Monday, February 27, 2012

They'll never let me into England again. Sod them.

A few years ago, I wrote a posting called "Paranoia Strikes Deep" in which I imagined being detained by Muslim customs and immigration officials on arrival in London because of politically incorrect offenses committed on this blog.

I can't remember now if the post was meant seriously or humorously -- probably some of both. It's no joking matter now, though ... or rather, it is a no-joking matter. The uniformed cultural Marxist goons actually stopped a man from boarding his plane the other day because he -- God help the poor man! -- made a mild joke about (according to the Telegraph) "why a veiled woman was not checked by security." He says he didn't even use the word Muslim, but that didn't keep him out of hot water. And he was an Englishman, a solid citizen, not some kind of yob -- although I'm for Yob Rights when it comes to free speech. If that's what the Muslim concentration camp guards do to a subject of their queen, think what their reaction would be to a Yank who thoughtlessly "offended" them.
As his daughters, who had passed through security, waited in the departure lounge wondering where he was, he was subjected to a one hour stand-off as officials tried to force him to apologise.

Mr Jones, 67, who is the creator of the popular children’s character Fireman Sam, said: “Something like George Orwell’s 1984 now seems to have arrived in Gatwick airport." ... He said that when he made his initial remark the security guard had appeared to agree with him, saying: “I know what you mean, but we have our rules, and you aren’t allowed to say that.”

As he went through the metal detecting arch, his artificial hip set off the alarm, prompting a full search from a guard. It was after this, and as he prepared to rejoin his two grown-up daughters, that he was confronted by another guard who said he was being detained because he had made an offensive remark.

“I repeated to her what I had said and told her that I had said nothing racist,” he said. “She took my passport and boarding pass and I was then escorted back through the security zone into the outer area. Here the female security guard proceeded to question me further, inferring many things that I had not said.

“It was impossible to get her to listen to reason. We were then joined by a second female security guard who stated that she was Muslim and was deeply distressed by my comment. “I again stated that I had not made a racist remark but purely an observation that we were in a maximum security situation being searched thoroughly whilst a woman with her face covered walked through. I made no reference to race or religion. I did not swear or raise my voice.”
It's unlikely that he did -- no well-bred Englishman of his generation would. But Mr. Jones was being a little shifty in his self-defense. The joke or comment was obviously about different standards of security clearance applied to Muslims, and the favoritism generally shown to Muslims in British officialdom these days. The concentration camp/security guards got his point.
He continued: “I had now been detained for some time and my daughters were worried, calling me on my phone asking what was happening. We were going around in circles. I maintained that I had said nothing offensive and the security guard was continuing to accuse me. This had taken about 15-20 minutes and looked as though it was not going to be resolved.

“I asked the security guard if she was going to charge me to which she said no but I could not leave until I had apologised to the Muslim guard.

“At this point I asked for the attendance of a police officer. After some time he arrived but it was also plainly evident that he was keeping to the politically correct code. I told him that if there was a case then he should arrest me.

“I was told that we now live in a different time and some things are not to be said. They decided again that I would only be allowed to continue on my journey if I were to apologise to the Muslim guard. My reply was that as I had not made a racist remark it would be impossible for me to apologise.”
By any sane definition, it was not a racist remark, but the racism category has been expanded to include anything that someone other than a white person doesn't like. What David Jones actually wanted to do, it appears, is protest against a system which discriminated against him and his race. But that is the crime that will bring back hanging in the U.K. So all he had left to him was making a pathetic joke, and later claiming that he meant nothing by it. He was forced to resort to a weaselstrike, protesting his innocence of offending Muslim sensibilities.
Eventually, Mr Jones said, the BA manager suggested that he should agree that what he had said “could” be considered offensive by a Muslim guard.

With his flight departure time now fast approaching Mr Jones agreed to the compromise. Escorted by the police officer, he was taken through security where he was again subjected to a full search after his hip replacement set off the metal detector alarms.
There was a time, not so long ago, when public servants were expected to serve the public. Sometimes that meant having to employ common sense and restraint, even accept the odd insult. It came with the territory. Not no more, friend. Today you have to assume anyone with a uniform and an ethnic tenderness has the state's permission to humiliate you, demand you apologize to them, arrest you, perhaps make you wish you'd skipped being born.

This post, and so many others I've written at this site, "could" be considered offensive by a Muslim guard. While Reflecting Light is hardly a politically important source of comment, these days you don't have to actually be singled out for scrutiny. Her majesty's security state apparatus (like ours) doubtless has computers with Google-like spiders crawling over the Web looking for words and combinations of words that are perceived as threatening.

So it truly would not surprise me if I showed up at Heathrow and was scrutinized more thoroughly than Mr. Jones, placed in a cell and put on the next plane back. No thanks. Even if they ultimately granted me admittance to their ethnic garrison state, I would not spend my travel money, if I ever have any again, indirectly supporting a once-free country that has bent its former liberties for a Muslim über-class.

2 comments:

David Foster said...

Linked at Chicago Boyz, Photon Courier and the Ricochet members section.

Ghost of VW said...

Today you have to assume anyone with a uniform and an ethnic tenderness has the state's permission to humiliate you, demand you apologize to them, arrest you, perhaps make you wish you'd skipped being born.

Indeed.

It's high time conservatives came to grips with a few things: cop-and-soldier-worship is a big part of neocon ideology. Cops and soldiers represent the two belligerent arms of a government that legally despises you. Cops and soldiers can be expected to follow whatever orders they are given, including confiscating your property under threat of violent death. That is all.