Should racial profiling be used to stop terror?

[baileym1]

NO NO NO Have we learned nothing from an event in history like the Japanese internment! There is no way to predict who the "bad" people are anymore or what they look like.

 

[Brandon]

People only support profiling unless it is their culture/race/nationality doing the terrorizing. The IRA is (was?) a terrorist organization. Does that mean we can profile people who look Irish (that would include me)?

 

[sarah]

I would love to hear the opinion of someone of Middle Eastern decent on this issue.

 

[Brandon]

I would love to hear the opinion of someone of Middle Eastern decent on this issue.

As would I!

 

[sarah]

It's easy for people who are not being profiled against to speak up on the issue, because we can go on our merry way and not truely have to worry about it. But I have never really had an in depth discussion with someone who has to deal with it on a daily basis.

 

[OneofaKind]

I think you have to redefine what profiling is. Should it be racial, no but if the guy who committed the crime is Middle Eastern that should not be the only definition. If a white guy commits a crime we don't arrest all white guys. It has to be redefined.

Racial profiling does not mean thatthe police go around and arrest everyone of a certain origin. In as much as I don't like it is a bit more complex than that and to be honest it does help make the task of detecting terrorist a tiny bit more managable.

 

[baileym1]

We would never support racial profiling if it were "us" who were being detained, harassed, etc.

 

[OneofaKind]

I think racial profiling has to be used until someone can come up with a better solution.

Any ideas?

 

[tater03]

Yes, i believe also that there is no way around having to do this. I can honestly say if it were middle aged white, females that were the terrorists that i could understand them profiling me. I know it could prove to be a hassle to me but i could understan why it was happening. I have a feeling that alot of things are going to change because of the type of war were fighting now.

 

[All5Horizons]

I think bush needs to ride the short bus for a while.

Quite honestly..that is one of the best things I've ever read in my life.

Racial profiling is idiotic and absolutely uncalled for. That promotes nothing but an extremely unwarranted discrimination.

"That's the only way to stop the problem."
Yeah, like Hell. First you have to mistakenly assume that there is some sort of problem with "them" being out to get "us." If you believe the official story, then you still can't get around the fact that aside from one day 5 years ago..Al Qaeda has left us alone. The Bush Administration, following 9/11, demanded that Afghanistan hand over Bin Laden. Afghanistan agreed that they would immediately place Bin Laden on trial if the United States were to share any evidence that Osama was behind the attacks...this evidence never materialized, and Afghanistan was bombed like there was no tomorrow.

Regardless, assuming that there is a problem...maybe there are other solutions to it. Maybe these people are upset about something else. (God knows it's not the fact that they 'hate our freedoms'...they don't give a damn what we do within our own borders.) Maybe it's the fact that they're sick of being pushed around...maybe they're sick of the U.S. allowing innocent people to be murdered by installing Pinochet, Suharto, the Shah of Iran...for using surrogates to overthrow Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Noor Mohammad Tareki in Afghanistan...maybe they're sick of the United States invading Vietnam, The Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama for political gains. Maybe they're through with the United States staying uninvited in Saudi Arabia for oil reserves (Osama made absolutely clear WAY before 9/11 that he wanted the U.S. out of Saudi Arabia.)

Get yourself more acquainted with current affairs...and more acquainted with history (as it's usually the cause of what goes on today.)

Think....it doens't hurt to do it once in a while.

 

[sarah]

"These people" are only following a small group of religious extremists who have brainwashed them. Don’t blame the entire group, for what one smaller group is creating.
I am not trying to defend the actions, but I find it sort of cruel to vilify an entire religious group... not all of them are extremist. Many of them are simply gullible.

 

[lizakollman]

It comes right down to how much you value your own personal freedomes, and how much you are willing to give up for the sake of the common good. are you personally willing to be stopped and searched while going through an airport because someone who looks like you might have done something wrong? if that is so, then racial profiling is an idea that is good. i personally am not inclined to believe that it is so, because it takes away too many other freedoms to be worthwhile. in myopinon.

 

[Winstons Myth]

I think that the point is getting missed a little here.

In all of the comments nobody seems to have mentioned (or I have missed it?!) that the moment that the police begin performing racial profiling, the terrorists will change tack and get somebody who does not fit the profile to get involved for them.

They may not be an actual suicide bomber per se, but they could be used to transport expolsives and maybe not even be completely aware of what it is that they are carrying.

There are lots of pro's and con's to racial profiiling but surely the fact that it is absolutely proven to be subjective, unreliable and, generally, unworkable should be enough to stop it before it starts (again).