An Interesting Week
My friend from Nepal was in Portland for the past few days just to visit. My parents were definitely glad, not having seen him for about 10 years. He told me a very interesting story that made me feel a bit safer. I'm not sure how the readers will feel about this.
After the plane landed in Portland International Airport, Kurian (our friend) was the last person to get off the plane. As he was about to walk into the tunnel that's connected to the actual terminal (suggestions on what that's called?) He saw a man standing right behind a wheelchair. My friend was surprised, considering the fact that there was no one else in the plane and none of the air staff seemed to be disabled. As he moved forward, another man stepped out of the shadows, flipped open his wallet to reveal his id and said "Mr. Kurian James, we're Federal Air Marshals, we'd like to speak to you for a moment please." Kurian, went with the man and the man behind the wheelchair followed. They sat down and explained themselves..
"Sir, the reason we want to talk to you is because you were operating a video camera on the flight. We were wondering why you were doing that."
It is good to pause here and tell you that my friend looks sort of like a Middle Eastern fellow. Thus, we can see why they would be a bit wary of a man seemingly operating a video camera on a flight. My friend explained that he only took out the camera to take a look at it and that he did not take any video. The air marshals breathed a sigh of relief. Kurian offered to show them the tape just to make sure. They declined and explained that the stewardess had been a little nervous and had felt that Kurian had gotten video of her without permission. This was obviously not true. The air marshals apologized for the inconvenience and allowed my friend to go on with his day.
This little incident is good to know about. It tells me that the FAM is working. They are working pretty hard to ensure the safety of our country. Although it was a little inconvenient, Kurian told us that they were very polite in how they handled the situation. I would love to hear more comments and thoughts on this.
After the plane landed in Portland International Airport, Kurian (our friend) was the last person to get off the plane. As he was about to walk into the tunnel that's connected to the actual terminal (suggestions on what that's called?) He saw a man standing right behind a wheelchair. My friend was surprised, considering the fact that there was no one else in the plane and none of the air staff seemed to be disabled. As he moved forward, another man stepped out of the shadows, flipped open his wallet to reveal his id and said "Mr. Kurian James, we're Federal Air Marshals, we'd like to speak to you for a moment please." Kurian, went with the man and the man behind the wheelchair followed. They sat down and explained themselves..
"Sir, the reason we want to talk to you is because you were operating a video camera on the flight. We were wondering why you were doing that."
It is good to pause here and tell you that my friend looks sort of like a Middle Eastern fellow. Thus, we can see why they would be a bit wary of a man seemingly operating a video camera on a flight. My friend explained that he only took out the camera to take a look at it and that he did not take any video. The air marshals breathed a sigh of relief. Kurian offered to show them the tape just to make sure. They declined and explained that the stewardess had been a little nervous and had felt that Kurian had gotten video of her without permission. This was obviously not true. The air marshals apologized for the inconvenience and allowed my friend to go on with his day.
This little incident is good to know about. It tells me that the FAM is working. They are working pretty hard to ensure the safety of our country. Although it was a little inconvenient, Kurian told us that they were very polite in how they handled the situation. I would love to hear more comments and thoughts on this.
in the future...let's say a 'white' pregnant woman decides to bomb the statue of liberty...then on the airplanes they're gonna be a lot more federal marshals stopping women...cause their actions would be suspicious.
lol...this will never happen, because they'd see right through the hypocrisy. So why isn't it like that when a 'brown' man does something suspicious on the plane? It's all just racism at the root of it...fear of the unknown.
From Kurian's viewpoint, it's all right, because he was innocent anyway, and had the right mind not to question the authorities reasonings. But on the whole, this does not make for a very free society. It's more like you're guilty until proven innocent. Think of what would happen if the threat was greater...America would become a police-state just like any another nation gone along that path (USSR, China...)
Posted by
ashish |
3:59 PM
they should hav checked the tape to make sure ...
the air-hostess should apologize for improperly doubting a "brown" guy ...
the country still ain't safe
Posted by
bobby |
5:32 PM
Ashish, for the love of pete's sake, all they did was ask him what the heck he was doing with a video cam on the flight. And we all know that white pregnant women are just too nice to blow up a building (cough). Seriously though, lets not make a mountain out of a molehill here. This is not a case of racisim. This is a case of misplaced fear which was resolved pretty reasonably in my opinion.
Posted by
daycruz |
6:02 PM
well...as you claim, 'white' pregnant ladies might be too nice to do such things, but who is for certain? nobody knew that muslim terrorists were capable of 9/11. Yeah you're right...I am making a mountain out of a mole hill, but nothing ever is done outright rather it takes time. Already, having air marshals to me sounds like a police-state, but surely it is for the good of the people and I don't deny it. But I am not inclined to believe that because someone 'looks suspicious' we should question him. America is more than 'guilty until proven innocent', it is supposed to be a land of equality and freedom. If at the root of it all, we are judging people based on their appearance, I don't know how much more hypocritical America can get.
And finally, America IS going down that path of policing. It IS the instinct of any government to disspell the chance for terrorism, but it IS NOT healthy when colored children go on an airplane, and they are searched, cause you know they could have bombs on them...it's preposterous!!
Posted by
ashish |
9:32 PM
O lord.... please don't go smoke weed next. Police state? You define police state like that? You prefer them not to search anyone they find supicious? I am not even having this debate- this is being turned into something it shouldn't be.
Posted by
daycruz |
12:24 AM
Btw, they have ALWAYS been questioning people who look supicious. They would be friggin stupid not to. And it's not like we didnt expect terrorists to be Muslim. We had many other incidents that showed us that the liklihood of any terrorist attack in the United States done by Muslims would be pretty dang high. It is common to question people who look supicious. When you keep saying "innocent until proven guilty." you are correct. It is foolish to make an argument like that for questioning. Of course they are innocent until proven guilty- in every single case- they have to question people- how does this make the United States a police state? Your reasoning and logic make no sense at all.
Posted by
daycruz |
12:27 AM
To explain my comment above- since it didn't seem to clear to me. The person being questioned isn't being put on trial- there is no verdict handed down to him. He is just being questioned to figure something out. "Innocent until proven guilty" is in a trial in a court of law. When a police officer pulls someone over- they assume the person is a suspect- and that's all they can do.
Posted by
daycruz |
12:31 AM
ok here are some things i noticed ...
(*) if u sport one of those muslim goatees or beards (ya! like the ones i used to have) ... during security check-in ... you will SURELY b asked to go through the detailed/"strip-search" queue
(*) if u show some temporary residency for identification ... same story
(*) if u go clean shaven & still show some temporary residency for identification ... same story
(*) now if u go clean shaven & show a drivers license as identification ... you go thru normal bag & personnel screening and ur done in 5 mins wit security check-in!!
so if the nxt bomber ... looked around ... observed the "trends" in the security procedures ... he cud still get thru
lol ... juz my 2 cents ...
(it's a friday!! i'm not going to b working whole day ... things like this keep me occupied :D)
Posted by
bobby |
2:33 PM
I like that story =)
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