17 year-old tried to explain, but to no avail.
Prejudice, precaution or paranoia? In the latest plane scare, authorities grounded a New York flight after a Jewish teen's tefillin, a set of harmless prayer straps, sparked fears of a terrorist attack.
The 17 year-old boy and his sister were on a flight from La Guardia to Louisville Thursday morning, when his religious garb caught the attention of the other passengers and the plane's crew.
His tefillin, which is a series of straps and boxes worn by some orthodox Jews to show their faith and devotion to God, was mistaken for a terrorist bomb. Even though he tried to explain the meaning of his tefillin, also called phylacteries, the young man was labeled a potential security threat and the plane was landed in Philadelphia.
After landing, security officials swept the plane for explosives but found nothing. The young man and his sister were questioned by members of the Transportation Security Administration, then were released after being cooperative.
So what do you think? Were officials taking the appropriate precautions, or does this signify a larger problem of our society's ignorance of minority cultures?
5 comments:
I think all airline employees should be educated about bombs AND things that can look like bombs but are not. In this day, terrorists are a real thing to worry about on every flight but I think they overreacted and should have known what they were looking at. If it was that big of an issue they shouldn't have let him on the plane in the first place.
I don't know what the right answer is. But it sounds like everyone behaved courteously during this incident. The airline employees weren't abusive. The passengers weren't out of control. The authorities were professional. And the teenager was cooperative.
And everybody went home at the end of the day.
Honnestly I have never seen a thing like that and had looked for help in Wikipedia. Indeed it doesn't look like a religious "instrument" and could be a bomb, lol ! I don't know why at the check in when you go through the control they didn't bother about this "bomb" ?
It's getting hysterical ! But better this way than exploding !
I hope the next terrorist doesn't use a bible, or a Koran !
Hard question to answer.
I haven't come across this, will go on Wiki now to look. Sometimes I think there's a deal of paranoia out there re airlines and terrorists, and I worry that it's diverting attention and that terrorists are actually working away on some other plan in the background.
That probably sounds paranoid too!
BTW, I love your new header, and even though the cupcake was lovely, it put temptation in my mind every time!
i don't know about the jewish cultures mary but i do know i love the jews.
i think that this teenager was very good in the way he took this and he was very fluent in his explanation. i don't think that the officials were wrong and i don't think that they treated the young man bad. it is just that they are really being careful. i am going to google and find out more about these straps mary t..it is very interesting..love terry
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