What do you think?

[AtmaWeapon]

Alleged Florida terrorists. (http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/13/alligator.alley/index.html)
Terror scare may be joke gone awry (http://www.msnbc.com/news/807521.asp?0dm=C17PN)

OK, the short story, for those of you who haven't heard, is this:
Three men of middle-Eastern descent were on their way to Miami. According to them, they were medical students on their way to a convention. They were eating in a Shoney's, and a woman overheard them making statements like, "if Americans were sad on 9/11, wait until 9/13", and "Do you think we have enough to bring it down?", and "If we don't have enough to bring it down, I have contacts and we can get enough to bring it down."

The woman called the police, and the highway the men were on was closed, they were pulled over and detained, and their cars were searched.

Now, many things are happening as a result of this. The detained men, of course, claim that the woman is lying and they are victims of stereotyping. The media claims that the Feds overreacted.

I have quite a few problems with the situation:
1) If I were an American of Middle-Eastern descent, I would NEVER EVER discuss anything that had to do with 9/11 in public places. It's a given that people are suspicious of Arabic people right now. It's not fair, but it's true and they should have thought about that.

2) What reason did this woman have to lie? I've heard claims that they were joking around and trying to scare her, but haven't enough people been arrested for stuff like this to give them the idea it may not be safe?

3) Whatever happened to the media's claims that the government didn't do enough to stop 9/11? All of a sudden the media are crying foul and saying the government is being too paranoid. Make up your mind, do you want the government to be paranoid or not?

4) The MSN article seems to make it sound more like the men were joking. If they were joking around with the woman, who in their right mind makes jokes about 9/11? If I heard someone discussing a bomb plot, you bet your life I'd tell someone about it even if I thought it might be a joke.

5) The news articles are making a big sob story out of this; since there's the contradiction between "too much interference in people's lives" and "not enough surveilance of terrorists", can I really trust I'm getting the whole truth?

That's my take on it. What do you think?

[Triffid]

The woman overreacted, she should have recognized it as a joke. (If they were for real, do you think they'd be speaking in english?)
She should have been angry with them for joking about something like that , but the the men shouldn't have been arrested just for being jerks.

[EWild]

Well they were let loose. But com'on, they said that something was gonna happen on 9/13, I'd be suspicious, wouldn't you? She was right to tell the cops. How did she know that they were kidding? =/

[E-FORCE]

It's very hard to figure this out because this situation is a double-edged sword type where if the woman thought it was joke, but they did it anyway, then that would have made her feel like she could have stopped it. On the other hand calling the cops on them is also hard to tell how that's going to end because if they were just joking around then it would make the government look bad, but if it was true then there would be praise for it and a possibly rise, but unintended effect, of discrimination on Middle-Easterns and look-alikes. Either way its still bad for everyone because one way or another, they might be effected by an event such as this one.

[Lone Wolf]

That is hard to really say. I guess it was bes that she said something, cause you never know.

[slothman]

From what I heard from various media sources (yes they are biased but what the hey) it sounded like it meant nothing. Because of that annoying 1st ammendment, unless they actually did something, they could only be quickly checked and then released. Any court an their right mind, a stretch I know, would easily free them for lack of evidence.

[Maverick_Zero]

The media hardly gives the whole story, but sometimes it's better that way, if they do tell the whole story, someone will go crazy. Anyway, there is this thign called Freedom of Speech, and also, thye wouldn't speak in english, or in a restaurant.

[teddyboy420]

I don't care if they were joking, the reaction was warrented. In fact if it is found out that they actually did say anything I think they should be thrown in jail, and the key should be lost.

If they didn't say anything though, then that waitress is a sick person. But I don't understand why she would make something like that up (unless she's demented).

It's hard to find out what REALLY happened b/c all the news is biased in one direction or another. I agree w/ you, the media should get their shit straight, if they want to say that not enough was done to prevent 9/11 then they should shut the fuck up and stop critisizing the goverment when they react to a threat, false or not.

edit: I thought the same thing maverick, if they were making plans to do something like that they wouldn't talk about it in a resturant, especially not in English

[Mander]

Actually they probably would talk about it in english. Most terrorists think Americans are stupid.
Regardless of whether they were joking or not the woman did the right thing. Anyone who makes stupid jokes about terrorist acts deserves to be treated as terrorists.
And the media are unbelieveable. First they complain that there was not enough action taken to prevent 9/11 now they complain that too much action is taken to prevent another possible 9/11.
And yeah those guys denied saying anything. Well would you admit to it. For all anyone knows they weren't joking and a potenial disaster has been stopped.

[slothman]

Originally posted by Mander
Actually they probably would talk about it in english. Most terrorists think Americans are stupid. ...
Fortunately, for them at least, most Americans are stoopidd. :D Of course this counts for the rest of the world also. :D :D

[Yoshiman]

It's a good thing the woman told the police. That could of been really serious.

[Kirby of Doom]

I'm sure in most schools they expel students even if they're just joking about doing something bad, like you've seen on tv. That's like this case here. I guess that sums up my statement.