Ugh...
On the subject of racial profiling...Even if I grant you that pulling every "Muslim" looking person aside and searching them for bombs will act as some sort of deterrent to terrorism, what do you do about the Timothy McVeighs of the world? Do we start detaining all 27 year-old white guys? Dis-gruntled military vets? Are they on the watch list? Do we stop and search all rental moving vans? Where does it stop? And does it really do anything to stop people who are devoted to committing acts of terror?
posted by Earl @ 8/05/2005 02:49:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I agree Earl. We are slowly starting to do the profiling here in Canada even though it's completely against the law here. It does not stop terrorists at all.
This quote seems appropriate to me.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
Seems to be working doesn't it?
First, we must stop pretending that the terrorists so far, by-and-large, have not been of the same ethnic origin. This will reasonably narrow down the search for potential perpetrators. But, it makes ALMOST as little sense to stop every Arab or North African in NYC today as it does to stop every 5th random person. Therefore, the profiling must be even more exact than race to be effective.
Israel has been perfecting the art of profiling, and has successfully prevented El Al (national airline) hijackings since 1970. The profilers are trained to look for signs of suspicious behavior (body language), which provides effective clues of whom to question. Barring exceptional con artists, body language is a dead give away of suspicious behavior. In fact, police officers are trained to look for such clues when dealing with everyday criminals.
The results: plenty of Arabs fly El Al, and yet enough people have been turned away to prevent terrorist attacks since 1970.
Post a Comment
<< Home