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[Nadaka]

Also, Look at it this way.  The police that detained her didn't see her from the ground and decide to have the plane pulled over.  Some ass on the plane reported them and called up a suspicion near the anniversary of a tragic event.  The police were doing their job...

NO. They were not doing their job. It does not matter if they were profiling or not. Their job would have been to read them their miranda rights during the arrest. This was unlawful detainment. The TSA/police responsible should be criminally charged, arrested and sent to prison. No one is above the law.

[Bauglir]

It's not an ideal reaction, sure. But considering the situation, I'm willing to let slide negative language that seeems to be descriptive (I could be wrong, but I got the impression that the list of things she hates was a list of things the guards were talking about and/or listening to, but maybe not). She's upset, and right to be. "Perfectly fine", probably not, but while I may not endorse it, I'm not really going to get upset if her attention got fixed on the negative stereotypes the people holding her actually met.

I suppose it depends on whether you're bringing it up as an objection to her post (implying she shouldn't have made it because you think she's a hypocrite, which is what I get out of most of the comments) or as a criticism on how she could be more diplomatic (which I guess is true, if seemingly irrelevant). Identifying with the comments that imply that what was done to her is excusable because "apparently you also profile people by their appearance", "you have absolutely no problem using the same tactics for stereo-typing", and so on is not really something I can agree with. If you want to say that technically there was a higher standard she could've held to, but her message still valid, fine, I guess, but I wouldn't associate yourself with those comments.

EDIT: And agreeing with Nadaka on the "doing their job" part. Illegal search and seizure is a no.

[Siquo]

No one is above the law.

Homeland Security is. Enemy combatants and everything.

I agree with Andir that what she said is equivalent to what the person who reported her did. Being under duress is no excuse, as anyone who is afraid for some terrorist celebration fireworks on the 11th would be.

So, "Eye for an Eye" is acceptable behavior?

Comprehensive reading, please. I'm sad to see that one act of "racism" begets another. It becomes a spiral where misunderstandings and hatred just keep increasing...

[Andir]

Redneck is a specific subset of white people.

I can point you to a few songs that would say the same about "nigger".

One that a lot of other white people don't care for as well. It's also a term that most rednecks embrace as a badge of pride.

And here as well.  Some black Americans warmly call each other that...

So no, I don't see an equivalence.

I don't know what to tell you if you don't see the similarities.

Given the situation

The situation as reported from her viewpoint only.  You will never hear the side of the police doing their job following up on a report.  They would probably tell you they were perfectly nice to the lady but she was calling them all kinds of slurs and hatred.  Somehow they were the ones being attacked, even when they followed protocol to have a same sex officer perform the search.

The thing you have to understand about police is that they deal with criminals all day long.  If you give them an ounce of flack, they'll put you on the ground and cuff you.  They do it to protect themselves, being out there day after day with the dirt of society trying everything they can to hurt/kill them at any moment.

Also, Look at it this way.  The police that detained her didn't see her from the ground and decide to have the plane pulled over.  Some ass on the plane reported them and called up a suspicion near the anniversary of a tragic event.  The police were doing their job...

NO. They were not doing their job. It does not matter if they were profiling or not. Their job would have been to read them their miranda rights during the arrest. This was unlawful detainment. The TSA/police responsible should be criminally charged, arrested and sent to prison. No one is above the law.

I don't like it as much as you.  don't scream at me.  The point I'm arguing is the "racial profiling" aspect.

[fqllve]

I agree with Andir that what she said is equivalent to what the person who reported her did. Being under duress is no excuse, as anyone who is afraid for some terrorist celebration fireworks on the 11th would be.

They aren't equivalent. The person reported her acted upon the feelings that they perhaps shared. The author didn't outwardly act, only had an emotional response to her situation. They might have begun the same, but their outcomes were very different.

[Leafsnail]

I agree with Andir that what she said is equivalent to what the person who reported her did. Being under duress is no excuse, as anyone who is afraid for some terrorist celebration fireworks on the 11th would be.

Y'know what?  No.  They're not equivalent at all, even remotely.

The person who reported her reported her based on a racist assumption knowing that he could be subjecting her to a horrible ordeal by false arrest.

She wrote that she felt frustrated to the point of stereotyping her (unnamed) guards.  Note that noone is going to have to be strip-searched or illegally detained due to what she said.

[Bauglir]

No one is above the law.

Homeland Security is. Enemy combatants and everything.

Did... did they get a Constitutional Amendment while I wasn't paying attention? It's possible, I suppose. Otherwise, no. This is the closest thing, but it was a domestic flight and I'd argue this didn't even meet the requirements laid out here.

[Nadaka]

No one is above the law.

Homeland Security is. Enemy combatants and everything.
...

No one is above the law. Not the police, not homeland security, not the CIA, not congress, not the president. Being tough on crime means holding accountable even those who mistake power for authority.

[Glowcat]

Let's pick apart her words to construct a bollocks accusation of hate speech, because clearly it is the white man who was the victim here...

Redneck is a specific subset of white people.

I can point you to a few songs that would say the same about "nigger".

Considering that your word has an extensive history which says otherwise, those songs would be irrelevant.
Redneck has never meant a specific skin pigment and has always been a sub-group of people who exhibit certain behaviors.

[RedKing]

The thing you have to understand about police is that they deal with criminals all day long.  If you give them an ounce of flack, they'll put you on the ground and cuff you.  They do it to protect themselves, being out there day after day with the dirt of society trying everything they can to hurt/kill them at any moment.

No, they don't do that to protect themselves. They do that to vent frustration. You seem to forget, I work with cops and other assorted law enforcement on a daily basis. It's an incredibly stressful and difficult job, but they still have an obligation to perform that job with respect to civil liberties. They're not legally allowed to beat the shit out of someone for "giving them some lip" (but it still happens in places). They're not allowed to cuff and detain someone for hours on end without actually arresting them and without giving them access to legal counsel, to information about *why* they're being detained, etc. This is the kind of bullshit you'd expect to see in a Third World country, not the United States of America.

Furthermore, yeah...somebody did profile, and not just the person who reported "suspicious activity". Do you think they would have asked a white woman if she was wearing explosives? If she could speak English? If the main targets of interest were the two Indian men, why'd they grab her and not the people sitting in front/behind them, especially if she didn't interact with them during the flight? This whole thing was bullshit, and you're trying to excuse it or redirect the discussion because she used the word "redneck"?!?

This is why we can't have productive conversations.

[LordMelvin]

No one is above the law.

Homeland Security is. Enemy combatants and everything...

No one is above the law. Not the police, not homeland security, not the CIA, not congress, not the president. Being tough on crime means holding accountable even those who mistake power for authority.

And how many of those who've blatantly abused their offices lately have been prosecuted? That's what I thought.

[Nadaka]

No one is above the law.

Homeland Security is. Enemy combatants and everything...

No one is above the law. Not the police, not homeland security, not the CIA, not congress, not the president. Being tough on crime means holding accountable even those who mistake power for authority.

And how many of those who've blatantly abused their offices lately have been prosecuted? That's what I thought.

Not enough. And every single one of them should be.

[Virex]

This is just fucking bullshit.

This is the problem with relying heavily on citizen reports of "suspicious activity". Because way too many people in this country still equate brown skin with being suspicious. I'm tired of living in a country full of ignorant-ass xenophobes.

If you were to ask me, I'd prefer being held because of suspicious behavior for what amounts to an afternoon over a plane blowing up, but to each its own I guess.

[Vector]

You will never hear the side of the police doing their job following up on a report.  They would probably tell you they were perfectly nice to the lady but she was calling them all kinds of slurs and hatred.

You need to curb your assumptions.

[RedKing]

This is just fucking bullshit.

This is the problem with relying heavily on citizen reports of "suspicious activity". Because way too many people in this country still equate brown skin with being suspicious. I'm tired of living in a country full of ignorant-ass xenophobes.

If you were to ask me, I'd prefer being held because of suspicious behavior for what amounts to an afternoon over a plane blowing up, but to each its own I guess.

Yeah, not buying that argument. Sorry. By the same logic, we should all submit to a full cavity search every time we board an airplane, because hey...being fisted by a guy with a latex glove still beats a plane blowing up, right?