminal floor.

Communication is at least 50% non-verbal so regardless of what was said, the way it was said would have a large impact on how people receive what you tell them.They ignored the woman who was sitting in the aisle seat beside them until she eventually managed to engage them in conversation (conversation isn't a big thing amongst racists who don't need information to form an opinion about someone).

The result of that conversation (verbal and non-verbal) was that the woman believed that these men posed a possible threat to the lives of the people on board the plane. At some stage she may come forward and tell the world what was said. While the boys laughed at her discomfort, she talked to the pilot and got off the plane.

After half an hour the now sheepish men where taken for questioning, a meal and a night in a hotel, effectively doubling the length of their cheapskate holiday, so a good result all round really.

[ August 25, 2006, 23:39: Message edited by: Ahrontil ]

 

They didn't do anything illegal, the airport staff - professionals when it comes to identifying potential threats - didn't see their actions as suspect.

The woman talked to them and said that she thought they were terrorists? Good LORD how stupid is she? I can picture it now if they WERE terrorists...

"I think you're terrorists."
;"Damn! We've been found out, Mohommad!"
*Click* *BOOM!*

Looking at ones watch, speaking in whatever language you want, laughing at being called a terrorist are NOT illegal actions and aren't reasons for suspecting somebody is a terrorist or not. The only reason they were suspected of being terrorists is because they're Asian. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

 

Crap, can you even blame a pilot for not willing to risk his own AND the pasengers' lifes ? If these guys deliberately acted suspicious, they are fully responsible for this whole thing. Jokes are cool, but not on a plane, not in this day and age.

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004581897,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3837455.stm
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/10/1060454064016.html

I could go on googling pages that prove that joking about bombs in an airport is at best not tolerated and at worst illegal. The small sample above should show that the zero tolerance rule applies to everyone regardless of age, nationality or job.

It is alleged that the woman in the aisle seat had heard them saying it was the last 30 minutes of their lives.

Why should it be stupid of her to assume that the men were telling the truth, when the exact same response would have been given by the highly trained airport staff that Abomination just cited as being the professionals?

The news presenter doing the interview asked the men if was it a prank?

One of them replied in a defensive tone that if it was a prank it had worked.

The news presenter asked again, was it a prank?

The man answered again, if it was a prank then it had worked.

The way I understood his deliberately vague answer was that in his opinion the woman had fallen for his joke because she was a racist. Abomination seems to think it was because she was both stupid and a racist.

The simple fact is it was not her responsibility to determine whether or not the men were joking. Nor was it the responsibilty of anyone on that plane. If I was flying I would feel betrayed by any passenger who saw fit to take that decision upon themselves though ignorance or fear. Every threat in an airport is deemed to be real and is investigated as such. Not reporting the men would have been the stupid and cowardly thing to do.

If the men alluded to their own death occuring on that plane in any fashion, even to scare someone who they perceived as being blatantly racist, then they bear the full responsiblity for being taken off the flight.

If they did no such thing, and only goofed around in the departure hall to such an extent that their bizarre behaviour (and I mean the sum total of all of it, not he tiny bits people seem to be cherry picking out of context) managed to spook some of the other passengers, then the other passengers have every right to demand that that reason for that behaviour is thoroughly investigated. It does not make those passengers racist, unless Jerk has now become a new race.

The full story is not yet out in the public domain, and I do not think that the main people involved want it to be. It will probably make both sides look stupid and guilty while the world chews them up to feed news columns and some people's sundry political machinations. It would also make a good sketch on the Ali G show.

[ August 26, 2006, 08:53: Message edited by: Ahrontil ]