> Is it racist to know the fact that say, zero schoolteachers from Iowa with no history of travel to the Middle East have ever hijacked a plane, but quite a few people from Saudi Arabia and Iran, or who have contacts there, have? And to allow the teacher to bypass the whole mess? I'd say that's efficient.
Iowans have committed significantly more homicides per capita than people from most European countries (or Saudi Arabia, for that matter). I don't think it's problematic if European airports screen Iowans more heavily than Europeans and Saudis. Do you?
If they had a reputation for committing those homicides in Europe, that seems sensible. As stated though, it would be a big waste of their time. I mean, they are free to do their own risk assessments and run their security as they see fit either way, though.
If you really believe the public is kept safe most effectively by pretending to be fully blind to nationality when choosing who to screen at an airport (since you can't intensively screen everyone) I don't know what to tell you.
Although it's interesting that the same people who would take that position seem to also argue that colorblindness is actually a sin if it's done while processing a college application.
> If they had a reputation for committing those homicides in Europe, that seems sensible.
Reputation?
Are we deciding security policies by reputation or statistics?
I think I'd win the bet of "Americans have killed more people (per capita) in other countries than Saudis have", so it does seem relevant to be more wary of them. Especially given how widespread the former has been, compared to a few incidents with the latter.
> If you really believe ... I don't know what to tell you.
That does seem evident, yes.
> Although it's interesting that the same people who would take that position seem to also argue that colorblindness is actually a sin if it's done while processing a college application.
Yeah, so this makes more sense. Even if I accept this statistic about Iowans, which I am fairly dubious of, your position still doesn't make sense. You would be saying that in situations of crimes of passion, gas station robberies, etc that it would be more likely for an Iowan to commit a murder than someone from Saudi Arabia (again, still dubious claim but I will grant it), this doesn't say anything about terrorist acts particularly related to air travel.
Iowans have committed significantly more homicides per capita than people from most European countries (or Saudi Arabia, for that matter). I don't think it's problematic if European airports screen Iowans more heavily than Europeans and Saudis. Do you?