Politics – Revisiting Racial Profiling

Not so many white Muslims?

Who says they have to be Muslim? There’s another narrowing of the POV that’s likely to let them slip right past. Besides, you can’t tell just from looking at someone what their religion is. Only their general nationality. Not every swarthy fellow is Muslim and not ever Muslim is swarthy. And not everyone who dislikes America is either swarthy or Muslim. Therefore it’s not outside the realm of reasonable possibility that an attacker could be as white and caucasian as your average American Joe.

What is it so many are fond of saying? They only have to get it right once. So they only need one of those sorts.

And no, they haven’t changed this particular tactic much.. yet. But that’s because they haven’t yet had to. You don’t pull out all of your tactical cards when you don’t have to, do you? But all you need do is look at Iraq, with the ever shifting face and tactics of the enemy to surmise that the same shifting tactics could easily be applied to attacks on our soil.

This doesn’t take into account the possibility of slipping things into the bags of the unsuspecting(including that poor old granny everyone keeps bringing up – You know how trusting the elderly can be), which is a prime reason why at airports they constantly urge you to keep close tabs on your bags and not carry things for those who you don’t know. I’ve had to listen to it while waiting for three flights in the last few years and I’ll be listening to it again this August on my next flight out.

Why, I wonder, do people fight so vainly against general vigilance. We can shift, yes, but we shift much slower than they do. It’s much like a bull fight. The agile matador, though no physical match for the bull, can easily shift out of the way of it’s lumbering attacks, while poking it in the side with swords until it collapses.

Sorry to say, folks, but we are the bull. Powerful, yes, but slow to react and too focused on that red cape lately, as people push for tightening out view in ways that make us more vulnerable.

Of course, I don’t suppose anyone will admit to it until that off profile sort perpetrates an attack that we could have dealt with otherwise. Then everyone will shake their heads and wonder what we might have done to prevent it, just as with the last major attack on the US.

The key to besting an enemy is to gauge their tactics and respond to them before they bring them to bear. That’s why I think racial profiling is a fools idea. Unless, of course, only young muslim men can carry bombs. In which case it would be the perfect tactic.