240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

Image from littlecloudyskye on Flickr

I like, sometimes, to imagine that American citizens are not the stupidest ones on the planet, but most of the time the evidence points so overwhelming in the other direction that I have to throw my arms up and pull my hoodie down over my face. This would be another one of those times.

Just last week we had the family of Muslims ejected from an airplane after one of the women quietly asked a family member (not standing up and canvassing the flight, mind you) where the safest place was to be seated on a plane. You mean Muslims are scared to fly, too? Why, that almost makes them human! Not quite, of course--don't be stupid.

That article can be found here, under More Stupid American Tricks.

Now, word surfaces that another traveler was forced to change shirts so he could board a JetBlue flight back in August.

240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

His transgression--besides being born with Arab features, which is unfortunate--was that he wore a t-shirt with Arabic script on it. I cannot tell you how often I have been tempted to do this. I realize it doesn't have the same punch when worn by a blonde, light-skinned woman, but maybe it would save me the cavity search. Then again, it's been awhile...

Anyway, his shirt--and I will try to figure out how to get the script on here--was Arabic for "We will not be silent." Now if he had worn his other t-shirt, the one that says "You're all going down, suckers" I can see where someone mught be concerned. But the issue here, obviously, is that not enough people know Arabic. Maybe I can get that new job I am struggling to find by offering my services at airport terminals reading subversive (and non-subversive) Arabic t-shirts. Nike actually had one with Arabic script on it years ago as an ad campaign. I tried so hard to get one, but they sold out immediately. I can't remember if they actually said "Just do it" but the thought makes me break into fits of Liberal giggles all the same.

Now, someone is going to read this and think that I am a horrible woman who was pro-9/11. That person, and others like her, are the stupid people I was referring to before. If they really want something to be scared about, they should be watching out for redneck Oklahomans wearing sweat-stained cowboy hats waiting for their connection to Waco. Now THOSE fellas make me piss my pants.

UPDATE: Here is the t-shirt I found on the Internet at United for Peace and Justice.



Photo by AFP

Short on cash? Find a t-shirt with a scary foreign language on it and book your flight today!