I Prayed to Allah on a Plane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
Britain is considering adopting racial and ethnic profiling procedures to help identify potential terrorists, a move British Metropolitan police chief superintendent Ali Dizaei has condemned as creating the new offence of “traveling while Asian”.
And two young men of “Middle Eastern or Asian” appearance were removed from a holiday flight after their fellow passengers complained that they were acting suspiciously:
In the early hours of Wednesday a number of passengers on Monarch Airlines flight ZB613 left the plane, refusing to fly unless the two men were removed, causing a three-hour delay.
Passengers are reported to have become suspicious after the men were overheard apparently speaking Arabic and seen repeatedly checking their watches, although this has not been confirmed by the airline.
If people who speak Arabic and check their watches frequently in airports are to be acted against, and if the colour of one’s skin is to once again become the determining factor in how one is treated by the police, perhaps it’s time to start jamming the culture a little bit.
That’s why I propose we put our heads together and start up a new company selling t-shirts with Arabic on them whose sayings translate into punchy commentary such as Declare Jihad on Illiteracy, or I Love America, or perhaps I Prayed to Allah on a Plane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.
We could also screen-print the image of some bearded, scary-looking dude on them to really make the point, like Abraham Lincoln:
What do you think?
[tags]terrorism,paranoia,politics,security[/tags]
August 21st, 2006 at 10:46 am
I think we are living through the xenophobic trend of our age – one my children’s children would read about.
Arabs on a plane.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:11 am
Islamo-fascists on a mother fucking plane? (I hope they don’t have gatorade bottles and box cutters).
August 21st, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Democracy Now! is reporting today that an Iraqi named Raed Jarrar who resides in the United States was prevented from boarding his plane from New York City to Oakland because he was wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script on it that read “We will not be silent”, with an English translation underneath.
In his words, “I was told by one of the officials that wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script in an airport now is like going to a bank with a t-shirt that reads, ‘I am a robber.'”
This is an odd coincidence because although I watch DN! regularly, I was not aware of this when I wrote this post this morning, although I’m not terribly surprised by Jarrar’s experience.
August 21st, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Alevo,
At the same time I was reading this, I got an email from a friend that included the phrase, “Shieks on a plane”, which fits better.
Ade,
Apparently, now talking in Arabic is considered a form of terrorism. I think the guy should receive some clemency since he provided an English translation for his seditious comments, especially since the US military is busy firing its Arabic-speaking soldiers for their demoralizing community theatre activities.
August 21st, 2006 at 4:52 pm
You’re a genius, infidel. I dare you to wear a t-shirt saying “I Prayed to Allah on a Plane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.” in Saudi Arabia or any muslim country.
Then let’s talk tolerance and prejudice.
August 21st, 2006 at 5:21 pm
In the deep dark past when the worst thing that happened to westerners in arabic lands was the occasional kidnapping you could buy a t-shirt in Australia that said in arabic with english translation: I am not an American
I think that would get you bucketloads of trouble these days and not from anyone arabic.
August 21st, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Ted — Turkey is a muslim country, I don’t think anyone would give you a headache for that shirt. Egypt or Libya or Indonesia, probably same thing… Even Iran is 100 times more open than your example country.
August 22nd, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Muslim pilot hauled off plane, questioned by armed police
August 27th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Now someone is actually selling t-shirts just like these.
September 10th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
u r so full of shit. Canuckistan is a joke.