Today on the News here........

[Mad Dilys]

I wish, Robbo, I wish. Never had a good tan, just burn, or "weathered" when I was farming.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Disclaimer: I do not have religion, and anything i discuss is not aimed at one particular person or religion. My dislike covers pretty much all of them. ( I find Buddhists and their followings the least contemptible of them, mainly due to their compassion to animals! They still have grey areas i don't agree with though)

I'm just saying "ditto" at this time as this reflects me.

I do find it very tragic at this time that Muslims are taking flack and the brunt of what Da'esh/ISIS/IS have created in the world. These sub-human barbarians are a plague to be eradicated. IMO their claim is to be Muslim but personally I don't see them as carrying any religion nor are they IMO a reflection of Islam. They are terrorists full stop who are hiding behind the banner of a religion just like they hide behind black jumpsuits - but just cause that is the outer trappings it doesn't make them so.

And, as Robbo says if suddenly a group of Asian people suddenly started committing the same atrocities globally we'd be all over them too and sadly other Asian people would get tarred with the splash of whatever the group who went crazy were doing.

The strength is the ability to talk openly about our worries and fears. If they succeed in stopping free speech then we all lose.

Lastly we've all been talking on here for quite a few years now and honestly I see all of us as mature responsible reasonable people who CAN discuss various and sometimes sensitive topics. I don't see any of us as being rude or hurtful or discourteous to others. I think we're all just expressing (sometimes better and sometimes worse) how we feel about things and sometimes some of the topics can get touchy but I do believe we have to have faith that the Posters on here are not trying to hurt or harm.

[Grandad]

A little lighthearted PS to this thread. In the UK all teachers, medics, and others who come into contact with the general public are REQUIRED to report any suspicions about possible extremism.

This innocent incident made me smile
"A Muslim boy has been quizzed by police after mistakenly writing that he lived in a 'terrorist house' rather than a 'terraced house'.
The 10-year-old made the error during an English lesson at a primary school in Accrington, Lancashire, and the following day officers arrived at his home to interview him and examine the family laptop.

[Horus]

Yes Grandad that one had me rolling about laughing also.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Good one (even though it was real)! Sounds like it was reported by the school.

In the USA there was a case recently whereby a young boy (who seems quite gifted in engineering) brought a clock he was making to school. Teacher freaked, Principal concurred and as per protocols they called in law enforcement even though they also both felt that what he brought was a clock vs a bomb. Police arrived and again as per protocols "arrested" the youth, called in the bomb squad (which found nothing), President Obama ultimately got involved - talk about a GONG show - BUT - IF IF IF IF IF - IF all the 'ifs and it turned out to be real' had happened and nobody did anything then

There were all the concerns voiced that the child looked and was from the Middle East (I think in the end I read the family was from Pakistan) and therefore this was racist profiling BUT the 'rules' came down to the school and they reacted as did law enforcement so it really seems a double edge sword. Damn'd if you do and damn'd if you don't.

Everybody always says it is better to err on the side of caution - BUT ??

Thinking on it - what would it take for you to actually call in a report? Would you call in on a suspicion or would you wait 'til what you knew was 100% verifiable? And remember - IF your suspicion proved not to be true YOU could then be subject to all sorts of labelling. Would you call?

[Horus]

On the probability that if I thought something was suspicious, then it must be something that makes me question it being right in the first place. In other words “Why is he/she doing that” or “Why are they behaving like that” or “What is that doing there” "What are they doing there" so I suppose my answer would be Yes and I would call in.

[LovelyLadyLux]

IF the gov't enacted an "anonymity" clause like they do with Child Welfare I think lots more people would call in. This would require a whole Department of Investigators to go out and probably have to have an ability to immediately act on these concerns however I think that many people would hesitate to call in IF they figured that one day they'd end up in court labelled a racist. That is the fear IMO.

I'd call in if I had a concern although 'where' to call in some areas might be a bit difficult to figure out. Here we only have the RCMP. If you're doing in the USA you have to figure out local PD, Sheriff's Office, State Patrol, FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, TTF and on and on. It can be crazy there trying to figure out who has jurisdiction and who to call. Like that Ghostbusters Movie theme - "who you gonna call?"