Fear of the Unknown
I was very happy that JetBlue was going to start flying out of Columbus in October, until I heard about what happened when someone dared to wear a t-shirt with Arabic/English writing on it (intro text from MetaFilter):
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Raed Jarrar was coming home from Jordan wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “We will not be silent” in Arabic script and English. Other JetBlue passengers who could not read the Arabic were “offended” and he was apprehended by security and asked to replace it. He also had his seat changed to the back of the plane. Variations on T-shirt airline censorship have happened before, but, taken to extremes, the fear of foreign language has spawned some unpleasant nights. Where is the line drawn? And where is the path to multicultural reconciliation?
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You know, I am just speechless. (pithy, eh?) I understand why the “Meet the Fuckers” t-shirt mentioned in the Metafilter article might be inappropriate. However, just because you can’t read something shouldn’t mean it’s worthy of threatening to keep someone from boarding a plane. Remember all those Japanese/Chinese shirts in the 80’s? What about people with tattoos that can’t be read (Kanji, Arabic, whatever…)
August 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Wow. I’m speechless as well. Utterly speechless. Speech. Less.