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US Customs Destroys Virtuoso's Flutes Because They Were "Agricultural Items"
McGruber writes "Flute virtuoso Boujemaa Razgui performed on a variety of flutes, each made by himself over years for specific types of ancient and modern performance. Razgui has performed with many U.S. ensembles and is a regular guest with the diverse and enterprising Boston Camerata. Last week, Razgui flew from Morocco to Boston, with stops in Madrid and New York. In New York, he says, a US Customs official opened his luggage and found the 13 flutelike instruments — 11 nays and two kawalas. Razgui says he had made all of the instruments using hard-to-find reeds. 'They said this is an agriculture item,' said Razgui, who was not present when his bag was opened. 'I fly with them in and out all the time and this is the first time there has been a problem. This is my life.' When his baggage arrived in Boston, the instruments were gone. He was instead given a number to call. 'They told me they were destroyed,' he says. 'Nobody talked to me. They said I have to write a letter to the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. This is horrible. I don't know what to do. I've never written letters to people.'"
and some that doesn't.
Sent from my ENIAC
I don't dispute that this incident sounds quite serious and involves some very questionable actions. I don't dispute that it should be publicized.
I do, however, dispute its relevance here at Slashdot. It's one thing when a highly-politicized article involves computers, technology, science or software in some way. This submission is not like that at all.
This story is suitable for traditional media. This story is suitable for more general sites like Digg or reddit. I don't think it has any relevance here, however. We come here to Slashdot to read tech- or science-specific articles, and then discuss them.
We don't come here with the expectation of reading irrelevant material, such as this, regardless of how much the Slashdot editors have apparently been trying to change that lately.
If somebody with any say at Slashdot is reading this, please do the right thing and get the focus back to where it used to be, on science and technology. There are many, many other places we can go to read and bitch about the day-in, day-out shenanigans of American politics. Slashdot shouldn't be one of them.