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College Student Is Removed From Flight After Speaking Arabic on Plane

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College Student Is Removed From Flight After Speaking Arabic on Plane

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Old Apr 19, 2016, 2:37 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by chollie
(bolding mine)

The pax speaks perfectly good English. WN pulled in an 'Arabic-speaking' employee as CYA, nothing more, as though no 'Arabic' speaker would ever discriminate against or bully another 'Arabic' speaker.
Indeed. His classes at UC-Berkeley are certainly not going to be all in Arabic. And he's not there studying as an EFL/ESL student.

Just because someone fluent in English has a foreign accent when speaking English doesn't mean they need to be "handled" in their non-English language. CYA indeed is what this seems to be.

Originally Posted by WorldLux
Furthermore claiming that the passenger understood arabic is like claiming she understood one of the many Germanic or Latin languages. There are still huge differences from one language to another.
Vert true. For example, modern Moroccan Arabic isn't always all that intelligible to speakers of some spoken version of Arabic spoken by non-Arabs in India, Thailand or Iran. Given this is California, it wouldn't surprise me if the airline pulled a Persian "Arabic speaker".

Last edited by GUWonder; Apr 19, 2016 at 2:46 pm
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 3:53 pm
  #17  
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Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was interviewed on KPCC's Take Two this morning.

While I'm still sympathetic to him, he came across like he has a chip on his shoulder. That was quite apparent when he described the call that he received from Southwest after the incident became public. He refused to discuss the matter with the airline representative who called him unless they apologized first.

The audio is available here:
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 4:54 pm
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Originally Posted by TWA884
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was interviewed on KPCC's Take Two this morning.

While I'm still sympathetic to him, he came across like he has a chip on his shoulder. That was quite apparent when he described the call that he received from Southwest after the incident became public. He refused to discuss the matter with the airline representative who called him unless they apologized first.

The audio is available here:
Why shouldn't he have a chip on his shoulder? Southwest pulls him off the plane. The Feds subject him to a long interrogation, after which they determine that he's no threat to anyone. Southwest still refuses to allow him to fly, even though he's not a threat, and forces him to buy a walk-up fare on another airline. I have no problem with him wanting an apology first.

(Disclaimer: I didn't listen to the interview.)
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 4:59 pm
  #19  
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I read about it before hearing it. In his shoes, I would be darned upset. I, too, would have absolutely nothing to say to WN until they issued an apology.

If WN truly thinks they did nothing wrong, what is there to talk about?

If WN recognizes that this was badly handled, then they should issue the appropriate apology and then ask for discussion.

I don't have data, but I have read that many lawsuits are initiated because someone was too arrogant to simply apologize. I can understand why people are encouraging him to sue - it may be his only means of getting a much-deserved apology.
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 5:11 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by TWA884
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was interviewed on KPCC's Take Two this morning.

While I'm still sympathetic to him, he came across like he has a chip on his shoulder. That was quite apparent when he described the call that he received from Southwest after the incident became public. He refused to discuss the matter with the airline representative who called him unless they apologized first.

The audio is available here:
What was up with the FBI agent allegedly wanting the booted passenger to apologize? Was it to apologize for using a phone at an inappropriate time on the plane?

If a person were booted off a plane for speaking a foreign language and looking like a "foreigner" of some sort, then the booted passenger having a chip on their shoulder is more normal than not having one.

It's rather natural to have a feeling of having been wronged under such circumstances.
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 5:17 pm
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Seems paranoia has overtaken the general population in the "superpower" of the world

Really sad that some of these people don't realize there are other languages in the world.
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 5:39 pm
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Originally Posted by TWA884
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was interviewed on KPCC's Take Two this morning.

While I'm still sympathetic to him, he came across like he has a chip on his shoulder. That was quite apparent when he described the call that he received from Southwest after the incident became public. He refused to discuss the matter with the airline representative who called him unless they apologized first.

The audio is available here:
He doesn't have a chip on his shoulder. He is steamed, or up in arms, or fit to be tied, or riled up, or hot under the collar. Someone with a chip on his shoulder is looking for a grievance - putting a chip on his shoulder and going around looking for someone, or daring someone, to knock it off. This guy has a legitimate grievance, and is reacting to it mildly, but firmly.

They told him he shouldn't speak Arabic, it's dangerous to speak Arabic.

He said no, that's what Islamophobia has gotten this country into.

They told him he wasn't getting back on the plane, and then called the FBI.

FBI told him he should apologize.

Said next time, don't speak on your phone.

Flew home on Delta.

Dignity cannot be bought. They need to apologize, admit there is a problem.

Not going to let ignorance change this country, going to battle Islamophobia with knowledge and education - going to pay this country back for the great opportunities and education it gave him, something he never received before, by standing up for human dignity and making the country better.


I want somebody to explain to me how speaking Arabic is supposed to be dangerous.
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 9:37 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by TWA884
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was interviewed on KPCC's Take Two this morning.

While I'm still sympathetic to him, he came across like he has a chip on his shoulder. That was quite apparent when he described the call that he received from Southwest after the incident became public. He refused to discuss the matter with the airline representative who called him unless they apologized first.

The audio is available here:
According to what Makhzoomi told USA TODAY College, Southwest called him to appologize, but he wouldn't let them:
“Islamaphobia is on the rise in this country, and if we don’t call it by name — if we don’t recognize that we have a problem — we will not be able to solve it,” says Makhzoomi, who says Southwest called him trying to apologize, but that he wanted them to read a statement publicly saying they discriminated against him. He told them to reach out to his lawyers.
As I wrote earlier, he has a chip on his shoulder.
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Old Apr 19, 2016, 11:19 pm
  #24  
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He may want a public statement of apology because he wants to be publicly exonerated in ways that reduce any ambiguity in the public domain about whether and how Southwest has wronged him or not.

If Southwest wants to apologize for his public humiliation on a wrongful basis, then the public apology would mean a lot more than some private non-apology for the action couched in language of "we apologize that you felt offended".

In his shoes, I'd want the same thing. And it's a sign he's no idiot and realizes how meaninglessness a non-public "apology" can be.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 1:02 am
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consider for a moment you were dressed like a commando on the phone with your mom in English would you get detained and questioned if you said in mumbled English, "....i'm a martyr....."


Originally Posted by TWA884
According to an audio report on KPCC's Take Two, the meddling ignoramus thought that she heard Makhzoomi say shahid (martyr) when in actuality he said inshallah ("God willing" - a common Arabic expression).
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 1:18 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by JackInThePlane
consider for a moment you were dressed like a commando on the phone with your mom in English would you get detained and questioned if you said in mumbled English, "....i'm a martyr....."
He wasn't dressed like a commando on the job.

Martyr or scapegoat.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 5:43 am
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From today's WaPo:

Flight attendants are trained extensively in evaluating suspicious behavior with videos, checklists, quizzes and drills. (And drills and drills and drills.) The training infuses you with an automatic paranoid vigilance that follows you forever and insists you take all threats seriously, as the cost of being wrong is too high. But nowhere does it recommend you accept a passenger’s assessment of a situation, and nowhere does it teach that speaking Arabic is cause for suspicion.
Racism and flight attendants
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 5:47 am
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Originally Posted by TWA884
According to what Makhzoomi told USA TODAY College, Southwest called him to appologize, but he wouldn't let them:
As I wrote earlier, he has a chip on his shoulder.
As well he should. Good for him.

Last edited by petaluma1; Apr 20, 2016 at 6:09 am
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 6:13 am
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Originally Posted by TWA884
According to what Makhzoomi told USA TODAY College, Southwest called him to appologize, but he wouldn't let them:
As I wrote earlier, he has a chip on his shoulder.
That isn't what "chip on his shoulder" means. Look it up. What you mean by "chip on his shoulder" is that he isn't responding to the offense against him in the way you want him to. But I haven't found a dictionary that defines the phrase that way.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 6:16 am
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Jackintheplane's point, i think, is that a white person, dressed like a commando, and saying "i'm a martyr" in English, would be questioned. What I want to know is, how would anyone be able to tell if someone were dressed like a commando.
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