If atheists with Irish Catholic names and curly hair start blowing themselves up all over the world in suicide attacks someday, I'll be happy to get temporarily detained if authorities have any suspicions. It means that they're being thorough and actually doing their jobs.

Besides, Bollywood sucks. What probably happened is that they pulled him aside in some sort of intervention attempt to get him to reconsider his life.

Zaole wrote:

it's easy to say that now from your perspective, though

It's easy to regurgitate a cliche line to avoid meaningful discussion.

Well this is silly since Khan is a Mongolian surname that's why even non-Muslims(Genghis and Oliver khan) have it.

It only came to the sub-continent after the Mongols conquered our countries and fucked all our whores and shah rukh is one of their descendants

The TSA at work. (Edit, that's a link. Acebloke, fix your freaking CSS)

I have but one quote for SilkWizard, and it will be the end of my part in whatever discussion this becomes:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

I actually watch a lot of non-American stuff, including stuff out of Bollywood. I've still never heard of this guy.

Wait. Did anything big actually happen here? Airport security didn't recognise someone who is famous in another part of the world? I wouldn't expect them to just take John Farnham's word that every person in Australia knows his name, face and at least one of his songs. From what I read in that article they didn't do anything ground breaking, they just failed to give a celebrity a free pass.
Holding people who are entering the country at the airport is pretty standard procedure. Odds are this guy tripped a few more wires than just his name. I'd imagine he had quite a bit of money with him. Staying for longer than a business trip or holiday but not long enough for mid/long-term work.
I'm not going to say there was no racial profiling done here, and it really does suck, but customs/immigration can't trust people to declare their actual reason for coming to the country. A 'do you have cocaine up your butt' checkbox wont cut it.

Judging by the picture up there I get a lot more trouble from airport security than you. I may be a white, middle-class atheist but I've got a tan and facial hair (and its brown, the colour of terror!). I'll admit its a pain, but while the threat of terrorism may be blown out of proportion it is still very real (at least in the US). There are people trying to enter their country with the intent to cause harm, and without profiling (racial or otherwise) they're pretty much relying on dumb luck.

Airjoe wrote:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

If I decide to take a walk through my neighborhood at 3:00am and a cop rolls by, he's most likely going to stop me and ask me a few questions... not because what I'm doing is illegal, but because it's a potential red flag. It's his job is to protect the neighborhood and make sure that I'm not a car prowler. This is not a violation of my liberty, and I'd be happy to give the officer my time.


Zaole wrote:

and how was that avoiding meaningful discussion?

Because that line is a Special Pleading/Double Standard fallacy.

GhostAnime wrote:

@DarkView:
What about that national no-fly-list? Is it still there? Really stupid if it is.

I don't know much about that no-fly list. From what I understand its a system that makes sense on paper but was worthless in-action due to paranoia and poor implementation.

That said I'm not sure how the no-fly list is really relevant to anything I was saying. The no-fly list is about traveling within the borders (isn't it?). This story is about someone crossing into America and getting stuck on what sounds like a pretty routine immigration check.

Honestly, the Islamophobia Watch article seems like a poor excuse to point out how uncultured, paranoid and hostile Americans are. It actually seems to promote Ameriphobia.
The Times of India article at least touches on things from the American perspective. They don't sound like they're enjoying offering the American side, at least not as much as they enjoyed Khans, but they raise some good points regarding the deeper source of the friction.

Anyone can be a terrorist

There is a truck driver coming in from Canada on a plane sometime this week. For each flight that comes in from Canada you only have the resources to pull aside and check five people. If one of those people is the truck driver you win $1,000,000.
In this situation you wouldn't select five random people from each flight, would you? Sure, they could all potentially be truck drivers, but that doesn't mean they're all as likely to be truck drivers.

Zaole wrote:

that was a cliche line? i wasn't aware >_>

and how was that avoiding meaningful discussion?

A lot of people avoid meaningful discussion because it might go against their belief system.