Life's Not Fair!

How often have you said that to your kids? My son is only 3 and already has heard this from me.

I'm sure this is what US Airways, in effect, said to the imams who were asked to leave the plane in Minneapolis the other day. While I guess you could technically call this discrimination, let me tell you how I feel about it:

Good for US Airways! If I even see a group of Middle Eastern men boarding an aircraft, I get nervous. Why? Because there is a history of groups of Middle Eastern men flying airplanes into buildings. Is that painting with a broad brush? Absolutely! Americans will continue to paint with this broad brush until Middle Eastern men get their fellow Middle Eastern men to stop threatening to blow us up.

If a group of Evangelical Christians held hands in a circle and started praying before a flight, I wouldn't care at all because they don't have a history of flying planes into buildings. If a group of Hasidic Jews were praying before a flight, I wouldn't care - same reason.

I'm sure that to some minorities, I get branded as "whitey" or "the man" because I am a white male. I can choose to reinforce that stereotype and act in the way that is expected or do my personal best to overcome that stereotype.

I would think that Middle Eastern men would make an effort to do the same.

More on the whole story here.