3 ms·

Because that's just daft. The vast majority of stuff I read is about places/things that I want to learn more about. Or, let me put another angle on it... If I

Because that's just daft. The vast majority of stuff I read is about places/things that I want to learn more about. Or, let me put another angle on it... If I wanted to sneak into a country from another country I shouldn't be sneaking in from. How would I go about not advertising that fact? The assumption that reading a book about Syria means you want to bomb London is so ludicrous I can't believe it's even up for debate.

WillPostForFood 10y ago
The people trying to get to Syria to join ISIS aren't spymasters, they are often kids, often mentally unstable, often uneducated. So yes, they might sit on a plane reading a guide to bomb making or how about the hottest resorts Aleppo. > The assumption that reading a book about Syria means you want to bomb London is so ludicrous I can't believe it's even up for debate. Of course, that's why no one made that claim. That kind of strawman argument isn't helpful if you want to actually discuss this. The New York Times had a great article on ISIS yesterday. There is a pathway terrorists are taking from Europe, through Turkey, to Syria, for training, and then back through Turkey, to their home country. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-german-recruit-interview.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-germ...
- radiorental 10y ago
  > Of course, that's why no one made that claim. But the problem is, someone working for Thompson did make that assumption/claim. No one is questioning that mentally unstable / impressionable people are being radicalised in the UK, sent via Turkey for training, and back again to blow themselves up. The issue, as I see it, is that it behoves both the terrorists and our various security apperatus to propagate the constant state of fear. It's no small irony that the end result is mutually beneficial. Oppression/Terrorism is a reactionary cycle that is very hard to break out of. I fear we may never given the last few years. Those who seek security at the cost of liberty deserve and endure neither.
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    > But the problem is, someone working for Thompson did make that assumption/claim. All you know is what was in the article, "a cabin-crew member reported her for “suspicious behaviour” while reading a book about Syrian culture on a flight to Turkey." That's far from, "everyone reading a book is going to bomb London". The crew member didn't call police to have her arrested, they just saw something, or things, including a book, that they noted as suspicious. Not only is the story overblown, it deters people from actually reporting more suspicious and dangerous behavior.
- radiorental 10y ago
  I'll reply here because we've reached the thread limit below. I'm not taking issue with this example alone, it's the latest and a list of crazy interactions, some listed elsewhere at the root. The one that stands out in my mind was the guy reported/detained for doing some math on a piece of paper. That might have been on US soil. Look it. I grew up in the troubles, I was shot at, I was constantly searched on the way to school, constantly suspected always in fear. I saw all sides of a messy stupid war. You know what worked in the end... peace and dialog, it took men like John Hume to rise above it all and just be reasonable, to sit down and talk. My fear, no.. my firm belief is that this McCarthyism-like nonsense solves nothing, has constantly proven itself to solve nothing throughout history and actually perpetuates the issue.

WillPostForFood 10y ago

The people trying to get to Syria to join ISIS aren't spymasters, they are often kids, often mentally unstable, often uneducated. So yes, they might sit on a plane reading a guide to bomb making or how about the hottest resorts Aleppo. > The assumption that reading a book about Syria means you want to bomb London is so ludicrous I can't believe it's even up for debate. Of course, that's why no one made that claim. That kind of strawman argument isn't helpful if you want to actually discuss this. The New York Times had a great article on ISIS yesterday. There is a pathway terrorists are taking from Europe, through Turkey, to Syria, for training, and then back through Turkey, to their home country. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-german-recruit-interview.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-germ...

radiorental 10y ago
> Of course, that's why no one made that claim. But the problem is, someone working for Thompson did make that assumption/claim. No one is questioning that mentally unstable / impressionable people are being radicalised in the UK, sent via Turkey for training, and back again to blow themselves up. The issue, as I see it, is that it behoves both the terrorists and our various security apperatus to propagate the constant state of fear. It's no small irony that the end result is mutually beneficial. Oppression/Terrorism is a reactionary cycle that is very hard to break out of. I fear we may never given the last few years. Those who seek security at the cost of liberty deserve and endure neither.
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  > But the problem is, someone working for Thompson did make that assumption/claim. All you know is what was in the article, "a cabin-crew member reported her for “suspicious behaviour” while reading a book about Syrian culture on a flight to Turkey." That's far from, "everyone reading a book is going to bomb London". The crew member didn't call police to have her arrested, they just saw something, or things, including a book, that they noted as suspicious. Not only is the story overblown, it deters people from actually reporting more suspicious and dangerous behavior.
radiorental 10y ago
I'll reply here because we've reached the thread limit below. I'm not taking issue with this example alone, it's the latest and a list of crazy interactions, some listed elsewhere at the root. The one that stands out in my mind was the guy reported/detained for doing some math on a piece of paper. That might have been on US soil. Look it. I grew up in the troubles, I was shot at, I was constantly searched on the way to school, constantly suspected always in fear. I saw all sides of a messy stupid war. You know what worked in the end... peace and dialog, it took men like John Hume to rise above it all and just be reasonable, to sit down and talk. My fear, no.. my firm belief is that this McCarthyism-like nonsense solves nothing, has constantly proven itself to solve nothing throughout history and actually perpetuates the issue.