Are you a John Doe or a Huff Po?

[JollyRoger]

So your just trolling. Nevermind then.

I'm making the point of the dangers of simple-minded John Doe Manifestos. If I'm sitting next to Malkin, I don't know her religion. I just know she looks like someone from the Philippines and that the Philippines has harbored terrorists. If I am following the John Doe Manifesto, I am not giving her the benefit of the doubt. My family's safety is more important than being politically correct.

Of course, I don't follow the John Doe Manifesto, but if enough people do, Malkin will eventually be "turned in" by one of them as a person that needs to be tossed from the plane.

 

[Cuivienen]

When coupled with other shady behavour it is suspicious. Its the whole picture people not just because they were muslim.

Were they? I see no shady behavior in the description. Shady behavior is reaching under your jacket repeatedly or having a large bulge on your pant leg or at your waist. Shady behavior is trying to sneak onto the plane before boarding or trying to avoid security checkpoints. Shady behavior is not asking to change seats.

 

[shortguy]

It's a crime to falsely report a crime. It's therefore also a crime to falsely report suspicious activity.

I don't agree. I think it would be more proper to say that, "It is a crime to lie in reporting a crime/suspicious activity." It's not a crime to report what you believe to be suspicious--regardless of whether it is merited--so long as your report is factually accurate.

 

[.Shane.]

Youre expecting too much from the Common Man. We're not all that much smarter than the geniuses who flew the planes into the towers.

No, I don't expect much at all. That's why so many droidiots support things like the "John Doe Manifesto".

So your just trolling. Nevermind then.

Aside from JR's explanation, I think the irony here is that Malkin's whole "Manifesto" is a troll itself.

 

[Brighteye]

Shady behavior is not asking to change seats.

That must make me very shady, since I generally don't pester the airlines with requests to change seats.

The problem here is that the passengers refused to fly with the imams. Reporting your suspicions is fine. But if the airline investigates them and tells you it's safe, you accept that decision and don't disrupt the airline's schedules by refusing to board.

All the passengers are responsible to the airline and the imams for the delay that their refusal etc. caused.
If there was no delay, and they were flown promptly after reporting their suspicions then they're not at fault, and the airline might be liable to the imams for delays in their travel.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Why not simply ban all muslims from planes? Or better yet make them sit at the back of the plane Behind bars and guarddogs and people chanting: "I am John Doe, I am John Doe".

Brighteye is spot on IMO. Reporting suspicion, sure. Be on your guard, fine. Notify the personel and let them look into the matter. After that, if the passengers refuse to fly with the imams, fine, get out, let other people board.

These guys also went through the security gates which are pretty strict. being muslim they would have had a more thorough check than other people. Do you think a terrorist would try to board in full Imam dress? Of course not. He'll dress up as a John Doe, happily chanting: "Yeah! I'm a John Doe!".

@Bozo, so if a plane has been blown up by dutchies who want New York back as New Amsterdam, do you think it's perfectly reasonable (mind you, reasonable not understandable) to treat me any different on airplanes because I'm dutch, checked through security and am walking around with clogs, tulips and a windmillhat singing: "Look at me, look at me, I'm a hippy dutchie"?

 

[colontos]

I'm making the point of the dangers of simple-minded John Doe Manifestos. If I'm sitting next to Malkin, I don't know her religion. I just know she looks like someone from the Philippines and that the Philippines has harbored terrorists. If I am following the John Doe Manifesto, I am not giving her the benefit of the doubt. My family's safety is more important than being politically correct.

Of course, I don't follow the John Doe Manifesto, but if enough people do, Malkin will eventually be "turned in" by one of them as a person that needs to be tossed from the plane.

If you are searching for willful ignorance, the above post is the place to start.

The six imams did some things that were not advisable, but should not have gotten them kicked off the plane: making a show of praying, chanting (not speaking!) in Arabic, making anti-American statements. Again, these are not advisable, but should not (and have not) get anyone kicked off of a plane.

But they also had one-way tickets, no baggage (except for one of them, IIRC) and sat in a pattern similar to that of the 9/11 hijackers. These are highly suspicious actions, and certainly merit caution. Again, these alone PROBABLY shouldn't get someone kicked off the plane.

BUT!

They asked for seatbelt extenders when they did not need them, and having received the extenders, did not use them, but placed them on the floor. These extenders can easily be used as weapons. This alone is enough to merit serious investigation. Coupled with all the other suspicious things, it is certainly appropriate to investigate them and remove them from the plane.

Did Malkin say to remove all Arabs? All Arabic speakers? All Muslims? Nope! She urged folks to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. And the behavior of the imams was HIGHLY suspicious.

But JollyRoger obviously has some unresolved issues with regards to race in general, or maybe only Filipinos, and this is a good chance for him to let off some steam. JR, your comparison is spurious, inaccurate, willfully misleading, and has racist overtones.

 

[colontos]

@Bozo, so if a plane has been blown up by dutchies who want New York back as New Amsterdam, do you think it's perfectly reasonable (mind you, reasonable not understandable) to treat me any different on airplanes because I'm dutch, checked through security and am walking around with clogs, tulips and a windmillhat singing: "Look at me, look at me, I'm a hippy dutchie"?

If you ask for a seatbelt extender and then place it on the floor in front of your seat, and there are 5 other fellows like you who do the same, then yes, certainly you should be treated with suspicion and possibly removed from the plane.

 

[JollyRoger]

But JollyRoger obviously has some unresolved issues with regards to race in general, or maybe only Filipinos, and this is a good chance for him to let off some steam. JR, your comparison is spurious, inaccurate, willfully misleading, and has racist overtones.

I am John Doe. I have a Manifesto. I don't do nuance. I do protect my family. Anti-multiculturalism good, Malkin bad.

 

[Mott1]

If denigrating those who support Malkin's John Doe Manifesto gives you good people some smug satisfaction, profound pleasure or even a sense of moral victory, then please continue with your magnanimous conduct. I don't know, perhaps calling someone a "droidiot" or a "dolt" somehow manages to soothe the burning animosity one harbors for those self-righteous conservative hatemongers, or maybe name calling is in actuality a modus of the valiant advocates of love and tolerance. In any case, I can oblige by entering the fray of dignified bombast and call you clueless jihad enablers or Islamist bed pal's. This will most assuredly be ill recieved and met with bitter castigation. We will bandy around insults and then in the end you can call me a racist. We can then summon all the little 7th and 8th graders to join in on the fun, because after all, name calling is the expertise of the adolescent.

It seems that the denigration of people who express different views is enthusiastically applauded by many of the like-minded individuals who vehemently disapprove Malkin's manifesto. The manifesto is not directed at any particular race, it censures an ideology that is in conflict with your own. If you stop viewing the world in a prism of race, maybe then you will come to understand this. Racism is a word that is thrown around so frequently and so carelessly that it has begun to lose its true meaning. Accusing those who strongly oppose racism of being racist is very telling of the accuser.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Once again, two extremes where I walk down the middle.

I know several muslims, and they are all as friendly as anyone else. I admit to feeling guilty paranoia about this kind of thing. Considering the miniscule number of Muslims who have hijacked planes compared to the number who travel by plane, it's not much more logical than troubling Dutch travelers.

(Plus the fact that I'm of Dutch descent. )

On the other hand, a bunch of the John Doe stuff is appealing and logical. But much of it is negative stereotyping of Muslims.

So I'd have to say 'neither'. I'm my own independently-thinking person, along with many others.