![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
Damn, I could use a quarter mil... where can I get me one of those shirts?
@tc4b:
Good luck. I'll bet after the attorney's fees and court costs, he'll be lucky to pocket a couple grand.
Still, +1 for free speech. Now, if the shirt had said \"I'm going to blow up this plane,\" in any language, then there would be cause for concern. In this case? Blatant racism and profiling.
That's just wrong. People need to stop taking what the mass media spoon feeds them, because those are just companies using sensationalized shock stories to make a buck. Not all Muslims are terrorists, just like not all Christians are gay-haters who protest a soldiers funerals. A few widely reported extremists give the whole a bad name.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1563570-100x100.png\")
do all muslims defend the right to burn a koran...do any of them? if so, they sure are quiet.
@Con Seannery: Of course not all Muslims are terrorists. As Mr. Jaer has proven, some of them are simply attention whores.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-529488-100x100.png\")
@Con Seannery: My boyfriend is Irish of all things, but for some odd reason he's reeeeally tan. With the right clothing and facial hair, he could pass for an arab. It'd be funny if they hassled him too.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-462821-100x100.png\")
@Oranges w/ Cheese: I'm a light skinned black guy or a dark skinned beige guy or brown, whatevs...anyway, I think I've been inspired, might be time to finally buy that \"Free Palestine\" shirt I've been eyeing.
It'll be nice to know that even when I'm alone the NSA is looking over me.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159178-100x100.png\")
@Wormfather is Wormfather: I want an \"IRA FOREVER\" t-shirt with a small print \"roth\" in front and small print \"tax free withdrawls\" behind.
@Wormfather is Wormfather: Well, as far as Palestine is concerned, Israel is 100% justified in their attack and are in fact showing great restraint. If they were to respond proportionally, they would launch 6,000 rockets indiscriminately at civilian targets. As an interesting aside, that would level Gaza. You don't see them attacking the West Bank, do you? That's because the West Bank didn't elect a terrorist organization as their government looking for war!
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-525207-100x100.png\")
And A-Fucking-Men from me to that, too.
My (utterly non-Arabic, Native American/Irish-Canadian, in fact) husband has a shirt that looks just like that one (it translates as \"I am not a terrorist\", I think), and he loves it. \"Makes people uncomfortable\", my arse.
I (generic looking white guy) have a t-shirt that says \"God Bless America\" in Arabic. I love it.
amen freedom of speach roxors
This is an example of \"just because you have a right to do something doesn't mean it's right to do it.\" He did this two days after the exposure of the Al-Quaeda plot to blow up airliners over the North Atlantic. His sole intent was to incite the reaction he did.
The real irony is that the ACLU's argument in the case was that Homeland Security should have known he was not a real threat because he has lived in the US since 2005 and is married to an American woman. In other words, if they'd just profiled him, this never would have happened.
@ExGC: just because you have a right to do something doesn't mean it's right to do it.
Yes, yes it does actually, that's the whole point of rights, it means that it's always ok for the person in question to do what they have the right to do. You're asking this person to sacrifice their beliefs so that others may remain ignorant. EVERYONE loses in that instance. It is his right to wear the shirt, as much as it is his right to collect against a debt. No ifs ands or buts.
@exconsumer9: Uh, no. I have a legal right to call people all sorts of horrible names, but that doesn't make it right.@Ted's Famous Kickin Chicken: @Rectilinear Propagation:
It doesn't need to be \"proven\" (and certainly doesn't need to be proven \"beyond a shadow of a doubt\") for people to think it's probably the case.
I think the people assuming he was asking for it are giving him the benefit of the doubt that he's got a functioning brain in his head. Seriously, what what Middle Eastern looking guy wears a \"We Will Not Be Silenced\" shirt with Arabic script on a plane without contemplating the possibility that people might freak out?
He's obviously aware of anti-Arabic sentiment (I gather that may be the intended meaning of the shirt?).
@ExGC: \"The real irony is that the ACLU's argument in the case was that Homeland Security should have known he was not a real threat because he has lived in the US since 2005 and is married to an American woman.\"
This means nothing!
Other terroists have lived in America for many years, married, had children, and still committed their violent act. Wake up!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-329134-100x100.png\")
@ExGC: Oddly enough, the law doesn't care if it's \"right\", only if it's legal, and while I abhor un-necessary litigation as much as the next guy *cou-monstercables-gh*, this man's rights were infringed upon, and it simply doesn't matter if what he was doing was \"right\" or not.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-556785-100x100.png\")
@ExGC: Right. But how are you supposed to profile if someone is American, or married to an American in an airport?
The type of profiling that is performed in airports is cursory, superficial profiling- skin color, gender, destination, length of trip, etc. What you're referring to would require a much more detailed look into those characteristics.
As far as my comment, ever seen Princess Bride?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-321187-100x100.png\")
@ExGC: So anytime al-Qaeda is thwarted, there is a waiting period before people can wear T-shirts with Arabic on them? What is the exact waiting period?
There's nothing wrong with profiling people based on how long they've lived in this country and what ties they have here. Far different than OMFG A ARAB!!!!1!
@ExGC: First, if that's how you think the world should work, JetBlue and TSA should make it clear when purchasing a ticket that customers wearing shirts with Arabic text will not be permitted to board. There's nothing about his shirt that should have denied him service, especially by TSA - Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech - aka, TSA has no right to tell this man whether or not he is legally expressing himself.
Second, if his sole intent was to incite the reaction, who's fault is that? If you are offended by a shirt, you need to get over yourself. If you're racist enough to think that just because his shirt has Arabic print on it that he's going to blow up a plane, you have no business functioning in society. Anyone offended by that shirt offends me and like you are implying of Mr. Jaer, I would like them removed from my sight.
@icy_one: If his intent was to incite a reaction, that's his fault. That's pretty simple, dude.
Also, his shirt didn't just have Arabic print on it.
Good work!
Now a t-shirt... let's see... I think that a t-shirt bearing the First Amendment in arabic would be very good.
Ooh, a test in the making: First Amendment in Arabic shirt vs. \"I am going to bomb you\" in Mandarin: Which shirt generates more drama?
Could this be Consumerist's next undercover mission?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-472416-100x100.png\")
\"You shouldn't wear a shirt with Arabic on it to an airport.\"
??? WTF ???
If it was in Hindu? Hebrew? Sanskrit? I seriously doubt most Americans can tell the difference.
If the man looked Asian and was wearing a shirt that had Asian looking characters on it no one would have said a thing. Why? Americans don't hate Asians right now. They don't automatically associate all persons/things with an Asian background with terrorism.
Lets face it. Americans are as bigoted as they've always been. Hating Islam/Muslims/Persons of *SUSPECTED* Middle Eastern Origin/Specific shades of brown is *in* right now just like it use to be acceptable to hate blacks and Jews.
Kudos for this guy! I hope he enjoys every penny!
@JamieSueAustin: Just to clarify, \"Hindu\" refers to a person who follows the religion of Hinduism. \"Hindi\" is one of the official languages of India and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people.
@ohnoes:
That was my bad! :) I do know the difference but was victim of lazy fingers and non-existent proofreading.
can't even admit you were wrong, huh?
i can only assume you defended the preacher's right to burn the koran...and for that, I thank you.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1561673-100x100.png\")
Geeze you are an asshole. She admitted her error and confessed she didn't proof her post.
Amazing that this gets him 240k and I get run over by a bus and get $0 (negative 200k if you count the medical bills and the broken window that broke when I got run over).
@Phillip M. Vector: You never renewed your website. I kept visiting, but it never changed. Also, didn't the window break when it was hit by someones hand/arm, IIR the video correctly?
@i.GitEmSteveDave: I was unable to get the documents scanned and made into PDFs (I don't own a scanner). After awhile, I just kind of gave up. I was more focused on walking again and getting a job and such that when I couldn't find a lawyer to take the case, I didn't update it.
Yes. My arm as I fell.
Oh good grief! I think the whole thing is ridiculous and I agree with those that said this guy was egging it on.
You have a right to fly.
You have a right to wear whatever you want.
You dont have a right to fly, wearing whatever you want.
Isnt it far better to err on the side of caution? What if he really did mean trouble? How is security supposed to distinguish?
If you dont want to undergo the inconvenience of being stopped, use your head and dress a little bit better. I'll bet he chose that shirt out of a whole closet-full. When he put it on, he knew what he was doing.
\"You dont have a right to fly, wearing whatever you want.\"
Please cite any legal source that backs up this claim. Just because you think people shouldn't be allowed to wear whatever they want when flying doesn't mean that they don't have the right to do so.
@Klink: No, the response may not have been right. But the point is, he knew he was going to get a response, and once he did, he sued.
TSA should have just ignored the shirt. Instead they gave this douchebag an undeserved victory.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1579-100x100.png\")
Just to add some legal nuance to this, could someone cite the statue (I'm being serious here, not snarky) that says a business such as an airline can't bar any passenger/customer it so chooses? There are federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on race in housing, based on disabilities in hiring, etc. But what specifically prohibits JetBlue from barring any passenger it wants to?
I'm just wondering if there's a parallel to the traditional public space v. private space difference in speech law, such as how someone peaceably protesting on the National Mall could do so without fear of arrest but the same wouldn't go for the same person conducting the very same protest on the main quad of a private university.
In other words, as stupid as it was, within reason if it's JetBlue's plane, can't they do what they want to?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-98237-100x100.png\")
@Ted's Famous Kickin Chicken: Airplane transportation falls under the \"provision of a public accomodation\" principle, I understand. Means you can't discriminate if you are \"open to the public\" generally.
@speedwell:
Actually airlines are Common Carriers, which means that a different set of rules applies to them with regard to their right to refuse service.
@Ted's Famous Kickin Chicken: there's nothing stopping JetBlue from preventing him, but the fact that the TSA, a government agency, stopped him, makes all the difference.
@Anks329: It's not 100% clear that that was the case. A JetBlue staffer may simply have grabbed the nearest law enforcement official (necessarily TSA when you're in an airport) and said, \"Hey, can you stand with me for a minute, I need to remove a passenger and might need your help if he makes a scene.\"
Don't get me wrong, TSA blows. But I didn't see anything that indicated it was the TSA's call.
Want, too. Send me a private message when you have the design worked out.
It would be so sweet if you could do the design as Arabic calligraphy. Arabic is heartbreakingly beautiful when a really good calligrapher lays it out.
@speedwell: This was for Gawd Dammit and ShirtNinja... not sure why it did not go under that thread.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87239-100x100.png\")
I don't think it can be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was trying to incite anything. Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't. As long as he was acting appropriately, wasn't talking smack to the TSA agents, they had NO right to ask him to change his shirt. If he had gone through security with a t shirt that read \"Fuck You You Fucking Fucks\" such as the one my brother bought for me, erroneously thinking it was even remotely humorous, they probably wouldn't have said a word to him, even though THAT t shirt would be somewhat inflammatory and provocative, if not down right in your face and aggressive.
we've gone SOOO far in the wrong direction here, what with an endless, godawful expensive war both in $$ and lives, here at home with the bullshit TSA nazi fvckheads, none of this has made a DENT on the overall problem.
There are ways to prevent planes from being turned into weapons of mass destruction, EFFECTIVE ways. There are ways to screen every single item/person/hair that goes onto public transport for bomb materials without making us feel like criminals/jailbirds, and quite frankly, I'd rather take some risk and have a funner time traveling then to put up with this bullshit any longer.
I've boycotted flying for several yrs now, and I wish more people would do this. If enough people stopped flying in protest, the airlines/airports/TSA/government would HAVE to do something to make the system better.
It's my silent protest, I know you don't give a shit, that's fine, I don't have to sit next to you and listen to your mindless drivel or smell your foul breath, cow.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-140024-100x100.png\")
@banmojo: \"There are ways to screen every single item/person/hair that goes onto public transport for bomb materials without making us feel like criminals/jailbirds\"
Really? I've never seen any, can you show me?
a href=\"#c9859716\">thrid001:
its worse when they're NOT wearing stretch pants and it spills over...
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
I don't think it can be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was trying to incite anything.
@banmojo: THIS
I'm SO tired of the \"He was obviously trying to incite something\" argument. That can't be proven at all, at least not by anyone here.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Right, because we're not allowed to speculate about something unless it's proven beyond the shadow of a doubt. Give me a break.
@banmojo: Yeah, let's all stop flying. I think I'll drive to Berlin next month. My car just loves trying to cross the Atlantic!
@banmojo: I asked around at work, and they don't think they can send me to Dubai and Singapore to hold training classes by ship.
Well I just can't decide how I feel.
Did he do this knowing he'd be asked to take it off, and then he could sue ('tis the American way after all) Or is JetBlue wrong is asking him to take it off? Would they have asked non-Muslims to change outfits?
I wanna know if overweight bitches wearing tank tops and stretch pants can be kicked off planes too. They definitely offend and scare me
@unobservant: Now I have coffee all over my keyboard. And I can't stop giggling. Thank you.
/off to find some paper towels
Just as an FYI, how is \"WE WILL NOT BE SILENT\" equated with offending. I wear a shirt that says SILENCE=DEATH.
Was the shirt on its face offensive? No. But it's not too difficult to leap to the conclusion that what the t-shirt meant to convey was \"I'm an Arab, I'm angry, and I'm going to do something about it\". Which is a pretty insensitive message to be broadcasting at an airport right after a major Al-Qaeda plot was uncovered. Being in a sometimes mistreated minority doesn't excuse you from applying some common sense, even if the law is on your side.
Actually the \"We will not be silent\" shirts have been made since 2006 by a group called Artists against the war and are available in several languages. Here is their mission statement:
AAW STATEMENT
We deplore the death, destruction and lawlessness that the \"coalition of the willing\" unleashed with its invasion of Iraq. We are shamed by our government's contempt for other cultures and the silencing of dissent in America. We remain deeply concerned about the threat to human life in the Middle East and to the world's memory and history embedded in Iraq. We dramatize our outrage through ongoing visual actions. Sometimes small movements, a ripple can express the collective indignation of a community.
@Moonshadows: Awesome. Finally someone explains the origin of the shirt. Thank you for that. This comment should be incorporated into the story.
Which is a pretty insensitive message to be broadcasting...
@cjstephens: That wasn't the message he was broadcasting. It might have been the message some people decided to read into it but that's their problem.
It's not too difficult to reach any conclusion if you're leaping towards it. Frankly, I don't see how not being silent necessarily means blowing something up.
@cjstephens: Being in a sometimes mistreated minority doesn't excuse you from applying some common sense, even if the law is on your side.
.. and being part of the ignorant, xenophobic majority does?
How precious little common sense is required to realize that the t-shirt poses no threat?
The best part about this is the fact is comes so close on the heels of that family being kicked off, simply for discussing where the safest place on the plane to sit was.
Oh, and the fact they were brown. Lets not forget how scary brown people are. Don't ever let any brown people on my plane.
Sometimes I hate having to constantly feel ashamed that I'm a white American. Can we all work on that and stop slipping more and more below that acceptable stupidity line? We're all stupid, it's human nature, but how is it that us white Americans seem to be in a race towards the bottom of the gene pool lately?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-488475-100x100.png\")
@sicknick:
I feel the same way sometimes. I'm so tired of all the ignorant bullcrap around here about people of Middle Eastern descent. Just because the 9/11 guys were. So, what about Timothy McVeigh? He was white. What would have happened if the 9/11 terrorists were too? How the hell would you \"profile\" that?
And guess what, people. If you let them scare you, then the terrorists have done their job.
\"If you have one bucket that holds five gallons, and one bucket that holds two gallons. How many buckets do you have?
Uh two?
Thank you\"
Great movie!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-38607-100x100.png\")
Since when does a settlement not include a silence clause? If he's allowed to discuss this to the press, me thinks Jetblue wasted a lot of cash
I was asked by SouthWest to change my Tshirt back in '05. They said it would offend other passengers. Granted my shirt said Midwest Fuckers on a Maltese cross. I granted them that as I did see children in line for the plane.
I don't believe they can refuse just any passenger. After all they are common carriage.
It would have been a god idea to have named the TSA for the big headlines though. Only the TSA would have been a valid target for first amendment violations. Only the government can violate your first amendment rights. JetBlue was just the deep pockets to get the payday.
Awesome... i wonder what they're going to do about the tattoo's in arabic down my forearms that say \"i am not afraid, i was born to do this...\"
Maybe i won't be the right shade of brown for them to harass...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-247085-100x100.png\")
If I looked the slightest bit foreign, I'd make my living by wearing slightly Iraqi looking shirts and flying until I found someone to sue.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-58245-100x100.png\")
@tbax929:
I love people of all races. I wonder though if I would have been scared, for just a second, seeing this shirt on the plane. I hope I would not have.
@elgringoguapo: Scared can be okay as long as it makes you think about why you're scared and re-evaluate your own reaction.
\"He added, \"You can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads \"I am a robber\" and going to a bank.\"
Whhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttt!?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-483565-100x100.png\")
@MooseOfReason: It occurs to me that we have no idea how many people don't get stopped for this kind of thing. I'm going to imagine that a dozen other travelers wore the same shirt that day and didn't raise any concern at all. It's probably not true, but it makes me feel better.
@MooseOfReason: That the TSA guy would flat out say that if you say that you're Muslim in an airport that means you're saying you're a terrorist is so stupid it hurts.
@Rectilinear Propagation: I'm actually interested in where that quote came from. It's not in the newspaper article, and it's not sourced in the previous Consumerist post.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-76955-100x100.png\")
I'm sure both a Terrorist and a Robber would be inclined to wear a t-shirt advertising their status. Come on people, where is the commone sense. Clearly this guy was looking for attention and he got what he wanted.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
@SadSam:
It's against the law now to try and garner attention? And since when is wearing a tshirt with an unoffensive political message being an attention-whore? We should all just wear multicolored golf shirts now?
\"Look at that guy...so smug with his Tenchi Muyo shirt...what's he trying to say? Japanese cartoons are better than American? My uncle just lost his job animating at Disney!\" \"HEY YOU! THE ANTI-AMERICAN GETTING ON THE PLANE! FU!\"
I'm gonna print up some \"I'm a robber\" shirts sell this design to Hot Topic and make a fortune!
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-82035-100x100.png\")
@fatetwister64: good luck, they'll probably just steal your design, like they did every other design.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-389492-100x100.png\")
@arachnophilia: does anyone else see the beauty in the potential for hot topic to steal the idea for a shirt that says 'i am a robber' ?
I told my kids they did not have to learn algebra since its an Arabic plot to cause angst in 8th and 9th graders. No algebra on t-shirts when flying!
\"we will not be silent.\" wow, irony. it burns.
i-- i'm divided on this one. i'm all in favor of first amendment rights, and what they did sure doesn't seem cool at all.
but, on the other hand, your constitutional liberties are limitted in an airport, for the general safety. this is actually the example cited in almost every case on limitting constitutional rights i've ever read, the airport. for instance, you do not have any second amendment rights at the airport, and your rights to privacy are extremely limitted. the government can search you, legally, at any point.
you also have slightly limitted first amendment rights. you can't say \"bomb\" for instance. the other example of this is \"yelling fire in a crowded theatre.\" you can't, because it could induce mass panic, and actually create a dangerous situation. sort of similar to the incitement rules.
so, sadly, even though what they did was stupid, and even though the people who were scared or offended by his shirt were stupid and bigotted, they were probably within their rights to do so.
in any case, i'm also glad he won. because TSA is stupid, and the people who were offended or scared are stupid and bigotted. there should be nothing wrong with displaying something written in arabic -- it is a legitimate written language, used by lots of people who AREN'T terrorists.
I'm one of those people who side completely with the passenger. It doesn't matter what his intent was in wearing the shirt - having Arabic writing on his shirt doesn't make him a terrorist, it doesn't mean he's planning to do anything wrong, and it isn't illegal.
The TSA and the airline industry have to stop acting as if everyone is trying to blow up planes and they need to start using common sense. Otherwise we'll continue to see things get worse and worse without actually improving safety at all.
@Tallanvor: i think the problem with TSA is that they're all pretty idiotic. they just don't train these people well. really, they DO need to always be on the lookout for people who want to blow up planes. that's their job. but... common sense would be nice too.
but the problem isn't whether or not he was planning to do anything wrong. it's that stupid people could get in a panic that he might be. panic + airplane = bad.
i wish people were more open minded. but they're not.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-260794-100x100.png\")
Does anyone bother to consider that having been born in Iraq the text in both languages on his shirt is no different or more unusual than someone born in Japan having English and Japanese text on a shirt?
Heck, I have MANY T-shirts from other countries that have foreign text proudly emblazoned on them. Should I not be allowed to wear any of them at an airport?
I didn't think so.
I'm glad he won his quite legitimate first amendment point, even though it was probably not his intent to cause a stir - to him it was simply a shirt. He could read the text in either language.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-277413-100x100.png\")
WTF. I cannot believe he got money out of this. He was tempting fate by wearing this shirt, how dare he bitch about his 'constitutional rights'? Who in their right mind, with the level of paranoia in airports these days, wears a shirt with arabic writing that says \"we will not be silent\"? Who, I ask you, who?! I'll tell you who- a SHIT STARTER. It's ridiculous. Constitutional rights or not, he shouldn't have worn it. It'd be like going to Japan & wearing a shirt that says \"NUKE 'EM!\". It's offensive, plain & simple. You don't come to a country that's suffered a devastating attack & rub it in their face like that.
This guy deserves NOTHING.
@kabuk1:
Some of us don't agree with the \"paranoia\" these days. We also don't agree with warrantless wiretapping, being imprisoned without access to a lawyer, illegal torture, and the government monitoring our email, phonecalls and mail. So to say we should be more careful to avoid the \"paranoia\" isn't really going to work. And who are you to judge what is and isn't offensive? Sorry, thats the thing about free speech. I can wear offensive things and you don't have to like it.
i can vouch for you...i saw your posts defending the preacher's right to burn the koran.
@kabuk1:
You are really a hillbilly.
From your small picture, one might conclude you are a gothic Columbine-massacre type. Should we ban you from entering schools?
Grab some enlightenment. This is the 21st century.
@bbagdan:
Hey...Watch it with the insults. ;P I'm descended from long line of hillbillies. A hillbilly is a person from the hills (rural area). That's different from a red neck (uneducated and bigoted caucasian most likely, but not always from rural areas). The word you were looking for was red neck, not hillbilly.
It'd be like going to Japan & wearing a shirt that says \"NUKE 'EM!\"
@kabuk1: No, it's nothing like that. \"We will not be silent\" does not mean \"I'm gonna blow something up\". It doesn't even imply violence at all; it implies talking. Nor does it imply any kind of approval of terrorist attacks.
Who in their right mind, with the level of paranoia in airports these days, wears a shirt with arabic writing that says \"we will not be silent\"?
The kind of person who doesn't think they should have to act, look, and sound as \"non-Muslim\" as possible in public.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390548-100x100.png\")
@kabuk1: WOW, just WOW! Do you even know what the shirt represents? Or are you drawing the same conclusions that everyone else who believes that wearing the shirt is like spitting in the face of Americans? The shirt is a protest against the war in Iraq and has nothing to do with 9/11.
Let's call this what this is, racial hatred. You don't hate what the shirt says, because you don't know what it stands for. You hate the fact that it's Arabic and is being worn by someone who looks the part. Would you have a problem if the shirt were in a different language? Or being worn by someone of another race? Probably not.
Because of 9/11, the United States has the right to strip away all civil liberties from anyone that resembles a middle eastern.
Let's not punish those that were not responsible.
@tbax929: At what point was this inappropriate? The second that narrow minded, ignorant people trampled over this mans rights. If you let it happen once, there will be nothing to stop it in the future.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-114567-100x100.png\")
@kabuk1:
I'll tell you who- a SHIT STARTER. It's ridiculous. Constitutional rights or not, he shouldn't have worn it.
Another group of SHIT STARTERS:
Constitutional rights or not, he shouldn't have worn it.
You are what's wrong with America
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-665956-100x100.png\")
@kabuk1:
I totally agree. Nobody is saying he doesn't have a right to free speech. The point is that there's no reason to wear a shirt like that to an airport and attempt to get on a plane.
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Next time he flies he should wear only a speedo.
Maybe he was a gay Iraqi! You can get your head chopped off over there for that.
I make it a point to wear my awesome Snakes on a Plane shirt every time I fly.
Oh yeah, I'm \"Brown\" too.
Wasn't JetBlu the same company that made the one woman cover up because they thought she was causing a disturbance on her looks and what she was wearing?
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@MrGutts: I wanna say it was Southwest that had a problem with that woman wearing the ultra short mini-skirt.
@MrGutts: No, they're the one who had an attendant that offer nude pics of himself to a passenger. I can't remember who made a passenger hide under a blanket but the story doesn't come up when searching for JetBlue.
jetblue is the run by the scum of the earth. enough said.
people are just so stupid now a days.
Common sense is what people need slapped across their face.
People are mistaking constitutional rights with common sense. Of course, lawsuits are here to help clarify that.
I agree 100%. People should demonstrate common sense and realize that strands of cotton/polyester woven together into a t-shirt pose absolutely no threat to anyone's security.
The US Legal system is screwed up. A Tee Shirt can make a difference.
Darnell is Black.
If I was to beat up a friend of mine, Darnell, I would get Jail Time.
If I was to beat up my friend , Darnell, and I was wearing a shirt that said I hate Black People, Would I get the same amount of Jail time, or more?
@Rectilinear Propagation: On another note, I think Im going to get a bit more of a tan, and go for a flight wearing an \"I hate America\" Tee, written in English and Aribic. If I do it right, I can get a check too.
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@tbax929: Yes, because people should not be allowed to exercise their rights if doing so might make other people (especially the stupid, and authority figures) uncomfortable.
What the HELL, dude.
\"You can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads \"I am a robber\" and going to a bank.\"
WOW, so \"I read/speak Arabic\" is now the same as \"I am a criminal\"?
Nah, that's not profiling AT ALL.
I want to see them smacked with a lawsuit every single time something like this happens -- hell, I even want to see people doing it deliberately just to provoke the behavior -- because punishment is the only thing that's going to make them stop. Racism is not okay, m'kay?
@Mary Marsala with Fries: part of that common sense that TSA needs to have is that, yes, many of the people they are looking for (you know, in specific) do in fact read and speak arabic.
and randomly selecting the arab guy for a search makes more sense than randomly selecting whitebread granny for a search. profiling is not inherently evil; it actually makes sense. it's racism if race is the only factor a person is singled out. but race is a criteria. so is age. sex. behaviour. all kinds of things.
in any case, that doesn't seem to be what happened here. it seems that other passengers objected, not the TSA. they just handled the situation. yes, those passengers were idiotic and probably racist. and no, that's not cool.
folks, the guy's name is RAED JARRAR. It even says it in some of the material you quoted lol.
Does anyone know where I can get the \"I love Saddam Hussein\" poster from Arrested Development? Carrying that on a plane should net me at least 1/2 million.
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Honestly the translation is not inflammatory, isn't insulting and had no reason to be covered up. It's sad the TSA and Jet Blue had a knee jerk reaction trying to appease some who might be on the plane who are IGNORANT and assume something in Arabic = terrorist related or even threatening to others. Hopefully a hit to the pocket book will set them straight.
The next time I fly, I'm totally wearing a shirt with a drawing of a bomb and an exploding plane, and then I'm suing them for freedom of speech issues when they make me cover it.
Yes it's silly, but it also completely defies common sense and is obviously asking for trouble.
That reminds me!
From Boing Boing:
T-short with picture of armed robot endangers British aviation system:
[www.boingboing.net]
@JamieSueAustin: well those are the same folks [british aviation] who strip searched a clown before a children's charity flight [that didn't even have a destination] and took away some of his props for his act
@JamieSueAustin: That's hilarious - in a face-palming way.
What do they expect people to do when they tell them they can't wear a certain shirt? Not all people have a spare with them.
I wish we had access to Jet Blue's version of the events. Right now this story is one sided, of course it sounds like the man was wronged.
If they asked him to change his shirt and he complied, I see no wrong.
If they told him change the shirt or no flight, they were wrong, but not egregiously wrong. (It gave him a choice, and if they offered to provide the remedy free of charge even less egregious)
But airlines and the TSA and the flying public don't get to suspend the constitution because they are uncomfortable. That is simply not a sufficient reason (as decided by the courts, not me). There must be a clear public danger to suspend the 1st amendment.
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There is a very high chance that every person who believes a person shouldn't be allowed to wear a t-shirt with Arabic writing at the airport/on a plane,
1. Can't read Arabic so wouldn't even know if the t-shirt said \"I love Jesus\" (since many arabic speakers are CHRISTIANS, and since many Muslims are named EISA, which means JESUS in Arabic)
2. Can't tell the difference between Arabic script and that of other languages (except Japanese/Chinese because you folks love have that stuff - which you also can't read - tattooed on your bodies to look coooool)
Most Muslims are not Arabic speakers, so do you folks figure on banning t-shirts in any language other than English,or just languages of 'darker' people? Or just non-white people wearing t-shirts in other languages? But wait, many Muslims are \"white\" -enough that you can't tell, maybe have blonde hair and blue-eyes, so what's the airport rule for that?
What needs to be banned in this country is ignorance, but sadly that is like banning air since a mass of people in this country survive upon it.
@hypochondriac: assuming they were intelligent and could make reasonable assumptions. might be too much to ask.
@noasalira: Most Muslims are not Arabic speakers
yes, but, iirc, farci is also generally written in arabic script. and i don't think they're looking for the malaysian muslims.
@noasalira: I believe the shirt was in both English and Arabic. If so they knew exactly what it said.
His name is Raed Jarrar. Not Raed Jaer. He is/was a friend of Salam Pax, another Iraqi architect who was blogging during the invasion of Iraq.
Kudos to him for standing up and being heard.
Would wearing a T-shirt saying I'm not a Terrorist in arabic/english be considered provocative as well?
Some of the commentators are taking the Words we will not be silent as stating your about to do something violent.
\"It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads 'I am a robber' and going to a bank.\"
If it will earn me $240K, I think its time for me to drag the ol' \"I am a robber\" T-Shirt out of the drawer and head to Wachovia.
His bank analogy is flawed, it would be like wearing a ski mask into a bank
You know what happens when you profile? You solve and prevent crimes. This paranoia about not profiling is ludicrous. As one commenter once wrote \"When a little old white lady from Kansas blows up a plane, then we'll adjust accordingly. Until then, we go by the information we have\".
@aikoto:
If he were a terrorist, why would he announce it? Wouldn't that foil his plans? Do you really think the bomb will be deactivated by the removal of his t-shirt? Most bombs are activated by fuses or timers.
You are really brain dead.
If I were to get on a plane with a t shirt on that had a drawing of a suicide bombers explosive vest on it, would everyone here be OK with it or be slightly concerned? What about a t-shirt with people f'ing on it?
I agree that his freedom of speech was infringed, but maybe he should also think about what he's wearing and where he was going. Just because you have the right to say whatever you opinion is doesn't mean that you always should.
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translation fail.
the text on that t-shirt (1st amendment in arabic) was typed into some kind of online translator...it's not correct. pays to check with a native speaker before putting something on a t-shirt.
Bear in mind the average American probably couldnt tell the difference between Hebrew and Arabic to begin with - so regardless of what was said by the officials - the idea that the _appearance_ of a language can itself be 'offensive' (let alone a simple phrase such as was on the shirt) shows that there are morons and Nazis everywhere.
i always find it amazing that i can get on a plane with my cane [which i need for walking long distances, such as across an airport terminal] even though it's a big metal stick that could be used as a weapon. i've even had nightclubs ask me to check it at the door because they feel a room full of people with access to alcohol shouldn't be tempted with the possibility of grabbing my cane to use as a weapon. and i have no problem with that as long as they have lots of places i can sit.
but this guy's story makes me feel that the officials were indicating that the MESSAGE on the t shirt was the dangerous part.... ok, so maybe ideas are more dangerous than weapons...
the last statement from inspector harris: \"He added, 'You can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads 'I am a robber' and going to a bank.'\" makes me want to go shop for t shirts with arabic script on them.
i wonder how long it will take to get my friend to screen print me a shirt that says 'princess unicorn' in arabic?
@catastrophegirl: Uhmmm... The shirt was in ENGLISH too, and it read \"WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED\". Since you've been in airports a lot, you should remember the announcement about 'not joking with the TSA'. Whether its verbal or not, or whatever context it was meant to be defined as, a person should NOT be making statement as such. PERIOD! The TSA failed at their job by letting the guy through.
I am student who studies Arabic and I have Arabic t-shirts too. When I see things written in the language, I don't get nervous, even if I don't understand what they are saying.
This isn't about not knowing how to read the language. This is about a bunch of ignorant people that get bent when someone expresses pride in being Arab by expressing themselves in the Arabic language. Many ignorant people don't believe that there's anything to be proud of in being an Arab.
I'm so disappointed to see so many people ASSUMING that just because he dared where a t-shirt in a language that ignorant people associate with terrorism, then he must have made a conscious decision to offend people at the airport. When I get dressed before going to the airport, I put on something comfortable, and maybe something fairly nice. I do not examine my clothing to make sure that I don't offend ignorant ass people in a public place, and neither do any of you. SOME of us don't associate Arabic with terrorism, so we don't automatically leap to the conclusion that a t-shirt with Arabic on it will get us $240,000.
I can wear t-shirts with Mao Zedong and Che Guevara on them to the airport, and that's okay but Arabic script is not? I'm sorry, but if you're offended by the Arabic language, get screwed.
@aguacarbonica: Its not the Arabic language, its what it translated to. So if you don't like American trying to protect themselves, get screwed.
\"I am a robber and going to a bank.\" He didn't say he was a bank robber. Even a robber needs a place to put his loot right? Stupid comment, period. Just because he is Muslim, it doesn't make him a terrorist. Bonnie and Clyde and a lot of other Americans were killers and murderers. Should we stereotype all Americans to be killers? What if an American walked thru an airport check point wearing a t-shirt that says \"Born Killer\", will the TSA stop him/her?
Now, if a woman had a t-shirt that said \"I have great BIG Boobs\" the would of all looked really carefully and smiled. If I went to the Mexican border with an AK-47 on the seat; I could expect to get flagged and bagged fast!!
If I had relatives that died at Lockarby, Scotland; I would really get nervous on his plane ride.
Shouting Fire in a theater is a criminal offense; it gets people killed.
As a Brown person, I think this sounds like CAIR was trolling for a lawsuit. Everyone wants the free speech right to yell fire in a theater. This reminds me of that pinhead who had a led flashing sweatshirt that looked like it could have been a bomb and then she went to the airport. Of course the T-Shirt was not dangerous. It all goes back to ideals. if he wore that shirt then maybe he also had the desire to follow through on the ideals. How about if the 9/11 terrorists wore shirts that said, \"Death to the infidels and the whore America\". That is their free speech right to wear but then they followed through on those ideas. In the world of ideas not all ideas are equal. Islamic Facism is NOT an equal idea to western liberality.
@coolkiwilivin: \"We will not be silent\" = Islamic Fascism?
He wore a war protest t-shirt. He was not advocating blowing up airplanes. He was not wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed \"Death to the infidels and to the Great Satan, America!\"
If the first thing that pops into your head when reading that t-shirt is \"He must be an islamo-fascist and about to blow up an airplane\", then it says more about you than about the man wearing it. Grow up, learn something about the world, and stop always assuming the worst of anyone not white.
@EyeHeartPie: As someone who is NOT white, I don't assume the worst. You sound like many of the condescending white people that drive me crazy. For what reason will he not be silent? How do you know he wasn't advocating not blowing up planes? did you have a conversation with him? His shirt is purposely vague and provocative. Why do you think they say don't even joke about bombs on a plane or you're not allowed to make threats against the president, even if it's a joke. My point is free speech must be accepted with responsibility. It's your choice to wear a stupid t-shirt. it's also your fault if you get in trouble for wearing such stupid T-Shirt. I don't think immediately he's an islamic facist but I do think if he has this little common sense about his choice of clothes then what else does he lack common sense in.
What if the shirt simply had the Arabic text on it? Would there be a problem with that? If the English phrase was the only thing on the shirt? What if I, a middle aged white male had been wearing the t-shirt?
Hmmm....
I think people today are just too dam uptight.. Its like years ago, a woman suffered trauma over Janet Jacksons breats on TV. Come on, people get a life. If the man wants to wear a shirt, about his rights so what. Now if it was a terroristic threat, then I would understand. But dam..
Seems like everyone's had a win. The other passengers got the smart-ass put in his place and felt safer, the smart-ass got a big payout for being one, and the demographic for the airline has moved towards the white fliers which won't bother them at all. Whether anybody likes it or not, this is the way it is because this is the way most people want it. For me, I would have been on the next flight just in case.
I guess the thing I find interesting about this is that with free speech there is a \"fighting words\" clause - fighting words are those that tend to incite violence or unrest, (sometimes) regardless of whether the speaker of fighting words means to do so, and whether or not the violence is against him or someone else. I would probably side with JetBlue in this. Sure, the guy's shirt didn't say anything that's offensive - but people who can't read Arabic don't know that.
I know that there are different subcultures in America that have to get along, but part of the getting along is being sensitive to part of our own subculture that may frighten others...
while i think that freedom of expression is important, i am confused by the idea that i might have the \"right\" to fly. i try to remember that i am paying for a service from a company... and just like any other company, they have \"we reserve the right to refuse service\" disclaimers.
certainly its inconvenient, absolutely some of the representatives phrased things poorly, but it sounds as though jet blue reps were trying to get him ON the plane, regardless of difficulties. this seems helpful, to me. and not worth $240k.
personally, i'm used to being inconvenienced by flying. i've been searched more than 75% of the time i fly (6 or more times a year for the past 4 years). i'm a skinny white 29 year old female, almost always flying on business, shoes off, no liquids, laptop in separate bin. and if they want to keep searching me, they can. its better than driving.
and next time i'll fly jet blue, maybe that lady will buy me a \"no search\" t-shirt.
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Can't we just go back to the days when women wore Channel outfits with gloves and hats and men wore suits? The flight attendants served Chateaubriand and champagne and in the 70's dressed like go-go dancers? Air travel was civil. People got along. Planes had propellors. Four of them. Life was good.
I know two guys who, a few years back, got two shirts made up. One said \"Terrorist\" and the other said \"Enemy Combatant\" and they would go out together wearing the pair of shirts.
wonder what his feelings are on burning the koran or drawing mahammmmmmmad?
i'm all for free speech but you can't go in a movie theater and yell FIRE! FIRE! and then laugh as people trample each other trying to escape.
Wearing that shirt on a plane is like yelling FIRE! in a crowded movie theater. He was looking for trouble and he found it. Shame the airline rolled over and played dead, in other countries like Israel he would have been arrested and there would be no story
i'm all for free speech but you can't go in a movie theater and yell FIRE! FIRE! and then laugh as people trample each other trying to escape.
Wearing that shirt on a plane is like yelling FIRE! in a crowded movie theater. He was looking for trouble and he found it. Shame the airline rolled over and played dead, in other countries like Israel he would have been arrested and there would be no story
Let's face it: some Arabic men killed thousands of Americans with planes. Do Americans fear Arabics while they're on a plane? HELL YES WE DO! We need to stop dancing around acting like everything's fine.
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Whenever we would have a LAN party at the UTD student union building, I used to carry my networking equipment in a cardboard box labeled, \"Not a bomb.\" The campus police usually just laughed when they saw it. =)
I see a lot of comments to the effect of:
\"You can't wear a T-Shirt like that and expect not to cause an issue.\"
You must not have read the article. The courts have declared that yes, you indeed can wear such a shirt and expect not to be detained. Should anyone choose to detain a person for something baseless (like the presence of Arabic script) they will be subject to the appropriate legal action.
It's pretty simple really. Everyone, even people who disagree with the ruling or feel that Jaer is a trouble maker agree that 'he has a right to wear that shirt.' Well, with that understanding, you have to act accordingly. 'He has a right to wear that shirt. If I detain him on the grounds that he is wearing that shirt, it will be a baseless detention. Therefore, I won't detain him.' Done.
Wear what you will, but really that sort of shirt is like asking for trouble from TSA. He has a right, but really he sort of profiled himself but seriously he was so mentally distraught that it warranted $240K? Damn we all need to start doing that, ridiculous.
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It sounds to me like he was looking for trouble. Even if he has a right to wear the T-shirt, why would you wear that T-shirt to an airport?
If it would get me 240K, I'd wear the t-shirt myself. 99% of the people on the plane or at the airport cannot possibly even read Arabic script anyway.
Where can we buy the t-shirt???
Congratulations to you sir, and several dozen other posters below for COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT of wearing said shirt.
Fortunately we (hopefully) live in a country that allows 'stupid' people like me to call out 'informed' people like you.
Nonsense. He has every right to wear that shirt, and has a right not to be the victim of the ignorance of others. Everyone knows, or should know, that arabic script does not a terrorist make, and should act accordingly. Simple as that.
Fail at that simple task . . . and the courts get involved, and usually find in favor of people like Jaer.
Feel differently? Grow up. People have no duty to sort through and act according to your prejudices.
For 240k apparently.
I'd take that hit to pride for that kind of payday. Shit I hope everyone does this and just nicks the TSA and airlines to death or forces them to treat people better.
Wow. I thought tbax's comment was going to be the stupidest one in the thread, but then I scroll down. I mean, seriously. Everyone who at all implies that Raed was wrong in any way is wrong. You are completely, 100% wrong in every way possible. Please leave this country immediately, you are the main reason our reputation among the rest of the world is complete shit.
@tbax929:
Yeah, the real terrorists, as I recall, tried their best to look INconspicuous.
I have more patience for the people who thought they overheard people discussing the safest spot to sit on the plane, than for this. Not much more, mind you, those concerns were based on sophistry, but this is ludicrous.
@tbax929: Knowing now that I can get $240,000 for wearing it? Hell yes.
@tbax929: In the same way, why would black people sit in the front of a bus? Shouldn't they just sit in the back, just like all of the other black people? Nobody should have to make a compromise like that for other peoples' ignorance.
@tbax929: Herm hem ha mem mem meemm, nom da lee dee... *
* That's me humming \"God Bless America (Land of the Free)\", in case you couldn't tell.
@tbax929: And you are exactly the problem.
\"That\" shirt?
Though he may have made a conscious choice to wear that shirt, he didn't wear an offensive shirt.
That's like asking why, if he knows he is middle eastern, would he try to fly? Why? Because he has every right to.
In addition to that, I'm certain he didn't go into this thinking that he would some how financially profit from it.
tbax929, from the details presented here -- which obviously may not be a perfect synopsis, but it's what we've got -- why wouldn't you conclude \"Sounds like the airline and TSA representatives were looking for trouble\"? The only appropriate response to the complainants was \"It's just a shirt.\"
@tbax929: Most airports require you to wear some kind of shirt.
@tbax929: It \"sounds to me\" like you are violating the Consumerist Commenter Code.