Praying passenger is removed from plane
Apr 18, 2008, 9:23 am
#31
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*goalie- = jewish but far from orthodox
Apr 18, 2008, 9:28 am
#32
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The article indicates that the incident took place while boarding, which means the door was still open. If that was the case, this was a major overreaction by the flight crew that certainly would not have happened if it had just been a guy chatting on a cell phone. No, it wouldn't be antisemitism. More somebody overreacting because they saw a guy praying on a plane.
As we all know, however, the media can leave out details that it considers unimportant but actually are relevant. My guess is that they had finished boarding, shut the door and were ready to go, but the gentleman was not done praying.
And since I wasn't there, I will gladly state that this is all pure speculation on my part.
Mike
As we all know, however, the media can leave out details that it considers unimportant but actually are relevant. My guess is that they had finished boarding, shut the door and were ready to go, but the gentleman was not done praying.
And since I wasn't there, I will gladly state that this is all pure speculation on my part.
Mike
Apr 18, 2008, 10:07 am
#33
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What if the guy were a young, swarthy-looking middle-eastern man (or better yet, 2 or 3 of them) praying to Allah in Arabic and refusing to move when asked?
I wonder how this discussion (not to mention the original "news" report) would be different.
I wonder how this discussion (not to mention the original "news" report) would be different.
Apr 18, 2008, 12:02 pm
#34
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Think the guy was being bolshie
Apr 18, 2008, 12:05 pm
#35
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In that case, somebody much more religious than I am would have to explain why -- if there was any valid reason at all -- that he had to pray at that time.
Apr 18, 2008, 2:14 pm
#36
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Actually - it is more accurate to say 'freedom from religion' (as in no state religion/seperation of church and state, etc.).
Apr 18, 2008, 2:23 pm
#37
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the situation seems weird to me, as i said earlier. i'd be interested to hear it from someone on the plane, because right now there seem to be a lot of questions from all of us
to the person who said he was trying to provoke a reaction, i don't know where that came from...on what basis was this?
and to the person who said something about if it were three arab men, unfortunately, the situation would've been a lot different
Apr 18, 2008, 2:32 pm
#38
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Actually, no, the situation on the plane would have been identical; that's the premise of my question. The reaction of the parties involved, from the FAs to the media to FTers, would have been different.
Apr 18, 2008, 3:17 pm
#39
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Apr 19, 2008, 2:11 pm
#40
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May be he was praying for a safe travel or flight. Some people ( no matter which religion they follow) will pray before they do something. He wanted to be discreet thus praying at the back instead of doing it whilst sitting - so that his seat mates won't be alarmed (or paranoid like the mishap in YUL awhile ago)
Apr 19, 2008, 3:36 pm
#41
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May be he was praying for a safe travel or flight. Some people ( no matter which religion they follow) will pray before they do something. He wanted to be discreet thus praying at the back instead of doing it whilst sitting - so that his seat mates won't be alarmed (or paranoid like the mishap in YUL awhile ago)
may it be your will, o lord our god and god of our ancestors that you guide our footsteps toward peace and allow us to reach our desired destination for life, gladness and peace. may you rescue us from the hand of every foe and from all manner of troubles that occur in the world. bless the work of our hands and grant us grace, kindness and mercy in your eyes and in the eyes of all who encounter us. hear our applications for you are a god who hears prayer and supplication. praised are you, o lord, the one who hears prayer.
*what happened when the screener looked at the prayer
tsa: (in a very firm
voice) "ok, what language is that?"me: (being a pita on purpose) don't you know?
tsa: "what language is that?"
me: if you don't know, then maybe you should do some research as it's the same that's on the medallion around my neck that you just looked at when it alarmed your hand wand
tsa: d-y-w-t-f-t?
me: yes and i am going to fly today. if you can't tell that hebrew and arabic are different languages, please get your supervisor.
**who says goalies aren't superstitious?
Apr 20, 2008, 10:10 am
#42
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May be he was praying for a safe travel or flight. Some people ( no matter which religion they follow) will pray before they do something. He wanted to be discreet thus praying at the back instead of doing it whilst sitting - so that his seat mates won't be alarmed (or paranoid like the mishap in YUL awhile ago)
It also gets back to the other question - what would you have thought if it had been a young Muslim doing that discreetly at the back of the plane.
I suspect "discreetly" would have been considered to be "suspicious behaviour" and a lot more than just being ejected by cabin staff would have happened.*
* Suggestion for TV news / newspaper, the results should be interesting
Apr 20, 2008, 1:29 pm
#43
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Which goes back to my original question of why didn't he do it earlier - unless one has God Like Powers, the certainty is that you will have LOTS of time to do things at airports
It also gets back to the other question - what would you have thought if it had been a young Muslim doing that discreetly at the back of the plane.
BTW he does not have to be a Muslim - just the looks or skin colour or the perception of being Arabic would have made some people cry foul 
though some can't differentiate a Muslim from a Sikh man wearing a turban or believe that all Arabs are Muslims, let alone that there are secular Muslims and there are Muslims who are scared of flying like other nervous pax from other religions. Remember the Kafkaesque reaction of some after the Minneapolis ejection of the six imams (one was blind btw and the fact that 3 needed seatbelt extensions were deemed to be suspicious - as if overweight pax on the planes are quasi non-existent since 2001)
I suspect "discreetly" would have been considered to be "suspicious behaviour" and a lot more than just being ejected by cabin staff would have happened.*
and we would have been subjected to an "in-depth story" of 2 mins on some networks, ad-nauseaum biased breaking news on the usual cable networks and right-wing talkshow bigots would see an increase in their listening audience * Suggestion for TV news / newspaper, the results should be interesting