Dear Southwest: Next time escort the idiot who thinks all Arabic speakers are suspicious off the plane. Clearly too stupid to fly.

I like this sentiment. Unfortunately Southwest is based in Texas- I'm not saying this has anything to do with their current protocols but this may have something to do with their current protocols. OK I guess I am saying it, that's what happens when you apply negative cultural stereotypes.

While I agree that anyone, including a Arabic man should be able to speak whatever language they want to speak in public or private, there is nothing here suggesting the woman who complained was stupid.

Bigoted yes, cruel even, but not necessarily stupid.

The guy however failed a basic cultural awareness test by jabbering in Arabic, in America, on a airplane.

He is not responsible for what happened to him, but with even a little foresight he had the power to avoid it regardless of the fact he should not have had to.

Let me get this straight: In America, a place that at least pays lip service to the freedom of speech, you think speaking Arabic should be treated the same way the TSA treats joking about hijacking or bombs?

I can't wait to see the helpful signs you're surely designing to be posted in our nation's airports. It should go over really well, especially if you add "Trump 2016" at the end.

Hey, it's freedom of speech, not freedom of jabber! If he wanted free speech he should have spoke American!

Let me get this straight: on a webpage, a place in which my words are written down, I start with a sentence supporting a person's right to speak any language they want to and end with a sentence making it clear that others should be held responsible for the way he was treated, you think I am supporting him being pulled off a plane and interrogated?

Let me also compare you with trump supporters as a reactionary, judgmental twit.

Good day sir.

"The guy however failed a basic cultural awareness test by jabbering in Arabic, in America, on a airplane."

Your sense of self-awareness is truly non-existent.

You have the right to walk into a dark alley waving hundred dollar bills in both hand singing "I got money, so much money." without being attacked and robbed, similarly you have the right to have a conversation on the phone, on a plane, in muslimphobic America, without being harassed.
However, both either of the above scenarios worst outcomes could be avoided with a little foresight, which this guy failed to use, mentioning this does not mean I support the actions of those who targeted him, only that they were predictable.

Your ability to analyze is truly crippled by your self righteousness.

Sorry dude but you're indulging in a bit of victim-blaming here. All the guy did was talk on his cell phone in a foreign language. Why should anyone have to think twice before doing this?

Practicality over theory. In theory and in all morality he should be able to speak in Arabic during a phone conversation, in practically and reality he should known that he has to deal with bigotry and talking to his uncle in Arabic could mean several hours of being detained and questioned, as well as missing his flight.
As I said the responsibility for all of this shit rest solely on the people who pulled him off the plane. He is only responsible for his failure of situation awareness, which he would be responsible for even if nothing had happened because of it.

So should all Muslim and Arabic-speaking people in the US constantly have this situation awareness in public? Isn't this akin to black people having to worry about what happens when they get stopped by the police? What if the guy speaking Arabic on the plane happened to be a fair-skinned blonde guy?
Now I can buy an argument that people should not be talking about jihad and bombs in public, sensitive places like on airplanes. But I refuse to buy an argument that anyone should have to curb their speech or behavior just to placate bigots and racists.
Because when we do that, we're basically conceding to the bigots and letting them dictate the terms of society.

Everyone should have this kind of awareness, but most certainly the above around airports if they want to make their flight. Yes, that is a very good analog if you substitute the word everyone in place of black people. Then he would not look like a Arabic dude in a country where a fair percent of the population is terrified by Arabic looking dudes. Good, I agree, no one should curb their speech, but they may find it better choice for their own convenience.
In this case, the bigot did dictate the terms of society getting pulled off his flight, harassed for hours on end and being banned from a airline seems like a bigger win for the dictating bigots then someone being forced by the terms of society to use English on a phone call to avoid dealing with any potential bullshit.

Just to provide some context, here's an interesting analysis from a former flight attendant suggesting how this incident should have properly been handled.

Appeal to Authority Fallacy.

Authority is a flight attendant.

My sides!

Is there some aspect of that article you disagree with?

I have to wonder how many people speaking Hebrew could be scorted out of a plane just because someone thought they were speaking Arabic. Or any Catholics from Lebanon who actually speak Arab. I am also thinking about Catalunian or Aragonese speakers here. I think your particular argument is not valid since people can talk whatever language they want and in any case to most American ears nothing but English and maybe Spanish can sound really weird.

"Aragonese" has to be the best name for a language. But for a 'r' one could support those unjustly escorted off an aircraft: "Stand your ground, stand your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me."

It's actually pretty cool. Sort of a broken Spanish spoken with a lot of balls even in sotto voce. Not really Tolkieneske unless you get them drunk.

Neat. I love Catalunya and was amazed to discover that the language is almost a blending of French and Spanish. I could make sense of a lot of (written) words with my being able to read French. Oddly, I can make sense of a lot of Spanish because it seems to be a blend of French and German, at least many word roots suggest one or the other. Damn, I want to go back to Barcelona!

It's the first time I hear that Spanish sounds like a mix of French and German, I swear. French is the most closely related of the two because they share the same roots in Latin and Romance, but that German reference is making me think. I have tried German in the past and I can hardly read it, mostly based on its similarities with English. I am a bit better in French, but mostly because as soon as I get it going I just have to remember stuff from childhood. I guess if I spent more than a few weeks in a French-speaking area I'll get good at it.

My guess is that they all are what I call "implicitly threatening" languages, in the sense that people just talk too loud sometimes and vocalizes in a very calculated way when they want to make their point across. I mean, sometimes we can sound pretty rude and hysterical even when we are being nice to someone.

The same thing happens, at least to my ears, with Japanese. You could hear two guys talking and swear that they will tear their heads off with their teeth, but they could be actually just asking for the time of the day and just saying thank you afterward.

The Japanese probably have specific etiquette for thanking someone after tearing their head off with your teeth.

They probably do. I bet giant robots thank kaijus after they kill them.

It's not that they sound the same; I just find that knowing French and German helps me to understand written Spanish.

Oh. I see it now and I agree. If you know German you can learn half the languages of Europe. You, sir, are a very educated man. and that's very nice. Congratulations.

Thank you but I cheated...I learned the languages by falling in love with women from those countries as a younger man. My fickle heart made me, for a while, a polyglot.

Well, I also learned Russian because I wanted to bed a Russian girl, as well as some Tagalog and Portuguese. The least you have to know about a foreign language is how to ask for help, order food and meet the opposite sex. Everything else is superfluous.

Estoy siendo detenido?

Oh, that too. And I forgot about begging for your life.

Hey, how about any number of tourists from Arabic-speaking countries who are flying interstate and don't speak English. Or are talking to each other. I mean, I speak English when I'm overseas.

Since the very first line of my argument was stating that anyone be able to speak whatever language they want as a given, I'm not sure how agreeing with me invalidates it

SouthWest seems to have a storied history of foot-in-mouth syndrome.

Public surprised when airline, known for treating passengers like cattle, further degrades passengers.

Not to defend Southwest for what seems to be a disproportionate number of such incidents, but as the largest discount domestic carrier, we really shouldn't be surprised that they'd have more cases of both passengers and crew behaving like the common jerks we know the US public can be (as evidenced by Trump's popularity). It's really just a bigger slice of the populist pie that happens to be flying their low-cost skies. On the plus side, at least they still don't charge for checked luggage.

A degree of slap-upside-the-head should be reserved for the hysterical cunt who reported him in the first place. Apologies if my misogynistic micromacroagression triggers anyone.

I'd reserve a much larger slap for the FBI agents that decided an interrogation was warranted, as well as their superiors who are apparently okay with this.

Obviously they're doing a hell of a job winning the trust and cooperation of the Muslim community.