We Will Never Forget

How do people who have limited/no exposure to other cultures react when faced with them? They have to resort to whatever body of knowledge they have accumulated throughout their lives. If they watch the news and read the papers with no basis to form an opposing opinion, they create their own bias.

Again, right, wrong or otherwise, her reaction could be predicted. I have my own opinion on how these situations could be averted, but I'll save that rant for another day.

birdstrike

What is scary is that a large number of the comments following that story actually support the woman.

Sigh.

LLM

Yes, and those losers seem to be locals. Imagine if they chose to visit Ali Baba restaurant where the food is inexpensive and delicious and the menu and most of the conversation is in Arabic, right here in the heart of San Diego county.

I wonder what trailer park they live in. My neighborhood is rather upscale and yet probably a third of my neighbors speak languages other than English or Spanish in their homes (as do we).

alcathiax

...which makes people like you, me, and 99% of FTers more worldly than them and able to think and communicate in a more rational manner.

I have lived long enough in areas that are quite dangerous (think of cities worser than present-day Tijuana, BCN or Nuevo Laredo, Tamp. in Mexico) as a pre-teen to know when a real threat is present.

I am wondering if it just so happens that my former college Chemistry professor who now is happily retired in the La Jolla area was there for that flight? Would he have been singled out for being an expert in Chemistry if he had the unfortunate chance to interact with her? In case you're wondering, he is also an Iraqi, had an intense hatred of the Saddam regime, and is probably one of the best Arab cuisine cooks that I know. He is no "Chemical Ali" yet I think he would probably stab Ali if given half the chance.

Fishie

Edit: nevermind

SDF_Traveler

I believe one problem is here (in the United States) we have little exposure to other cultures. Turn on cable TV or go to the movies, and most things are US-centric, movies are all Hollywood, etc.

Some press outlets play a role as well. There is one particular channel that claims to be "Fair and Balanced" (which has high ratings), but instead of it being balanced, it is highly conservative with a focus on "The war on Terror" ... terror this, we are at a high risk, terror that, etc.

Many American's don't even realize parts of the middle east such as Dubai are safe & modern. The first thing that comes to their mind is (extreme) Islam and Arab stereotypes.

Much of this is a product of American Culture starting from lack of education in schools to society. As far as cable or even satellite TV, it would be nice if I could obtain UK-TV, BBC UK (not the 'BBC America' which we now have), along with television programming & news from the UK, Australia, and other European nations. Additionally, there are good movies created outside of the USA; you won't ever find these at the mainstream cinama's here .. or if they're older movies, as movie 're-runs' on television. Lots of people form opinions based on news and other things from television.

The above would be a small step at introducing additional culture to the US from English speaking nations. Having access to news networks from outside the US would also assist in providing people with different views of the world. Until then, many people will only have access to US news outlets and US programs to form their opinions.

To get a real understanding of the world, travelling abroad and keeping an open mind is the best way to learn and understand other cultures. However, if one travels to London, stays at The Sheraton (or Marriott) eats at McDonalds, and only goes to the tourist traps, takes pictures, and returns home --- they're not going to learn anything.

The lady that left the plane -- sad thing is she probably was scared. If she was to be interviewed and asked, "Why were you scared?" & "Why do you not like these people and why do you think these people were dangerous?", I'd be willing to bet 9/11 would be one reason, and her understanding of other cultures combined with the Government and Media "paranoia" would be the other reason. Afterall, Chertoff announced his "gut feeling" ....

Rabidstoat

Where did I say "should"?

I just said that I can imagine people getting nervous over the cases I outlined. If I read a story about someone who was carrying bits of wires and electronics about, and how a passenger expressed alarm, I could look at it and say, "Okay, I see how a panicky flyer who was not familiar with the items could see that and become alarmed." It's not to say that I would believe that an Arab person fiddling with electronics and wires is a terrorist waiting to blow up a plane. If anyone hoping to blow up a plane is fiddling around with the bomb in the open, in the waiting area, I doubt they would be smart enough to get something past even Kip-like security. But I would read the story and not be too shocked at the reaction, human nature and nervous passengers being what they are.

It simply had not occurred to me before that even nervous travelers would be alarmed at someone simply speaking a foreign language. That was a shocker even to my assumptions on nervous passengers.

(And as for greater scrutiny, heck, there's a security article around here about someone who had their homemade ipod battery confiscated. I will admit to at times leaving a book I've been reading at home because I was worried about the delays it might cause at security. Sad, but true.)

railroadtycoon

"Protecting her family and kids"?
She should be worried more about the child predators, registered sex offenders, axe muderers, and Senators who are "cluckying around in the restroom" (if you know what I mean), who almost always are "normal looking" people, who might just look like her neighbor, maybe even the person sitting next to her on the plane. Talking about looks, not all terrorists are "middle eastern arabs", lets see..... the Unibomber, the Olympic park bomber, Oklahoma city, who were these guys??? Foreign nationals? Middle Eastern?...Nope, they were all Caucasian Americans. One shouldn't have a biased just because someone is foreign looking or speaking a foreign language, especially if they are middle eastern, many middle eastern people in the US are very proud americans too. "Never judge book by its cover", is my approach, unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world.

pittpanther

Actually, we never caught the Atlanta Olympics bomber, so we have no idea what he looks like.

Not to mention, we never caught the 'Anthrax thru the mail' guy either.

birdstrike

^ pittpanther!

bzbdavid

Ummm... actually, it was Eric Rudolph....

Wikipedia Article on Eric Rudolph


Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, Terry Nichols... 100% American....

railroadtycoon

The Olympic Park Bomber was Eric Robert Rudolph, he's a caucasian american, he was caught, and is in federal prison as we speak.

trier48

And from Germany...drum roll...could not agree more. ^^^

etch5895

I would think that the restaurant owners might pick a better name for their restaurant than a name that implies thievery or lawlessness. I know, I know, its only an example.

n5667

The news crew should have done a follow up interview with her after the plane arrived safely at its destination...