‘I’m not comfortable flying with un-American bigots’: Twitter hammers Southwest Airlines

[Feeling the Bern]

November 21, 2015
Adam Lidgett
Posted with permission from International Business Times
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Days after news broke that two men were barred from boarding an airplane because a fellow passenger was afraid to fly with them after hearing the two speaking Arabic, people on Twitter lashed out against Southwest Airlines for the incident. The two men, Maher Khalil and Anas Ayyad, said they were profiled in Chicago’s Midway airport Wednesday trying to get to Philadelphia, WCAU-TV, Philadelphia, reported.

Both men are originally from Palestine, moving to the United States about 15 years ago. Trying to leave Chicago after visiting family, they were stopped at the gate and told apologetically by a gate agent they weren’t allowed on board.

Assholes on parade

My wife is a Chinese national. Americans are shitting their pants over the Chinese too. I wonder if this will happen to her on her puddle jumper flight to LA the day she goes back to home. After all, she isn't a white Christian Murikan. God damn, my country sucks these days.

[hobbit709]

1. "Fear is the mindkiller" is proven over and over.

[blackspade]

9. Great quote from Herbert!

?token=n30aIeRvECpINzE4nhqNrMEAoeA%3D

[villager]

26. Yes, but there are very few "Fremen" in America, to help turn things around.

House Harkonnen will have the country in its clutches for the foreseeable future.

[IronLionZion]

2. Some people fear diversity and our changing demographics

A lot of people still can't handle the fact that Americans look like me (brown Indian) even though I was born and raised in America and Christian. My Dad and uncles have gotten the private extra questioning by TSA screeners asking them why they have suspiciously American sounding names and accents to go with their US passports as if it must all be excellent fakes that are not fooling anyone who knows what "real Americans" look like. Assholes. Don't get me started on the blatant discrimination I've encountered with jobs that are "not for you, only for US citizens".

One of the oddest arguments against interracial relationships I have ever heard is that mixed children may look "vaguely Middle Eastern" which can cause problems with idiots who need to label someone as one thing or another.

[Populist_Prole]

57. I've recently ran into that

Talking to some relatives and their friends: Boy are they curmudgeons of the highest order. It's not just race, but culture in general. Anything that offends their 75 year old upper middle class white of northern european descent, stiff upper lip worldview has just got to go.

They look around, scoff and sneer/snarl angrily when they see anything different from their 'Leave it to Beaver' mindset: Racial diversity, uppity-ness of youth, different hairstyles or clothing, lingo etc. They ask me if I am concerned with "what this country has become" and are dismayed when I tell them I'm OK with it. Somebody doesn't bother me - I don't bother them. That's it.

There's been generational shifts throughout mankind's history, and EVERY generation groused at how the succeeding one is making the world go to pot. I say this, they stubbornly agree; BUT: It's as if this they think this time is different...It really is the end of all that's good and wholesome.

They are OK people otherwise but they piss me off so much it's everything that I can do to lay into them with a fusillade of what vile loathsome gits they can be.

[cwydro]

3. Did I miss the memo?

Who is "shitting their pants" over the Chinese?

[yuiyoshida]

6. Wait till the bigots find out

There is already a ton of them living in SAN FRANCISCO!!! ohhhh my!!!

[cwydro]

20. Lol!

Exactly!

[tech3149]

30. Your posts always make my day!

I love you in so many ways.

[pangaia]

54. Oh, my goodness.

And I thought they were all Japanese !!

Joke joke.. my ex is Chinese.

[ToxMarz]

7. I was wondering the same

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

17. I think I missed that one, too!

My son-in-law is Asian, and he's encountered racists making fun of his eyes, but I don't think anyone is afraid of him. I'll have to ask...

And, of course, stereotyped as brilliant, which he doesn't feel like he is because his younger brother actually is brilliant.

[whathehell]

22. No one..

The OP is extrapolating rather poorly. The Chinese haven't been physically attacking anyone lately.

[Feeling the Bern]

39. Give it time. With Chinese rapid expansion in pretty much everything, I believe a renewal of the

Chinese Exclusion Act will happen. Especially if Trump is elected.

[whathehell]

40. The Chinese Exclusion Act enacted in the 19th century and repealed 72 years ago ?

I doubt anyone on the thread has that much time.

[Feeling the Bern]

41. Don't underestimate xenophobia and don't dismiss it. Martin Niemöller's words will mean a lot if we

lose in 2016.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[whathehell]

42. No, but I'm not about to start fearing a law repealed 75 years ago either..

Things have changed a LOT since 1943, and Asian Americans are firmly ensconced in

the fabric of this country...Their status and situation is NOTHING like that of the Syrian refugees.

I think I've probably got quite a few years on you, Feeling -- As for Niemoller's words,

You didn't have to post them, I know them by heart, having read them long ago,

probably before you were born.

[Feeling the Bern]

44. You probably do. I'm only a 40 year old historian. :)

[whathehell]

45. Yep, I'm a 65 year old who lived through the latter part of your American history curriculum

My spouse did a two year Peace Corp stint in Malaysia in 1973-1975.

[Feeling the Bern]

48. I don't teach US history. I teach IGCSE and A Level.

And I just moved here to Petaling Jaya and in my 10th year in Asia.

[whathehell]

49. Such a coincidence..He also taught Cambridge Syllabus (Maths and Science).

He was present when the 1967 "Emergency" was still a recent memory. He lived for a while in Petaling Jaya before moving to a small town in

rural Perak, teaching at the local secondary school. Since then he has spent thirty years working for multinationals, on projects in India and Japan.

[Amimnoch]

4. Begs the question, can I keep adult white male Christians off of the planes I fly on?

Since pretty much every single school shooting that I know of was perpetrated by white males.

Since pretty much all mass shootings in the US that I can think of were perpetrated by white Christian males.

Since Oklahoma city bombing - WCM.

Well, doesn't that allow me the right to feel scared of travelling with those dangerous people on my flight as well??

Of course, I'm not at all serious, that would be absurd, but someone really needs to drive home that point with the MSN and our leaders. Odds are, in this country, if you are gong to be part of a terror plot or mass shooting, it's not going to be a Muslim, it's going to be a white Christian male doing it. That kind of fear should never be allowed to dictate policy though.

[marble falls]

5. Donald Trumps's hair makes me very uncomfortable ... no fly list, please?

[lonestarnot]

8. His fucking pie hole is even creepier.

[Eleanors38]

37. Looks like the squid in 20,000 Leagues Under da Sea.

[TexasBushwhacker]

55. Or a blowup doll

[secondwind]

10. It is truly disgusting..but if these fellas have nothing to hide, they should get KTN's, which are

Known Traveler Numbers, the cost is about $80.

You go to the government website tsa.gov/tsa-precheck. on the left side, they will find TSA PRE and 'APPLY'...

If they apply online, when they go for their appointment, it will only take a few minutes.. since all the information has already been received and verified.

[Feeling the Bern]

16. I have nothing to hide and I won't pay that. Nice we're all assumed terrorists.

How many Americans attacked us on 9/11? Oh yeah, none. They were American citizens.

[jeff47]

19. Because the victims should pay for bigotry.

[SusanCalvin]

21. Nobody should have to do these things in the first place.

I wouldn't, on principle.

The terrorists are doing a real good job of causing us to destroy ourselves.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

35. "If these fellas have nothing to hide"

Did I just read that un DU?

Maybe they should were little Crescent patches.

[FLPanhandle]

11. Airlines are way too accommodating of prejudices and bigotry

Remember they are willing to move women away from Hasidic Jews too.

The airlines need to get tough and tell people "If you don't like who you are flying next to, then get the fuck off the plane. We aren't playing your game".

[LittleGirl]

13. absofuckinglutely! eom

[Arugula Latte]

34. Airlines should accommodate Hasidic Jews who are afraid of Vagina-Americans

by giving them the option of flying in cargo, or on the wing, or in the wheel well. On mostly empty flights they could be stuffed in the overhead bins if they so choose.

[whathehell]

46. LOL..

Good one.

[greymattermom]

47. they should have to buy two tickets, maybe three

so that they don't have to sit next to a woman. Only fair if they want to restrict the "cargo" in the next seat.

[LittleGirl]

12. this is b.s. of the highest order

wtf? have these passengers ever left the shores of the US? My gawd people, I live in Europe and I don't speak the local language yet so you can be sure everyone hears me speak english all of the freaking time. If someone wanted to deport me because I'm American, I would have a meltdown. This is my home.

Think!

[kairos12]

14. Fear of the Other. Rethug mantra, with which they hope to win the White House.

[jtuck004]

15. So they tossed the Muslims and left a whole planeload of people who look like the murderer

and bomber TImothy Mcveigh, good christian and all that, fly off in the plane?

Humans are often afraid of the wrong things...

[TreasonousBastard]

18. I would think that if one is uncomfortable with...

the look of other passengers---

TAKE THE NEXT FLIGHT!

The problem isn't with that brownish person-- it's with you.

[jwirr]

23. While everyone here is thinking this is a religious issue I

disagree. Who is it the MIC have been scaring us with lately? Anyone from the ME (brown skinned people) and China ( we need the TPP so China doesn't get an agreement.).

The one organization that benefits the most from fear is always either the MIC (when it is foreign) or NRA (when it is domestic).

Religion has little to do with either.

[JCMach1]

24. There are plenty of Xtians and Druze whose first language is Arabic...

[jwirr]

27. Exactly. I was sitting in a Bible study when several people

started talking about a "Christian nation". The minister broke in and told them there was not such thing as a christian nation because there were christian people in every nation. And he could have turned that around by explaining that most nations have many different religions.

[JCMach1]

31. Nor is 'Arab' a race... I have known Emiratis who are whiter than me me with

green, or blue eyes and I have known Emiratis who are as dark as Africans.

Circassian Syrians, for example, tend to have Red Hair and blue/green eyes.

[jwirr]

33. We really are stupid in how we judge each other, aren't we?

When my Native American son in law was in treatment for alcoholism I wrote him and told him that he needed to think of himself as human because we all have the same strengths and weaknesses. He saved the letter.

[JCMach1]

36. Precisely...

[whathehell]

50. By "we", I hope you mean humanity in general, as ethnic/racial bigotry is

decidedly not limited to these shores.

[jwirr]

51. Absolutely.

[whathehell]

52. Good. Thanks. n/t

[spanone]

25. so, why didn't the airline tell the fearful ones to take another flight?

[Marr]

29. Yeah, that seems backwards to me as well. /nt

[Xithras]

32. For what it's worth, not all airlines are this stupid

I flew from Tampa to LAX a couple of weeks ago, and there was a group of very clearly Muslim men on our flight. As we were sitting in the airport waiting for our boarding time, it also became pretty obvious that some of my fellow passengers were less than thrilled about it. Several of them kept staring at the men, and the seats around them were oddly empty.

I tend to read while flying and wasn't paying a lot of attention to the world outside my book, but at one point a woman at the counter loudly exclaimed "Why should I have to change my flight? THEY are the problem!" I looked up to see a middle aged white lady talking to the Delta gate agent. She'd apparently complained about the men and presumably tried to get them thrown off. The gate agent obviously didn't agree.

We all started boarding about 20 minutes later...bigoted white lady included...and had an uneventful flight.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

38. As an old, white, male, athiest, I'm really starting to hate white people.

[JEB]

43. Do not fly. Airports are the model of repression and bigotry.

[MurrayDelph]

56. I fly only when absolutely necessary

I frequently travel between Los Angeles and two hours northwest of Portland (17 to 20 hours of drive time). With only one exception, of the last forty times I've made that commute, I drive. And that one exception, the lack of ground transportation options to get home meant it took just as long for having flown than if I had driven.

Now back when I DID have to fly a lot for my job, I avoided Southwest because it's business model attracted more assholes (both among passengers and personnel) than most other airlines at the time (20+ years ago).

[Daniel537]

53. "After the incident, Southwest Airlines said in a statement safety is a primary concern"

Nice way of showing your true colors there, assholes. I hope a multi-million dollar lawsuit is in the cards here, not just against the company but against the individual employees themselves. People need to start being held accountable for their bigotry.

[MBS]

58. This is so depressing.

and a reminder that far-right politicians, Fox news and the Koch brothers (etc) are far from the only ones to blame for the sorry state of our democracy. It's the voters who vote for those politicians, who buy the lies and the small-mindedness and the fears. It's the voters with mindset like this - the passenger who complained , and the airline staff who side with that passenger.
If we lose our democracy, we have only ourselves to blame.