What “leather jackets and thick jumpers”?
Those “terrorists” thrown off the plane? They looked suspicious because they were wearing heavy clothes and sweaters? Bullshit.
The friends deny claims they were wearing heavy leather jackets which aroused suspicion. They insist they merely had on light windcheaters, T-shirts and jeans.
(via)
One of the racist gits tries to defend the hysteria:
But lecturer Jo Schofield - travelling with husband Heath and daughter Isabel, 12 - tried to explain why panic gripped the 150 passengers on the flight.She said: “Everyone agreed the men looked dodgy. Some passengers were very panicky and in tears. There was a lot of talking about terrorists.”
Lecturer. She’s a lecturer. Would you want her teaching you or your kids? The men looked “dodgy”. Why, because they’re brown and spoke Urdu?
They’re confiscating books they don’t like the look off, and removing people from planes because they’re brown, even if they’re a fully qualified airline pilot on a staff ticket. Let’s here it for sane and rational shall we?
…
Comment by innerbrat | August 23, 2006
Well, that Craig Murray is clearly a subversive. Of course his books should be confiscated.
The Indie rang a series of articles a couple of months ago after someone carrying the paper - with a headline critical of (if I remember correctly) the war in Iraq - was arrested for political activity - I think it was near Parliament, and they were subject to the new law banning demonstrations within so many yards of Westminster. (Heaven forbid that any political activity happens near - or in! - Parliament…)
Comment by rhythmaning | August 23, 2006
Yeah, it was a copy of Vanity Fair with an article by Henry Porter in it detailing the civil liberties stuff the Govts been up to, someone was sat outside Downing St reading it, within the exclusion zone.
If I were in London next week, I’d do Mark Thomas/Rachel’s latest thing, but I can’t make it; I’ll post a plug for it later though.
The law is SOCPA, because ringing a bell at the cenotaph is a Serious Organised Crime…
Comment by matgb | August 23, 2006
I remember having the Nietzsche book I was carrying scrutinised very carefully at Schiphol airport. But that was a year ago. These days they’d probably just destroy it with a controlled explosion.
Comment by tiredstars | August 23, 2006
But if they didn’t, would the book be stronger?
Comment by rhythmaning | August 23, 2006
Vanity Fair being dangerously subversive.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so scary.
Comment by rhythmaning | August 23, 2006
They’re confiscating books they don’t like the look off, and removing people from planes because they’re brown, even if they’re a fully qualified airline pilot on a staff ticket. Let’s here it for sane and rational shall we?
I agree - let’s hear it for sane and rational. After all, they appear to have had the good sense to get out of the situation nice and early…
Comment by doccy | August 23, 2006
That.
Was bad. Just so y’know.
Comment by matgb | August 23, 2006
Bad. But irresistible!
Comment by rhythmaning | August 23, 2006
haha! I thought it was excellent!
Comment by jackthomas | August 24, 2006
Now, I know I am not exactly, well, balanced when it comes to things like this. But I have just finished reading a book called Influence - Science and Practice, and what with reading Fear of Freedom by Erich Fromm and Man For Himself I would like to congratulate the excellent job they are doing in removing our freedoms and taking us to a more regulated, authoritarian system.
The underlying current of fear, the slow errosion of liberties and the long indoctrination policies to fear certain individuals or ideas is now really starting to pay off.
Lets look at this plane incident as an example - high levels of media saturated garbage and drivel to induce a huge fear of planes been blown up (by, quite frankly, chemically improbable means) by terrorists (and by terrorists, of course the media indicates ‘arabs looking men with beards’). Sadly the brain is very good at associating things like this together - they see arab men in photos and on tv associated with the constant warnings of terrorists, association comes into play.
People follow each other like herds, most of the time this serves them pretty well, not having to think critically in a lot of actions removes potentially difficult decisions and of course absolution from responsibility for action.
Queue one person on a plane making a ‘those men look dodgy comment and before you know it click, whhhhr in pops all those automated unconcious behaviours the government and media have been planting for the last few years, even if they didn’t mean to, and you have a mob on your hands.
You can tell how wonderfully indoctrinated they have become, people were in tears.
Once you start looking everything feels so manipulative. I don’t go out much anymore.
It could just be the paranoia though.
Could…
“Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war. ” - Tony Blair
Comment by jackthomas | August 24, 2006
I’m remaining of the opinion that it’s not a conscious plan on the part of the leaders, I think it’s inadvertant stupidity, which in many ways is worse.
I’ve got a tinfoil helmet check y’see, and I have to make sure I’m not going all loony. Regularly. Whenever I think about this sort of thing for too long.
Yes, people are now associating because of all the media coverage, but I don’t think that was the intentional effect. It may be I’m wrong.
Comment by matgb | August 24, 2006
Power of Nightmares anyone?
It’s hard to imagine that some of the people in charge don’t recognise the way they can use fear to manipulate people. The only question is who’s doing it, how much and with how much precision.
Also, I think even for those who are not consciously manipulating it, or if you don’t believe there is a conscious manipulation, I’d argue that it is a necessary but contingent part of the political system that has developed. In that something needed to replace the general dissolution of positive political ideology and fear fulfills that role. Those involved at least implicitly recognise its utility and are unwilling to challenge its primacy.
Incidentally, on the ‘heavy clothing while it’s really warm’ charge, uh yeah… well Schiphol’s about a hundred square miles of air conditioning, and planes aren’t exactly kept at the outside temperature…
Comment by tiredstars | August 24, 2006
I’m wondering where they’re going.
Except, it seems, they’re mostly hanging out on LJ, so very few people, even on communities that attract wingnuts, seem to think these moves make any sense at all.
Demographics, education levels, etc I guess.
Comment by matgb | August 24, 2006