The Doggy Diaries... gone to the dogs!

Wow, how interesting and also disturbing. I don't know the solution. I agree that they can't go and do racial profiling but the suspicious behavior should have been dealt with. We live in a very different world these days and it's very easy to become paranoid and rightfully so.

Bruce, I agree with almost everything you say except the part about racial profiling. I personally do not see a problem with it, especially when it's being done to ensure the safety of hundreds of passengers per flight. After all, we know that the *majority* of airline hijackers are Middle Eastern men. The overly-used example is that of a grey-haired granny who is searched while a young Middle Eastern man does not because there is fear that searching Middle Eastern men without searching old granny would violate political correctness and hurt someone's feelings. This is insane. I've never heard of grannies posing terrorist threats. If they ever do, then by all means, they should be searched, too. But to impose a quota of searching no more than two people per ethnicity per flight is ridiculous.

I personally have no problem being searched. In fact, it just so happens that I was pulled out of line and searched on the very first long-distance flight I took after September 11, 2001. Did I pitch a fit or cry out that they were targeting me because I was a white woman? No. Did I cry racism or that they were trying to get down on whitey? No. Did I jump up and down and shout that they were violating my civil rights? No. Were my feelings hurt? No. Why? Because I knew it was being done for the safety of all people who would be on that plane.

It seems pretty obvious to me that if you've got the potential for terrorists to take over a flight and kill not only the people onboard the plane but an untold number of people on the ground, then why in the hell not search those who we know have historically posed the worst threat? If I were a law-abiding Middle Eastern man who had no intention of doing anything malevolent and I was searched, I can't say whether my feelings would be hurt. If I were being pulled out and searched on every flight, I know I'd start getting angry and frustrated. But you can be damn sure that my anger and frustration wouldn't be directed at the system. I'd be pissed off at my fellow Middle Eastern men for making it necessary for flight officials to search me on every single flight I took. And I sure as hell wouldn't be thinking that whitey was trying to get down on me.

Personally, if it comes down to potentially "hurting the feelings" of Middle Eastern male passengers or the possibility of me and everyone else onboard dying because terrorists are allowed to bring weapons or other items that can be used as weapons onto the plane when they should have been searched, then I say you go right ahead and hurt the feelings of those Middle Eastern men all you want. Because the fact remains that those men will get over their hurt feelings, but me and everyone else onboard will never get over being dead. When it comes to a decision between self-preservation and respecting the "feelings" of others, my sense of self-preservation will win every time.

Does this make me politically incorrect? I sure hope so. Our whole PC mentality is going to get a whole lot of Americans killed if we don't wake up and do something to protect ourselves.

Kasey, I agree with you. I too have been searched boarding flights and didn't feel offended. I agree if you have nothing to hide you would not be offended. But that is coming from a middle aged white guy.

I don't think we should search people simply based on their race, but I DO think we should search them based on their nationality. Why shouldn't we be especially careful with middle eastern men traveling together? Who CARES if we offend them?? They've certainly offended us enough times.

This country, for all its security measures, is still a pansy-arsed, politically correct, weakling. You can bet that if something like that happened on a middle eastern airlines that those men would've been nailed right away. Damn liberals - this is all their fault! ;)

Hey Kristi, you go girl!

I think I often interchange the concepts of race and nationality in my head by accident. So yes, nationality profiling is the more accurate term to describe the point I was trying to make. Thanks for making that distinction and clarifying my post.

You said 100% how I feel about this country. We've become a pansy-arsed, PC weakling. And by the way, you are correct about your description of how airlines run and operated by some countries in the Middle East handle passengers. I used to work for a non-profit organization that raised money to support research and academic programs at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel. Our executive director flew back to Tel Aviv quite often, and she said it was a matter of practice that EVERYONE flying with El Al Airlines was searched on every flight. They don't care who you are or what your nationality is, if you want to fly, then you must be searched. I don't know if they still do that, but with the intense threats they are under by their Palestinian neighbors, I wouldn't be surprised.

If we were to do something like that in this country, people would whine and complain that they have to wait too long for their flights because of all the searching. But at least they couldn't say we were singling out one race or nationality over another.

Kasey,

Wow, what a BLOG. As for the airline issue you have to realize that all comes down to economis. You see, we do not have the Millons to spend on nothing more than kick-backs and pay-offs to get our voice heard in Washington. We, as a Nation are not pansey-arced (nice). Our government, filled to the brim with selfish, non-concience having INDIVIDUALS will always let money speak for itselves and therefore seem to be. Therefore airlines and super airports (hubs) will always get thier way and the last word.

If we were to search every passenger on every flight then it would almost double travel time by air. There is theory that this would slow air traffic to the point that people would no longer see the point. I however disagree. You can search me ten times at 4 different terminals and I stll cannot get to California in 1 day. Or Canada, New Mexico, Belieze,,,,you get the point. Airlines are terrified of hurting ones feelings and fielding the following compliants by such actions so want to get votes against guidelins like you suggest. But if all bodies boarding were searched then where is the complaint. Again, they pay money to professional theives, er, polotitions to make themselves more money. Guidelines that are safer but slower are not an option.

If it makes you feel any better, I have traveled over 6k miles in the past 50 days by air wihtout incident. You know that my job makes me alot more aware of my surroundings then your average bear and have nothing negative to note. The only person I was even thought odd also had the complete attention of the FAM (Federal Air Marshall)on board. He was not hard to spot either as he was the most uptight individual on the plane, and needed a bigger cut jacket to cover up the gun. Anyway, we cannot worry with this type of thing. Fear cannot run our lives. But I will say this, if you have a concern or worry, see somthing suspicious or downright criminal, tell your steward and the FAM on board will be notified immediately.

Thanks for your enlightening comments, Davis. Of all the people I know, I can without a doubt say that you are the only one trained to be aware of your surroundings and really watch peoples' behavior. It makes me feel better to know that in your time in the air, even with your highly-trained sense of observation, you did not see much to cause worry.

I'd like to ask ... were you travelling on a large airplane carrying a couple hundred passengers or were you on smaller, commuter jets?

I also wonder just how many flights have FAMs onboard. I haven't heard, nor have I taken the initiative to search for, current statistics on this matter.