Apparently what I wrote here yesterday was not saved, though the title was. I have a few things to learn it seems…
The first incident I saw was this:
Technically, civil rights refer to interactions between the government and the individual, not between individuals or individuals and private groups. As practiced, that distinctions is not as clear cut, a trend I find discouraging.The author here seems to confuse the two a bit, arguing from both sides. And from the post and considering how civil rights is applied I had accepted the company as being liable for discrimination. As I would have it, private groups can discriminate, only that they must make that policy publically known, and the role of the government would be to enforce that that information be public.
The role of “mob rule” was brought out in the second incident I read of:
I have since seen a third incident:
I do not intend to make a concerted effort to collect these incidents, but, assuming I figure out how to save what I write, I will try to add any more I chance across
(Update, 9 Sept 2006:) When I first saw this on the Arabist I thought it was satire, but I did not follow the link. The link is from Sabbah’s:
And I fully agree with Sabbah that the implication is had this man been Muslim removing him from the plane would have been seen as justified, when neither is justified in the least
(2 Oct:) This incident involves the “appearance” of being Arab:
It also refers to another incident with a female passenger who had had a panic attack. Rumors that she had a notebook with references to al-Qa’idah are discounted, though having a notebook with references to al-Qa’idah hardly indicates anything suspicious anyway, but I am uncertain if there was any presumed “Arab” or “Muslim” connection to concerns over her behaviour:
Disruptive Passenger Causes Plane’s Emergency Landing
I saw this posted on The Big Pharaoh, an “appearance” of being Muslim. The pilot offered to have the passengers who complained removed from the plane. He didn’t, I am not sure why, nor am I sure if he would have made the offer had the passenger in question been Arab or Muslim. But I also do not believe that the solution, unless they said they would not continue on the flight with the passenger or became overtly disruptive:
