Profiling

[IBCoupe]

There was a guy in my fraternity named Phil. He did this thing where he'd drop trou' and do what was termed "The Phyllis."

[stebo0728]

There was a guy in my fraternity named Phil. He did this thing where he'd drop trou' and do what was termed "The Phyllis."

I neither want to see, not hear that that described further please.

[WDRacing]

I had a buddy that would have just his ball sack sticking out of his BDU's...

[IBCoupe]

Neither did I.

Anyways: as I said before, the problem isn't with stereotyping per se, it's with stereotyping as a basis for criminal investigation or prosecution. Nobody really cares about stereotyping 'til you bring the long arm of the law into it. We all recognize that it's not terribly logical and it can lead to unfortunate consequences, but it's not as big an issue until there's power behind it to affect an impact.

[WDRacing]

I agree with profiling so we're, as usual, on different sides of the debate. You being on the ultra gay side and me being on the right side.

Do I need to insert smileys here to enforce my use of humor and sarcasm or?

[heliochrome85]

although not directly relevant, having gone through it a couple times in the US, and countless times abroad; being profiled has a direct impact on my views on say SB1070 and the implications. I recognize that this may be to a degree an irrational fear, but when was the last time you saw a law implemented in a perfect fashion?

[WDRacing]

Only never...

[AZhitman]

Long story short, not only was I detained for 1.5 hours after an 11 hour flight from Vienna, I missed my connecting flight, and left secondary screening feeling like I was being accused of something.

Does profiling make us safer? Maybe

Is it impact free on the people who are profiled? Hardly.

Not cool.

Tariq, I always knew this was the case, but it's always "that other guy".

When "that other guy" is a good friend, it really chaps my a$$. I just don't have a good solution. I, like IBC, am a proponent of profiling as a tool to further investigative means. I use it myself as an Investigator. I guess if I were forced to draft policy on something like this, I'd be in favor of ramping up technology to the Nth degree - metal detectors, chem sniffers, full scans... That way, we search EVERYONE, and no one's late for a flight unless they have a REAL reason to be detained.

I'm sorry you had to go through that. I suppose my parting shot would be to lay the blame squarely on the heads of the "goat f***ers" AND the pinheads in Washington.

[heliochrome85]

truthfully, i gained alot of respect for the guys who actually did it. they are given an impossible task where they are being pushed infront of hundreds of angry weary travelers who rarely speak english adequately. They were professional with me. I understood their task, and they carried it out professionally. That being said, it doesnt make it a pleasant experience. I showed them my college ID, my hospital ID badge, and was on my way after things were signed off. yes it sucks, but for the time being we dont have any better solution.

makes you wonder if you remove the reason why people hate the US, would that be any better than trying to wrap ourselves in layers of TSA and HSA regulations and procedures? Im not advocating revamping the middle east. Im just saying i wonder how things would be different.

[AZhitman]

Removing the reasons people hate the US would mean turning the US into something that resembles, well, the middle east.

Sorry, not interested.

Again, I think the focus should be on technological innovation and applications, rather than continuing to try and appease everyone.

[IBCoupe]

Actually, I think removing the reasons the middle east doesn't like the US would have more to do with drastically altering our foreign policy. Yeah, the most fanatical over there would really prefer that we convert or die, but were we to close most of our Middle Eastern and African bases and embassies, to withdraw support for Israel, and stop propping up unpopular regimes, we'd likely run into far less opposition.

That said, there are compelling arguments for continuing each of those policies, and it may be that the best course of action is to continue the policies and continue earning the ire of much of the Middle Eastern world. But that's a cost-benefit analysis I'm not educated or paid enough to calculate.

[AZhitman]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

And don't fool yourself - they hate us just as much for our scantily-clad women, our baseball, our air-conditioned 2-story houses, our proud and brave military, our 2.5 cars in the garage, our Starbucks, our 327 channel cable TV, our Levi's and Nikes, our Mom, and our apple pie.

When I was 20, I believed in a policy of outreach and goodwill. When I was 30, I believed in Imperialism and global hyper-Capitalism. I'm leaning more and more towards a policy of Isolationism. Simplistic, yes. But I often wonder what the implications of simply "hunkering down" and circling the wagons would really be... Seems to have worked well for Japan.

On a side note, I'm encouraged by some of the recent developments we're seeing regarding collaboration with Russia in preparing for and contending with international terrorism and misbehavior of rogue nations. Here's hoping the current Administration doesn't F it up.

Wow, we got off-topic.

[stebo0728]

On a side note, I'm encouraged by some of the recent developments we're seeing regarding collaboration with Russia in preparing for and contending with international terrorism and misbehavior of rogue nations. Here's hoping the current Administration doesn't F it up.

Interesting, you know relations with England really blew there for a while. They finally man'd up tho, and things are better, perhaps we are approaching an era of peaceable relations with Russia. Which means who will be our major enemy now? Im hoping for Canada personally.

[IBCoupe]

Ooh, then we'd have a real war to watch.

And, Greg, while the people who have an extreme hate for us probably do hate us for our scantily clad women, I can't help but wonder if they'd care just that much less if our companies didn't send them reminders of it whenever possible.

Either this is a story that was told to me by someone else, or it was something my friend said to me: he went to Saudi Arabia, got off the plane, got in the limo waiting for him and said, "I'm hungry. What's good around here?" The driver, a local, replied, "We've got KFC, McDonalds, Taco Bell..."

And so maybe they wouldn't mind our culture so much if there wasn't a perception that it was pushing out theirs. Kind of like what we fear here and in Europe in the inverse relationship.

[AZhitman]

Eh, I dunno about that. You could be right.

It's not like WE are going over there and building a McDonald's. THEIR countrymen own the franchises. We're not handing out free miniskirts and Big Macs on the streets of Kandahar.

When they start making real progress towards human rights, gender equality, tolerance, and race relations, I'll be concerned about what we're "pushing" on the Middle East.

[heliochrome85]

its so easy to forget that gender equality, religious tolerance, and human rights are all things that the US should aspire to itself instead of trying to use it as a hurdle to help other countries.

Those are all luxuries of stable advanced states. I cant say that one can point to the US and say we have acheived any of them.

[IBCoupe]

I support the above post, and I'd like to add that when we're dealing with how people feel about a thing, the actual nature of that thing isn't as important as the perception of that thing.

[wingFeather]

I cant say that one can point to the US and say we have acheived any of them.

We have gone there & back.

[UpStar]

I see no positive benefit to dressing like this:

Nice! You found the most extreme picture to move your wretched point. Typical


Let me stoop to your level for a second We saw nothing positive from this nicely dressed gent in the pic below, but we dare profile him as anything else except an honest business man? <--answer is no, so why profile the kid in a hooded sweat shirt <-- answer, because society has conditioned most of you to think that criminals dress in hooded sweat shirts

[themadscientist]

Not a lot of gangbangers carjacking you in a brooks brothers suit man; let's not be ridiculous. Crooks who dress like that steal your 401K.

"Society" hasn't conditioned us to think this, criminals in hoodies have.

[stebo0728]

Not a lot of gangbangers carjacking you in a brooks brothers suit man; let's not be ridiculous. Crooks who dress like that steal your 401K.

"Society" hasn't conditioned us to think this, criminals in hoodies have.

Agreed, UPStar are you one who likes to dress this way and are appauled that people then get that impression of YOU?

I understand if I slick down my hair, wear a polo shirt with a cardigan tie by the sleeves around my neck, people might get the impression that my daddy buys me whatever I want, and I somehow partied through college and still made the deans list.

[stebo0728]

That sort of speaks toward the issue of whether companies would hire someone who came in for their interview with piercings and visible tattoos. Depends on the position, but if its anywhere near a professional type position, or one where customer interaction is involved, I wouldnt hire them.

[themadscientist]

I can speak to that. When people walk in to interview for me with piercings other than women with earrings, they don't get hired. Tattoos I cut them some slack. You can choose to leave the eyebrow piercing out but a tat is permanent and may not represent your current ideas about workplace decorum. If you are in the back working and your 87 bolts through your cheeks are not a safety hazard, fine, but if you are our "face" to the customers, metal hanging out of your lip is a non-starter.

[stebo0728]

Well you make a good point about tats, I always call them permanent responses to temporary emotions. Still, something in me just cant trust someone who would tat their neck, or if their neck is bigger than their head for that matter

[stebo0728]

[audtatious]

Nice NAMBLA members there