Kicked off of a plane...

[fireheart17]

...for being Muslim

That's just 20 different ways of being "fucked up."

Passengers might "feel uncomfortable with your presence". Well hey, I feel uncomfortable about strange men sitting next to me, but I don't demand that I change seats with a woman do I?

And it gets better-these guys were Imams, boarding a plane for a conference called Islamophobia.

[HYHYBT]

If you're uncomfortable with the other passengers on the plane, then *you* leave.

[Greenday]

If you're uncomfortable with the other passengers on the plane, then *you* leave.

Unless they do something specifically to make you feel uncomfortable.

Oh the irony. Going to a conference on Islamophobia and getting kicked off a plane because people are scared of you since you are a Muslim. People are stupid.

[Eisa]

Wow, that's fucked up.

Heh, yeah, I have a phobia of strange men...obviously no men should be allowed on my next flight as they will make me uncomfortable. Or, y'know, I realize that's my own fucking issue and deal with it.

[Gravekeeper]

Absolutely no excuse for it, and the fact it was not only allowed, but undoubtly a good portion of people agree with it makes me weep for the future of your country. Pilot should have been told to let them board or he could get off the plane and collect his pinkslip. Let someone who isn't a colossally ignorant childish fuckwad have his job.

If you're that uncomfortable with the mere fact someone not white and Christian even exists in the world, maybe you shouldn't be fucking leaving your house to begin with. Go get your tubes tied on the way home while you're at it, the world can do without your lineage rotting the species as a whole. In fact, you shouldn't even be allowed near children for fear of what the fuck they'll learn from you.

<twitch>

The worst part is they got kicked off by themselves. There should have been other people kicked off the flight for being unruly after they stood up and went "Hey, what the fuck?"

I'm so glad I've never had to fly through the US. I'd definately end up on some kind of watch list if any of this happened within earshot of me. >.>

[Boozy]

Absolutely no excuse for it, and the fact it was not only allowed, but undoubtly a good portion of people agree with it makes me weep for the future of your country.

Your country?

Canada has its share of ignorance too. Maybe it's not as well-publicized, and it's never become a political issue, but racism is still alive and well here.

[fireheart17]

Racism is alive and kicking down here as well, and the culture/country in question has changed over the last 50 years. In the 50's it was the Greeks and Italians, then it became the Asians (just generic Asian, not any specified ones) and now it's the Middle Eastern folk who come over by way of Indonesia.

[bara]

I hate ignorance. Ive met a lot of muslims, interestingly enough they are people who just want to be able to take care of thier families and live peacefully.

While I was in Iraq I met a man who married his best friends wife after he was died (car accident) just so he could legally allow her and the children to live with him so he could take care of them. Yeah... that sounds like a real psyhopath to me. taking on the responsibility of providing for your friends family as well as your own? Dangerous people. No one should ever be put at risk from being exposed to such selfless devotion.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Your country?

Canada has its share of ignorance too. Maybe it's not as well-publicized, and it's never become a political issue, but racism is still alive and well here.

I just came back from a visit to Canada. I noticed a far higher number of middle easterners than I see here in the U.S. On a walk through my old neighborhood, I heard a man singing in Arabic.

In this (southern) state, someone doing the same would probably get their ass kicked...or at the very least dirty looks.

In terms of Muslim related racism, Canada is considerably more tolerant than the U.S. You are right, there is Muslim racism in Canada, but it's far less mainstream than in the U.S.

[Boozy]

There are many areas in both Canada AND the US where Muslims live peacefully and without fear of racist violence.

And there are areas of both countries where that is not the case.

I'm just a bit tired of the old "What's wrong with the US" line of bullshit that has become prevalent from Canadians. Let's stop judging everyone else and focus on our own problems.

[blas87]

Thank you for saying that, Boozy.

[Gravekeeper]

Your country?

Canada has its share of ignorance too. Maybe it's not as well-publicized, and it's never become a political issue, but racism is still alive and well here.

Maybe, but it doesn't have its own farkin' news channel here.

I'm just a bit tired of the old "What's wrong with the US" line of bullshit that has become prevalent from Canadians.

How is it bullshit? No, really. Explain. You've got birthers and other idiots that were legitimized by the US media instead of ignored and ostracized for being idiots. You've got opposition to even building mosques, people getting kicked off planes just for being who they are and I'd bet money they get extra special fondling by the TSA. You have politicians we can't go a week without something stunningly ignorant if not once and a while just outright blatantly bigoted.

Obviously not all Americans are like that, but since the US media has insisted on legitimizing these people and their views, its open to criticism. If you said a fraction of a sentence of what American politicians normally say, but in Canadian pariliment, you'd be out of a job before lunch hour. We issue public apologies after calling another politician a bad name. ><

That is the problem with America. Not that it isn't full of good, decent people. But that it legitimizes and rewards views that no polite society really should. So this vocal minority of lunatics and idiots has become its global image. It doesn't matter if they only make up 20% of the population, the other 80% is rewarding them with air time and ratings.

Let's stop judging everyone else and focus on our own problems.

I'll stop when we stop sharing the longest undefended border in the world and the most intimate national, economic and military relationship of any two countries on the planet. We're roommates, like it or not and what one of us is up too can greatly affect the other. So if one of us didn't do the dishes, they're going to hear about it. =p

Also, focusing on our own problems does not forbid us from being able to look outside our own borders. If it did neither us or America would be in a war right now.

[Boozy]

I don't disagree with much of what you're saying, GK. My problem is mainly the tone I hear in Canadians' voices when they discuss those "rednecks" in the US. It's smug and self-satisfied. And it's not deserved.

[protege]

And it's not deserved.

Yep, especially since the local sandwich shops have more subs than the Canadian military

[Boozy]

That's cute, but that attitude is partially what GK is talking about when he complains about the screwed up priorities of the US. We're talking about morals and racism here. Military strength doesn't have anything to do with it.