Terror in disguise

WomensWallStreet.com writer Annie Jacobsen has created some interest with the horrific tale of her recent Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to L.A. with her husband, son, and 14 apparently small-bladdered Syrian musicians. The tale recounts her terrified trip as she and her husband watched the Syrians - gasp - nod at each other, congregate and talk while waiting (repeatedly) for the bathrooms, and were at first nice to her, then later rude to her. I've never met Ms. Jacobsen, so I'm not sure if this a phenomenon that might occur in the normal course of knowing her or not.

Salon.com writer Patrick Smith lambastes her story quite thoroughly, charging Jacobsen with spreading racist paranoia across the Internet. He has some good points, but even Smith admits it's not hard to see where Ms. Jacobsen is coming from.

Jacobsen’s excruciatingly detailed recounting of her flight, as well as her inexplicable use of quotes around every instance of the word “anxious,” obscures the overall question presented by her piece. Is it possible for the Transportation Security Administration to be colorblind in their efforts to protect Americans in flight? Not likely.

Smith’s counter-argument, however, is that passengers who are busy taking census of the racial makeup of each flight and creating theories, rather than relaxing with “The Prince and Me” like everyone else, are only making things harder for the TSA.

He's probably on to something there.