These guys must be idiots to pray on a plane--outloud!

[slipstream]

I don't know where you're getting this bogus 18 percent figure, that's ridiculous, out of over a billion Muslims that would mean at least 180 million crazies and we'd have WWIII by now.

All the Muslims I know have been unequivocal and quite strident in condemning the extremists, but maybe you just haven't been listening or you've been brainwashed by Dubya Dufus boy and Fox Entertainment Network.

One of the blackest marks on our record was the kneejerk Xenophobic over-reaction in WWII to Japanese Americans who turned out to be patriotic and were some of our most valiant troops in the European front. To reward them we rounded up their families and put them in internment camps simply because they're Japanese. Evidently most of you probably thought this was a good idea and would like more of the same.

Some of you folks are just as ignorant and extreme as the terrorists insofar as you want to judge ppl with a broad brush and lump them all together. A lot of the nuts out there like to harm Americans just because we are Americans, just like you want to profile and discriminate and utter such vitriolic hate speech simply because these ppl profess faith in Islam. If they'd been Jewish, and there are Jewish terrorist groups according to both the US and the UN, your speech would immediately be condemned as Anti-Semitic but sounds like it's open season on Muslims now.

From talking to them, I now know Muslims have no central authority or figure unlike the Pope or one central church type body. So u won't get a nice, neat condemnation from some bureaucracy. You have to judge them on an individual level and respect freedom of religion in this country, stop comparing us to them, I thought we were better than their countries.

 

[jafo20]

I wonder if everyone has to get out of their seats and pray simultaneously on those 747s and MD11s that run Hadj contracts? Anyone here fly a Hadj run?

Anyway, the crew faced a deal where their entire plane is freaked out, and the 19 year old flight attendant in the back has to deal with 70+ spooked slobs. Even if the muslim scholars were totally cool, and the pax were just letting their imaginations runaway, it was probably easier for everyone if they left those guys behind.

 

[jafo20]

Slipstream makes a couple good points about the lack of a central beaurocracy in Islam. This allows certain mosques to become extremely radical while most aren't. Unfortunately, an entire mosque that becomes radical, concentrates the .1% of crazies into one certain area, giving Islam a bad name and creating nastiness for a local government.

This can be seen with screaming, angry Imams in London and Sydney, concentrating crazies. Another cleric, like these guys, destroyed my father's homeland by concentrating, then inflaming Islamic fundamentalism.

 

[slipstream]

I wonder if everyone has to get out of their seats and pray simultaneously on those 747s and MD11s that run Hadj contracts? Anyone here fly a Hadj run?

Anyway, the crew faced a deal where their entire plane is freaked out, and the 19 year old flight attendant in the back has to deal with 70+ spooked slobs. Even if the muslim scholars were totally cool, and the pax were just letting their imaginations runaway, it was probably easier for everyone if they left those guys behind.

Yeah, and I totally agree with you on such level-headed, dispassionate thinking, we're pilots, we have to deal with situations and customer service type issues all the time. In this case, once ppl were already panicked, I do agree with the call that was made. What I ardently oppose is repeating ugly aspects of our history over and over again and accord the same mistreatment to Muslims that we did to the Irish, Blacks, Jews and other minorities.

But I lived in a Muslim country for a while and I know they don't actually get out of their seats to pray on an airplane unless it's on one of those fancy Emirates or Saudi airliners with specific praying spots. And again, go back and read most news reports, I'll post them if u can't, these folks prayed in the gate area, NOT on the plane itself, that was just an erroneous, early report that everyone seized on.

 

[SLFLYHI]

Finally some words of wisdom and dispassionate analysis on this thread. I've had Muslim roommates, doctors, colleagues and neighbors, all normal people and I know they often take the time out to pray at certain times of day if they're observant of their religion.

And don't jump to conclusions, all the articles I read about this incident say they prayed in the gate area prior to boarding, NOT on the airplane. And these are supposed to be Imams or Muslim scholars, of course they're going to pray on time and be somewhat more visible and less apologetic of their views just like a Rabbi or Priest/Pastor would be, and rightfully so, we have freedom of religion and practice in our country.

Now if they prayed out loud on the plane or imposed their beliefs or tried to convert ppl around them, that would be a different story but you ppl are sadly as bigoted, xenophobic and hate-filled as the terrorists. If these were Blacks, Jews, Gays or other minorities that would give you pause but evidently it's okay to bash Muslims just like it was acceptable to single out Japanese Americans during WWII.

Last time I checked, almost every airport has some sort of non-denominational chapel for prayer. A little common sense from our Muslim brothers would have prevented this. Let's not blame the passengers and crews for reacting conservatively to something that was obviously out of the norm.

 

[Prop2Jet]

Love the ToFu Turkey! It tasted weak, and lacked heart! JK!

No, now really Muslims have declared war on the "West" have you not been watching your news or listening to the BBC? Also, as far as America's knee-jerk response during the second world war; I agree we should not have done such a thing; yet hindsight is 20/20.

Do you think the camps from WW2 will resurface? I don't wish that upon any U.S. citizen.

 

[suupah]

One of the blackest marks on our record was the kneejerk Xenophobic over-reaction in WWII to Japanese Americans who turned out to be patriotic and were some of our most valiant troops in the European front. To reward them we rounded up their families and put them in internment camps simply because they're Japanese. Evidently most of you probably thought this was a good idea and would like more of the same.

442nd was the most decorated outfit in WWII

There weren't any reported cases of espionage on the part of japanese americans. there were however numerous german cases yet they were not put in camps.

that as we all know is the perception that white people are american and non whites are not.

 

[pilotguy143]

And I thought Military Intelligence was an oxymoron.



No, they are not ignorant of Islam. In fact it would appear the passengers are very well informed of this "religion" and its tenets.

......and people wonder why most other nations are loosing respect for us

 

[Crap Pilot]

Until Muslims stop fighting in the former Soviet Union, Middle East, raids in France, western asia, israel, and sudan. Maybe the world might believe your religion is peaceful, until then don't try to present yourself as radical muslims and the meltimg pot of conforming with the US if you live there. I'm german yet don't want my children to be germans yet americans. You don't change america into germany, you make your children into americans. Muslims are selfish to the fact that they want to make the world into a muslim world

 

[Crap Pilot]

Fun to the fact how the adolf lesson wasn't learned by the world, how quickly we forget about radicals.