major blooper by usa

in a very incredibly stupid diplomatic mistake, SRK (Shah Rukh Khan) of Bollywood was detained and questioned for two hours at the Newark airport. he was not even allowed to make a phone call, because of his name....hahaha Khan, which is more common here in India than Smith or Jones put together in America, being on the list of people to watch out for.

my landlord's nephew is going to be attending school in the city where i lived in USA next month, he has his student visa and is very excited. i have already told him to expect to be disappointed by life in the west for various reasons, but never did i think of this one. wonder how long they will detain him at the airport? (yes, his name is also Khan) wonder if i will ever see or hear of him again?

i would imagine this is the first time in about 30 years that SRK has not been recognized-must have been a very humbling experience for him. i mean this man is a national icon, the number one movie star in India. way to go airport security...

---------- Post added 08-15-2009 at 03:59 PM ----------

and let us not forget that the former president (Mr. Abdul Kalam) of this union which is today celebrating its 61st year of independence...was frisked at Delhi International Airport on April 24 of this year. Interestingly enough though, it was personnel of Continental Airlines (who would have been Indian citizens, and it would be totally impossible NOT to recognize Mr Kalam, if you have ever seen his picture you will understand why) who made what has been termed 'a clear violation of protocol'. and guess where the very much loved and respected former president was headed? Newark.

i believe i will have to steer clear of newark on my trip this february-

Could you please explain to me why this is not a tempest in a teapot? The officials made a mistake, for good reasons, it seems. It was inconvenient. But why does it have any further ramifications? I am sure that the officials at Newark will be very careful not to let this happen again, so that the likelihood of your being the victim of the same error is nil.

Why does society continue to dehumanize people by calling them "icons" or "stars"?

in india these people are super-humanized, they have this VIP handup. and as a consequence, all VIP's expect to be treated as exceptions and outside the rules...and in india, they are.

in america, al gore has to go through the same line as me at the airport. i have no squabble with that and neither did he. but i dont think he would be put aside if his name showed up on a terrorist list...really now, do you?

Let me be the first to get this out of the way and scream in my best James T Kirk, "KKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHN!"

I think that if someone's name is on a terror list, that person should be detained. Yes, I do. In fact, if he were not detained, then those responsible should be fired-at the very least. It may be in India actors are not subject to the rules. I hope that is not true in the United States.

There is also the issue of who is on that list - as has been said, Kahn is an extremely common Indian name; to put that surname on the terror list is to put a large portion of India on that list. At what point does this become arbitrary and absurdly ineffective? At what point do we realize that the terror list is, by and large, an ineffective feel-good policy and a complete waste of time and effort? Of public funds? Of national credibility?

But that is a different issue. The officials at the airport made no "stupid mistake". They followed instructions. And that is fine with me. I don't know about the instructions, and neither, I bet do you. It seems to me that his actor is too full of himself. He should relax. This kind of thing (old ladies taking off their shoes) happens nowadays. We had a little incident here in the United States on 9/11/91. You may remember.

actually it is spelled K-H-A-N, as in genghis.

---------- Post added 09-03-2009 at 06:02 AM ----------



right, the stupid mistakes are made by people a lot higher up.

But that is a different issue. The officials at the airport made no "stupid mistake".

I don't know about the instructions, and neither, I bet do you.

It seems to me that his actor is too full of himself. He should relax.

This kind of thing (old ladies taking off their shoes) happens nowadays. We had a little incident here in the United States on 9/11/91. You may remember.

Well, I still don't believe it is a stupid mistake. I don't think we know enough about security precautions to say that. But I do think that this actor thinks a lot of himself. More than he should.

Well, I still don't believe it is a stupid mistake. I don't think we know enough about security precautions to say that. But I do think that this actor thinks a lot of himself. More than he should.