Arrested For Telling The Truth.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808822/Ordeal-OAP-quipped-m-not-Muslim-airport-security-stopped-Man-spends-six-months-facing-racism-charges-case-finally-dropped.html

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// He doesn't look anywhere near 75 years old. I'm impressed. ///

According to some he must be in his second childhood sp. :0)

[Svejk]

I think these security people are being funny(and not in a nice way) They stopped my, walking stick using, 85 year old father on our way to a funeral. Made him lift his feet up(with great difficulty) so they could look at the soles of his shoes. I wouldn't bet against them finding it hilarious to pick on the least likely travellers.

[chaptazbru2]

Huge over reaction in my opinion !

[anotheoldgit]

Svejk

Serve them right if they had been covered in Dog ***.

[jackthehat]

I was highlighting the injudicious usage of the word 'swamping' by.......whomever.......and the 'outrage' it causes.

Naturally, it seems that *our fellows* use of it is less offensive than *your fellows*........:o)

[jackthehat]

d'oh......

Wrong thread. :o(

[Orderlimit]

Mr AOG, here is an example of how frightened and weak some

[joggerjayne]

The easily offended, being offended.

Same old same old.

[Orderlimit]

yikes

The weak & frightened

Police receive a 999 call 18:09hrs from distressed mother stating that a foreigned male has just exposed himself to her in a childrens playground. (numerous serious aggravating features). As its gone 4.30pm most staff have left (basically, anybody above the rank of SGT). Control told by duty Insp to tell mother they have no officers available and will contact her tomorrow.

18:11hrs, woman rings same control room and stating she usually parks across a small business driveway to collect her friend, owner came out and said "Can't you read the signs, you block us in every night". She believed his comment was racism etc etc. Two officers found and deployed straightaway in accordance with the 20 min, non-emergency deployment policy.

[Orderlimit]

jeez, the male exposed himself (and more) to her daughter

[mikey4444]

Seems like a storm in a teacup to me. It was daft to charge him with anything. A stiff talking-to would have been sufficient.

[ludwig]

sp1814
// 1. What a complete overreaction, and a ridiculous waste of time and energy.

2. Under no circumstances should you ever joke with security personnel at airports. You say nothing unless asked and you answer briefly and factually. Anything else is a minefield //

Spot on in both cases.

[jourdain2]

Oh come on-- he was joking! But to be fair, most of security people at airports are jobsworths. I had the tiniest amount of perfume confiscated once (about 3 sprays left in the bottle, but it was expensive - so I kept it) because the bottle was too big! I sprayed myself all over (as much as I could decently manage) with most of the remainder of the contents and exited laughing. I probably suffocated the folk sitting next to me (sorry to them) and put in a formal complaint - but I've never had a reply.

[sp1814]

The way to deal with airport staff:

Check in staff - flirt and chat them up, you might get an upgrade

Duty free staff - when buying perfume / after shave always ask for free samples (they have LOADS squirrelled away, and they usually keep them for themselves)

Security staff - treat them like that are computers in human form.

[douglas9401]

"Security staff - treat them like that are computers in human form."

That's not really going to be a plan, given the swearing and general tantrumming that goes on with computers though. :-)

[youngmafbog]

We are on the verge of a Police state.

You can no longer say what you feel, unless that thought aligns with the latest right-on thinking.

We had better get used to it because the luntics have taken over the Asylum.

Blair and Brown have a lot to answer for.

[keyplus90]

Leaving alone whatever happened and should or should not have happened, do you believe that he was telling the truth? or was he trying to suggest that only Muslims (and all of them of course) are terrorists? Then does he believe that a person who is white and is of his age without a beard cannot be a Muslim?

Security person was doing his job and whatever he did was right in asking him to take shoes off but as for his remarks, I would have ignored him and that is the best he probably deserves.

[vetuste_ennemi]

I have just created my Dedicated Follower of Fashion awards , and have chosen this thread to honour its first recipients. That's because there are a lot of contestants , some of whom have an excellent pedigree.
Firstly, I offer my commiserations to the also rans, that is all of you who described the OAP's obscene remarks variously as:
Silly/Careless/Stupid and rude/Racist/Offensive.
You're not trying hard enough, are you? Reading the Guardian and watching Question Time will help, as will joining the Lib Dems. Helpful reading material is George Orwell's 1984, and (for the more bookish) Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies, both of which contain useful ideas.
Now, the three winners in reverse order.
In joint third place I put the two voices of moderation (as I'm sure they view themselves) who suggested giving him a good talking and sending him to the back of the queue. You haven't yet fully grasped the dangers posed to society by people such as this OAP, and the need for a civilised society to (not just disapprove of, but) criminalise the abuse of the right to free speech.
In second place and a worthy runner-up is the poster who produced these two delights:
"Older people simply lose the ability to employ that discretion filter that we use daily to prevent what goes through our minds from coming out of our minds simultaniously." "Could there be an element of dimentia involved here? maybe undiagnosed, but still present - and maybe an allowance could be made". This is just the tone of voice we need to adopt when dealing with ignorant bigots, simulating concern for the sinner, while at the same time asserting our own righteousness. Much like the priest soliciting repentance at the auto-da-fe.
But no doubt about this thread's winner. It's the author of this elegant and cogently argued dismissal of so-called free speech which he described as:
"an over-rated practice. Especially when people like the gentleman in this story display the meagre contents of their mind."

[tamborine]

Muslim solicitors Omar Elsaid Sharrap, can get him compo

[Zeuhl]

^^

very good ve

an excellent summary and i was pleased to come top

just to be accurate though, i wasn't referencing 'freedom of speech' but 'speaking their mind':

"an over-rated practice. Especially when people like the gentleman in this story display the meagre contents of their mind."

freedom of speech is important. Having a filter between brain and mouth doesn't preclude it