Here’s some news for the folks at National Public Radio. Everybody’s nervous about Muslims on planes. Why? Because Muslims blow stuff up. Not all Muslims, of course. Not even a large percentage of Muslims. But enough Muslims all over the world to make any reasonable person take note. Even the large majority of peaceful Muslims must look at one another in airport lines and think, “By Allah, I hope he’s not one of those crazy men who blow stuff up.” It’s unpleasant. We’d all prefer it were different. But the world is as it is, not as we might wish it to be...Peter Beinart, for one, begs to differ, blasting "fanatical right-wingers" for making such a big fuss. (Well, he would, wouldn't he?)
As for moi, I was a bigot/racist/Islamophobe waaaay before it was fashionable. How well I remember, some years before 9/11, being reluctant to board an airplane in Amsterdam bound for London just because I happened to catch a glance at the name and photo (on a piece of a paper) of a gent (one of several) being sought by police at the gate prior to the flight's departure. The chap's name, forever etched into my memory: Mohamed Mohamed. When Mo and his companions failed to show, all luggage was taken off the plane so passangers could claim what was theirs. It was only after everything was spoken for and reloaded onto the plane that I felt comfortable enough to take the flight.
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