Will the racial profiling enthusiast on the right learn anything from Jihad Jane?

Oh now that is funny as hell.

I once said that, if I was a terrorist and was plotting some destruction, I would recruit average white citizens to do the job. I would avoid people who look like stereotypical terrorists because I would want the best chance at success. There are enough nutjobs like Jihad Jane to do the trick.

And, thus, racial profiling is damaging to more than just the profiled people because someone who looks like your average Jane or John Doe is more likely to slip by. I have always maintained that scrutiny should be equal.

On a more personal note, when I get stopped to have my bags or cart checked for goods I obviously must have stolen because I am Rromani Gypsy, what about the average white American with stolen goods in her bags that walks out of the store unnoticed while they are paying attention to watching me in a store and searching my bags? That is one security person tied up with me who is not watching other people. Oh, if you do not think that this happens, read an account from a white employee of a store who testifies otherwise

A friend of mine was pinned against a police car while jogging in his neighborhood to harass him. He was a very dark skinned Rromano and the police did not like “his sort” so they routinely pinned him against their car and frisked him when he was out jogging… because the police could and we are racially profiled in many States and towns. So they had an excuse.

Now, that was done to harass my friend, not a random thing. However, if it was a random stop, what about someone else, not racially profiled, jogging by with drugs in his or her pants pockets? They are going to be looking first at whoever is racially profiled before they look at someone who is not and could be engaged in the exact behaviour suspected of the profiled person.

In the cases I describe, their attention is focused on the profiled group instead of watching everyone.

Some people say that racial profiling does not exist. That is blatantly not true. I doubt that it exists everywhere, in every police district or other authority, but it does exist.

Enjoyed that immensely.

I’m just glad we’re to the point that we can’t trust anyone these days. I was getting wistful for the days of the KGB, but maybe the gubmint will come up with a solution to investigate everyone.

I’m not for racial profiling, either. I’m against fake and fostered terrorism.

I would say not since they did not learn anything from Timothy McVeigh.

Must we trivialize everything by giving it clever nicknames?
“Johnny Taliban”, “Chemical Ali (that one wasnt even clever), “Jihad Jane”?
I’d really like for the news to speak to me as though I were an adult who has at least some semblance of intelligence.

@Captain_Fantasy In this case it is an alias.

“A suburban Pennsylvania woman known by the alias “Jihad Jane” has been arrested ”

Alias
“a false name used to conceal one’s identity; an assumed name: The police files indicate that “Smith” is an alias for Simpson. ”

If it is, indeed, an alias, it was her choosing.

What about the racial profiling enthusiasts on the Left?
Yes, there are racial profilers on both sides.

I’m all for checking everyone.
What I don’t like is when they purposely don’t check someone who has an ethnic look because they don’t want to look like, or be accused of profiling.

Oh yes. Now we can forget all about the previous, politically incorrect focus on Islamic Jihadists! With the advent of Jihad Jane it becomes painfully obvious that we were definitely barking up the wrong tree. Now all we need to do is generalize from this one person who was not “dark complected, Middle Eastern, male and bearded” to the politically correct conclusion that terrorists are white, blonde, blue-eyed and female. Thank you for pointing all this out to us.

@CaptainHarley I think that all should be watched because anyone can do it. This article points out one, Timothy McVeigh for another, the bombings in England (I think done by the IRA), and my own scenario where I would not use someone who is racially profiled as a terrorist if I was a terrorist who was going to use someone else to carry out my dirty work..

First I would aim for a sane looking and acting nutjob. If that did not come through…

I would look for a desperate person with a family who looks like your average American… it can be a white, black, etc as long as s/he is a normal looking American. The person I picked could be male or female. My criteria would solely be that the person looks like the average Joe or Jane. I would not aim for white, blonde, blue eyed, or female. I would look for average and not profiled as a terrorist. I have had this debate before and I believe that, if someone with a past and/or who is in extreme financial distress with a family to protect was offered an out from all of that and his/her family safe with bills paid off… that would be a candidate. The person’s family being killed if s/he does not follow through would add incentive.

What I am showing is nutjobs, terrorists, desperate people come in all colors.

Thanks to all who answered. @Captain_Fantasy I agree with your angst over news media trivialization, but it this particular cane, don’t shoot the press, she gave herself that name. It was her user name in online discussion groups.

@Nullo I’ve no more use for LWNJs than for RWNJs. As I have often said, if you constantly turn in one direction, you end up going in circles. Whether you consistently turn to the right or the left only determine whether you spin clockwise our counterclockwise. In either case, the nut jobs spin till the end up in a deep hole.

@CaptainHarley The Israelis have a workable profiling method in place, and that is what we ashould be concentrating on, not a system that gives comfort to the racist and bigots on the American right. They look for a profile that has to do with behaviorial characteristics. Makes no difference what racial or ethnic group you are a part of, if you are boarding a plane intent on setting off a bomb and killing yourself in the process, there are some strong psychological markers that trained security people can spot. Anyone showing those behaviors if called aside for high-level screening.

The Israelis have the right idea, but they have to be right the first time out of the box. 100 dead or injured is a big deal, in the US 100 dead or injured barely rates a mention on the evening news. Behavioral profiling is an excellent approach, but I strongly suspect that the US isn’t equipped to use it. Not only are most of our security personnel paid at or near minimum wage ( which usually does not attract highly trained and motivated personnel ), but the brain-dead politically correct crowd would have conniption fits and froth at the mouth if ANY screening system resulted in a racial, religious or ethnic minority being screened at a higher rate. ( Look up “disparate impact.” )

@CaptainHarley There are certain things that need to be done correctly, and you just have to let those who froth at the mouth unless they are done incorrectly froth away. That said, most of the people on the left oppose racial profiling, and not because they are brain dead but because it doesn’t work to make us safer, distracts the security forces from what would work, and hands the terrorist powerful recruiting tools by making our culture seem to embrace racial bigotry.

Then hire some quality people, put them under Homeland Security, pay them well, and teach them behavioral profiling. See if the leftoids don’t crawl out of the woodwork and try to stop it.

@CaptainHarley Amen to that, my friend.