Can Political Correctness Kill?

The Palm Beach Post yesterday had an editorial that chided U.S. Airways for its treatment of the "six Imams":

US Airways is standing by the decision of one of its crews to kick six Muslim clerics off a flight last week in Minneapolis because some passengers believed that the men behaved suspiciously.

Some details about the incident remain murky, but two points are clear: More than five years after 9/11, Americans still have little confidence in how the government screens fliers; and Americans know so little about Islam, and are so quick to reach for the worst stereotypes, that even acts of prayer can take on sinister interpretations.

These weren't Roman Catholic nuns fiddling with rosaries. As a matter of fact:

By most accounts, the six bearded men were behaving suspiciously at a time when airports were on high alert for sky terror during the holidays. "There were a number of things that gave the flight crew pause," an airline spokesman said. According to witnesses and police reports, the men:

• Made anti-American statements.

• Made a scene of praying and chanting "Allah."

• Asked for seat-belt extensions even though a flight attendant thought they didn't need them.

• Refused requests by the pilot to disembark for more screening.

Also, three of the men had only one-way tickets and no checked baggage.

Hardly just "praying" now, were they? It remains unbelievable that, after having lived through the events of 9/11, not to mention the first WTC bombing in 1993, a newspaper editorial board would pretend like a similar event perpetrated by like-minded people could never happen again:

Given the heightened screening procedures in recent months, it's hard to imagine what plausible threat the six men - one of whom is blind - posed to the other 140 people aboard the plane.

And it is even more difficult to imagine that an editorial board of a newspaper that was in existence during 1993 has so conveniently forgotten that it was a "blind sheikh" who masterminded the 1993 WTC bombings, among other atrocities, both planned and carried out.

In terms of subtlety, the imams' behavior was hardly something out of the terrorism playbook. Their public expression of faith was also an expression of innocence that some passengers chose to ignore.

Again, their public expression of faith was not the main concern here (although admittedly, public expressions of faith have been known to be in quite a few terrorism playbooks). it was their expression of faith, coupled with failing to sit in assigned seats, taking no luggage on the plane, spouting anti-American rhetoric--well-- you do the math. Not to mention:

"Omar Shahin is one of the imams removed from a flight in Minneapolis. He was involved with Kind Hearts, which has been closed down for its connections to Hamas. He also acknowledged a connection to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s in a September 28, 2001 story in the Arizona Republic."

But that still doesn't seem to be good enough for the likes of the self-righteous, pompous elites at the Palm Beach Post; who, if all indications are correct, would rather see another September 11th occur than offend the sensiblities of a few suspicious-acting Imams with a history of terrorist involvements.

I personally took the time today to email U.S. Air, to praise them for their courage (it took a lot of it in the face of today's politically-correct climate), and for putting customer safety above all else. I also let them know in no uncertain terms that the next time I fly, it will be on their airline.