Does anyone have any info on this?
I'm always skeptical of such stories, especially if they mirror my own point of view. Been burned too many times.
I'll tell you one thing: I'm not getting on any plane with that many men, or even one, acting like that. I'd have turned around at the loading gate.
As a matter of practice I evaluate all the people waiting to get on a plane that I'm scheduled for. The only similar situation I've been in I chose to get on a long-haul bus with some turbaned men who I assured my wife were not Arabs. They were Sikhs. Their behavior was rather pushy and rude, but their intent was plainly benign.
If they had been Arabs, I probably would have declined to get on the bus. Sorry, it's not racism it's just American history that warns me.
Behavior described in that story should have resulted in the immediate ejection of the offending passengers from the plane. The possibility that it could be permitted to go so far without immediate arrest and criminal charges of those involved is disturbing. You'd think such an egregious incident would have been all over the news, but I heard nothing of it at all until now, which is why I doubt it.
Whether or not the story is true, each of us should examine our courage and commitment to the legacy of Flight 93 and decide how we behave in such a scenario.
I personally have done this. I hope I do not have to find out whether I'm up to it, but I hope and pray that I am. I'm not by nature an aggressive person, but some things just will not stand.
I followed the links through Snopes provided by one of the responses to your post and found the following clip from a pdf article written by a Chaplain who should have been on the flight but wasn't (I recommend that you read the entire linked article:
http://espositosmusings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/air-tran-flight-297-incident1.pdf
And, could it be that we actually endorsed the actions of these men by not taking action against them when they made their first imaginary shooting action toward an American on that flight?
How many times would it take for Americans forcefully to stand up for their safety based solely on the aggressive and threatening actions of these men as people threatening Americans, for them to see that Americans won’t tolerate physical or psychological intimidation at all anymore?
Is it inappropriate for Americans to stand together, draw a line in the sand, and say this will not happen to me or any of my American brothers/sisters? Do we not have a duty and responsibility to stand against this type of intimidation?
And this is the most difficult question of all: For those who were passengers that evening on Air Train Flight 297, could it be that we actually planted the seeds for the next intimidation by those who would attack us in our own homeland…by not acting together to stop the intimidation and threats? |
