Typhoon1244 said:
I know this is a dangerous subject to raise, but...I've noticed that you never hear about a radical agnostic group blowing something or somebody up. I wonder why that is...?
Funny, and good point.
UUhhhh you mean like the American terrorists that through the English out of this country? Seriously, examine the situations in their totality. Not even close to the same, but if you want to throw the terrorist term around like that then you might want to think about who couldn't be labeled terrorists. Certainly other countries could easily label the USA terroristic.
I don't recall a single instance during the American Revolution where non-combatant civilian populations (women, children, etc.) were targeted, unlike the IRA's tactics over the last several years.
Typhoon1244 is right and, I think, got the message I was trying to convey. A white, male American held the record for the worst instance of domestic terrorism in pre-9/11 America. Profiling sounds like a nice solution, so long as the proponent doesn't fit into a class of people who may feel they have sufficient cause to commit acts of violence as political statements. Name one
group of people who have never had a bone to pick with their government, society, etc.? Every one of us can just as easily be lumped into a
group of troublemakers based on skin color, clothing, religous preferences, nationality, sex, or whatever the flavor of the moment is. My point was meant to be "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." - not a condemnation of the cause of non-terrorist Irish nationals who are working positively to restore their country's independence. The end does not always justify the means, which is a lesson America often forgets as well.
Certainly the U.S. is viewed as a terrorist nation in some parts of the world. Those people are economic, scientific, educational, and in some cases, cultural failures whose only solution to their shortcomings is to lash out at those who have worked hard to be successful. If these people would spend half the energy working to build a better future that they spend destroying the present, they might finally realize that the problem is not "out there". Why is it that abdication of personal responsibility is so rampant in some parts of the world (here in the U.S. as well)? I guess it's just easier to blame one's problems on something outside one's control.
Just because I fly for an airline does not make me an elitist. My career choice, in itself, makes me no better than the person who collects my garbage. That said, it still doesn't mean I shouldn't question policies I don't understand. I'll only understand if I question. With the comments about lax GA security, I was trying to point out it could just as easily be you faced with security challenges in the future. Perhaps then it'd be you who might ask a question about an operating procedure you don't understand.