Slashdot Mirror
Airline Delays Flight Over Passenger's Suspicious Math Equations (usnews.com)
Earthquake Retrofit shares this article from the Associated Press: "An Ivy League professor said his flight was delayed because a fellow passenger thought the math equations he was writing might be a sign he was a terrorist... He said the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a flight attendant and the plane headed back to the gate. Guido Menzio, who is Italian and has curly, dark hair, said the pilot then asked for a word and he was questioned by an official... "They tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing strange things on a pad of paper..." He was treated respectfully throughout, he added. But, he said, he was concerned about a delay that a brief conversation or an Internet search could have resolved. "Not seeking additional information after reports of 'suspicious activity'... is going to create a lot of problems, especially as xenophobic attitudes may be emerging."
We need to ramp up reverse retaliation on stupid people 100x fold to stop shit like this
I hope they billed the idiot for the inconvenience, expense and defamation...
You may already know this, but I'll put this here anyway: The name "algebra" actually *is* Arabic in origin. It comes from "al-jabr" meaning "reunion of broken parts".
Eh. I expect she didn't KNOW it was math and assumed it was Arabbic, because, you know, squiggly lines and the state of American education.
I'm surprised that a person who is that consumed with fear was capable of actually being on an airplane.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
What did she do, skip elementary school . . . ?
I've been finding myself wondering about this lately when it comes to a number of people I know.
Seriously, we need some way to send these people back to 5th grade. It's astonishing. Maybe 3rd grade. Force them to take classes until they at least graduate the 8th grade. Keep them out of society as long as it takes for them to grasp 8th grade-level reading, writing, and maths. I really don't think it's too much to ask.
The only problem my proposal has is that I keep coming back around to who, exactly, should be in charge of determining when they've completed an 8th grade education....
Can we bring back poll tests? I don't care if in practice that's "racist." It probably will be in effect "racist." We need to solve the root issue here. The moment we decided "racism!" was an adequate answer, we failed the entire basis of our society. Tell me why people with darker skin color might have a problem passing a short exam before voting. That will give us a good idea of what we really need to fix.
Something must be done. I do not want to live in a world where solving a simple system of equations or engaging in very basic linear algebra to find an answer constitutes genius. Yet here we are. It's 2016, and I can't even.
You have the same issue I keep running into. Again and again, I'm getting more misanthropic and think "We really should stop these people from voting". I went so far as to suggest that indenture should be a thing since some people are actively arguing for concepts that would, in effect, lead to it.
And with every great idea I run into this roadblock of "who is going to decide whether...". I can tell you my life would be so much easier if I could just be like Trump and his ilk and just think myself wise and knowledgeable enough to decide these matters.
Alas, I'm a fair man to the detriment of myself way too often...
Well, there are plenty of objective measures you could use... SAT scores, for example. You could require a 1200 on the classic, or 1800 on the new recalibrated scale. Neither grammar rules nor mathematics have any racial or gender bias to them. It's not perfect, of course. Most obviously, the verbal section may be problematic for immigrant citizens for whom english is not their first language. And any examination is prone to some degree of studying to the test. Though I'm a bit less concerned about the latter. If you care enough about voting and citizenship to study for the exam in the first place, it's much more likely that you care enough to educate yourself on the issues as well. The point is, though, that it is certainly ought to be possible to come up with some examination that's neutral and blind to the civil rights act characteristics.
Imagine all the people...
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' Isaac Asimov