Freedom Eclipsed

[Malik Shabazz]

In honor of Fred Woodworth and his long-running column of this same name in The Match!, A Journal of Ethical Anarchism, I will periodically post stories of freedom eclipsed. Others are welcome to do the same.

[Malik Shabazz]

Freedom Eclipsed

Iraqi says had to change t-shirt before US flight

Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:46pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iraqi architect on Tuesday said he was forced to change his t-shirt before boarding a flight in New York because the shirt had "We will not be silent" written on it in Arabic and English.

Raed Jarrar wrote on his Internet blog (http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com) that he was required to change out of the shirt prior to boarding a JetBlue flight from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to California this month because officials told him people were offended by the shirt.

In an interview with New York Public Radio on Tuesday, Jarrar said, "I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the U.S."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...archived=False

[fallout]

You are funny.

A private company made a rule regarding a shirt it did not want on one if it's planes, and you call this "Freedom eclipsed"?

I consider this freedom exercised.

[Malik Shabazz]

Originally Posted by fallout

A private company made a rule regarding a shirt it did not want on one if it's planes, and you call this "Freedom eclipsed"?

Since when is the US government a private company?

[fallout]

Originally Posted by Malik Shabazz

Since when is the US government a private company?

What government? The Jet Blue lady called himn over and asked him to change his shirt. Those government officials are there beingt paid to do security for the airlines. They just stood and made sure her argument with the man did not get out of hand. She asked him to change the shirt. She offered to buy him a new shirt. His account is that Jet Blue did this to him. His blog includes numbers to Jet Blue to ask Jet Blue about Jet Blue's rules regarding shirts.



Did you read your own post and the link to his explanation?

[fallout]

If you want to call Jet Blue and ask about their regulations against Arabic script, you can use the following numbers:

* If calling within the U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)
* If calling from the Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
* If calling from outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
* Customers who are deaf or heard of hearing (TTY/TDD): 1-800-336-5530

His blog.

[Malik Shabazz]

Originally Posted by fallout

What government? The Jet Blue lady called himn over and asked him to change his shirt. Those government officials are there beingt paid to do security for the airlines. They just stood and made sure her argument with the man did not get out of hand. She asked him to change the shirt. She offered to buy him a new shirt. His account is that Jet Blue did this to him. His blog includes numbers to Jet Blue to ask Jet Blue about Jet Blue's rules regarding shirts.



Did you read your own post and the link to his explanation?

Yes I did. Maybe you don't live in the same United States I live in.

Where I live, there are armed TSA agents who accompany airline personnel when they confront passengers. Uniformed representatives of the United States government.

But I forgot. fallout hates liberty.

[Malik Shabazz]

Originally Posted by fallout

If you want to call Jet Blue and ask about their regulations against Arabic script, you can use the following numbers:

* If calling within the U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)
* If calling from the Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
* If calling from outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
* Customers who are deaf or heard of hearing (TTY/TDD): 1-800-336-5530

His blog.

His blog:

The woman went away for 3 minutes, and she came back with a gray t-shirt reading "new york". I put the t-shirt on and removed the price tag. I told the four people who were involved in the conversation: "I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this. I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don't want an officer to make me change my t-shirt. I will pursue this incident today through a Constitutional rights organization, and I am sure we will meet soon". Everyone said okay and left, and I went back to my seat.

Maybe he's a little smarter than you, fallout, and knows that calling an airline to complain is more likely to get results than calling the US government to complain.

[fallout]

Keep clinging to that.



Lets assume a bar has a rowdy patron or perhaps a patron with an offensive shirt on (to the bar owner/staff) and calls the police to remove him. Is the bar "the government"? Are the police removing him violating his rights?



This is one of the funniest stretches I have ever seen you make. It is almost "harry" worthy.

Serious question, have you been drinking tonight?

[fallout]

Originally Posted by Malik Shabazz

His blog:Maybe he's a little smarter than you, fallout, and knows that calling an airline to complain is more likely to get results than calling the US government to complain.

" The woman went away for 3 minutes, and she came back with a gray t-shirt reading "new york"."

This was of course the "jet blue" woman.