Of course, it has already killed countless people: at Fort Hood, for example, and on 9/11; the woman who let Atta board even though, in her words, “if anybody ever looked like a terrorist, it was him” — but scolded herself for being “racist” (and let’s face it, she figured pointing him out would cost her her $12/hour job.)
Others have said that when they do ask passengers to lift the veil, supervisors will overrule them and side with belligerent travelers who object to lifting the veil. I wonder if the airline workers or supervisors would allow people to pass through unchecked if they had to get on the flight themselves. When passengers of any kind refuse to lift their veil the answer should be show your face or miss your flight.
Critics can dismiss this as a non-issue, saying that there are few if any veiled women in Canada. Of course, this is false.
In parts of all of Canada’s major cities this is a growing trend. In my section of Ottawa, seeing women behind a veil while shopping is an everyday thing. Immigration and changes within Islam and how it is practised will only increase the number of veiled women we see.
***
Unfortunately, the incident spurring this conversation is only getting attention because it was videotaped.
It isn’t the best “test case” for our side, which is why I avoided blogging about it.
In a public statement, Air Canada insisted that “Airline passengers have already undergone multiple security checks before arriving at the boarding gate. A final check is made at the gate prior to boarding in order to confirm passengers on the flight.” This, of course, is mumbo-jumbo.
Why is it “mumbo jumbo”? Pipes doesn’t say. But it’s true, presumably, that those passengers had already been screened at least once.
Now, if they weren’t, that would be a story.
I hate belligerent Islam as much, if not more, than the next person, believe me.
But (echoes of Shirley Sherrod) this particular incident is too flimsy to carry the weight of import being heaped upon it.
If we continue to judge the importance of stories based mostly on whether or not they were recorded, we will lose perspective and impair our own judgement, if we haven’t already.
It’s too bad we don’t have video of a much more worrying incident at Pearson…
