[WEB4LIB] RE: FBI to monitor libraries

[Sylvie Szafranski]

Common sense = paying attention to suspicious BEHAVIOR.
Profiling = targeting some PEOPLE as suspicious.
--
Sylvie Szafranski
Systems/Blake Library

The opinions expressed here are the ones of the author of this message alone.

Mark Wright wrote:

> >Do you also profile young white men who express interest in government
> >buildings and who seem to be sympathetic to anti-government organizations?
> >If we are going to keep tabs on patrons of Middle Eastern descent,
> >ignoring for the moment that many of them are not even Muslims and some
> >have been in the country for several generations, we should also be
> >watching out for the next Timothy McVeigh, right?
>
> Why is it that people have to take everything to the extreme on this issue?
> All I'm asking is for people to use common sense. To start profiling all
> young white men since they might be another McVeigh makes no sense at all.
> To profile groups of Arabic men when (if to your eyes) they are doing
> something suspicious, makes perfect sense. Again, it doesn't have to mean
> that we LIKE doing this, or even feel comfortable doing it, but think of the
> possible consequences of NOT doing so. Ask yourself an honest question: how
> would you feel if you ignored some suspicious behavior (behavior that in
> YOUR eyes was suspicious) and it turned out that these people later used a
> weapon of mass destruction against an American city. Would you still feel
> justified in having avoided 'profiling'? If you can honestly way that you
> wouldn't experience some serious guilt, then you aren't someone I would like
> to know.
>
> Common sense, people, just use common sense. Don't go to extremes, don't
> start treating all Arabic men with deep suspicion, don't be paranoid. Just
> keep your eyes and ears open and use good judgement.
>
> Mark Wright
>
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