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Jul. 19th, 2004
Nervous Flyer News
Jul. 19th, 2004 06:48 pmCheers to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
del_c for flagging this pile o' crap and this response (scroll down to "Terror in the Skies!!").
I'd contend that Annie Jacobsen's article is possibly 25% fabrication and, factual information aside, the rest is just hysteria with no hard facts. IMHO, I doubt any flight attendant would behave as unprofessionally as this one is alleged to have done. Also, crew do not "pass notes" to each other; they talk, even to the flight deck crew. Annie Jacobsen should be the one profiled for flights in future for creating such a storm in a teacup, and going to Ann Coulter (of all people) for further research is just a dead giveaway as to the whereabouts of her feelings about Arabs.
It's also worth saying something about the Arab – and specifically Muslim – mentality here. Needless to say, I meet (and work with) a large number of Muslims in my job; this is no big deal, of course, but it has always struck me how most of them will happily talk to each other openly and casually despite never having met before; it is as if they have known each other for years, and they have far less natural reticence towards each other than we in the West do, which reinforces the notion of Islam as being a 'brotherhood'. They're often just networking. Deal with it. And on that score, I have absolutely no problem with Arabs congregating around the toilets on a flight; they do it no more than Brazilians, Australians, Indians, South Africans... or pre-hysteria Americans.
del_c for flagging this pile o' crap and this response (scroll down to "Terror in the Skies!!").I'd contend that Annie Jacobsen's article is possibly 25% fabrication and, factual information aside, the rest is just hysteria with no hard facts. IMHO, I doubt any flight attendant would behave as unprofessionally as this one is alleged to have done. Also, crew do not "pass notes" to each other; they talk, even to the flight deck crew. Annie Jacobsen should be the one profiled for flights in future for creating such a storm in a teacup, and going to Ann Coulter (of all people) for further research is just a dead giveaway as to the whereabouts of her feelings about Arabs.
It's also worth saying something about the Arab – and specifically Muslim – mentality here. Needless to say, I meet (and work with) a large number of Muslims in my job; this is no big deal, of course, but it has always struck me how most of them will happily talk to each other openly and casually despite never having met before; it is as if they have known each other for years, and they have far less natural reticence towards each other than we in the West do, which reinforces the notion of Islam as being a 'brotherhood'. They're often just networking. Deal with it. And on that score, I have absolutely no problem with Arabs congregating around the toilets on a flight; they do it no more than Brazilians, Australians, Indians, South Africans... or pre-hysteria Americans.