National Opt Out Day

OK, you didn't do too badly. Well, sorta.

Here's the results followed by a bit of discussion.
1-The Late W.D. Muhammed (Son of Elijah Muhammad and leader of Sunni offshoot of the NOI)
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0809-3671

2 & 4-Kal Penn (from Harold and Kumar-not Muslim)
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/07/will_kal_penns_new_job_mean_a.html

3-Leena El Ali (this was actually an error. I intended to post a similar picture of another woman who's actually Jewish. Even so, looking at them, I doubt anyone could reliably pick out which one is Muslim and which one is Jewish)
http://sfcg.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/searchs-leena-el-ali-to-be-a-guest-on-the-doug-noll-show/

5-Uyghur Kids (All of them are Muslim)
http://muslimvoices.org/uyghur-islam-in-china/

6-Random Jewish guy:
http://www.moretorah.com/category/beards/

7-Fatmir Sejdiu (President of Kosovo-Muslim)
http://www.6thwief.org/speakers/speaker_detail?c=1481&id=142

8-Michael Fenton (American born terrorist convicted in bombing plot)
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-24/....bomb_1_undercover-terrorist-plot?_s=PM:CRIME

9-Kenichi Hirose (One of the Japanese terrorists that released sarin gas in Tokyo subway system)
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_AUM03.htm

10-Ma Anand Sheela (Planner and one of perpetrators of first documented bioterror attack on U.S. soil)
http://wweek.com/story.php?story=5721

OK, so if I'm understanding you correctly about the bearded guys, you gave a pass to #1 and #2 and screened #8. You missed one of the three Muslims (#1) but did screen the American born terrorist Muslim (#8). In reality, what do you think the chances are #8 that gets screened using the typical profiling scheme?

Of the bearded guys group, you also screened Kal Penn (a non-Muslim) in one case (#2) and gave him a pass in another(#4). So does that mean if a terrorist and/or Muslim dresses to look like we expect a Muslim to look, he can get through without being screened?

In the case of #5 you screened one of the three Muslim kids. Let's just hope she's the one with the bomb. Now take a good look at the Chinese Muslims here. Take away their traditional dress and they are completely indistinguishable from the typical Han Chinese. How often would any of those guys get screened as suspected Muslims? Probably never, as many Americans can't pick China out on a map, let alone being aware that there are Muslims there...over 20 million of them in fact.

#6 sure looks the part while #7 does not. However the truth of which is a Muslim is completely the opposite.

#8-#10 Are all real-world terrorists that probably would not be screened using the typical concept of profiling. You picked up on one of them (#8) but obviously, 33% accuracy among actual terrorists represents shall we say, a bit of a problem. After all, a few drops of sarin can result in a bit of a bad day.

Sure most incidents of terrorism today probably involve visually identifiable Muslims. However, the problem is that not all of them do, nor can we rely on that not to change in the future.

Take home point? As envisioned by most, profiling is a tool incapable of reliably picking out terrorists, or even Muslims-its primary goal according to you. All profiling does is create a false sense of security. If profiling were an effective tool, I'd be the first to say we should do it. Security protocols should be designed and implemented to thwart all threats, not just those from a particular group. I think the families of those killed in the Murrah Federal Bldg. bombing would agree...especially after all the recent rhetoric from a certain group about using "2nd ammendment solutions."

True Mike. However, what I really was getting at with that pic was whether anyone would pick up on the two pictures being of the same guy. I also realize that to some degree folks could search the pics using TinEye so it certainly wasn't foolproof.

I'm curious though, did you pick up on any of the last three as being suspicious?

I would prefer to have someone scan everyone and make damn sure there is no bomb on the plane, and not worry about hurt feelings than worry about hurt feelings and get blowed up (apologies to emmitt).

Yusuf is absolutely correct, in a plave where EVERYONE LOOKS THE SAME (stereotype but true) the Israelis have managed to get profiling down to a fine art, they use a lot less of the way people look and more of how they act. their airport is more efficient and far safer than ours and they are the ones who deal with crap daily.