It's a bit weird that the headline emphasizes her youth and blondeness, isn't it? I kept waiting for those facts to become relevant.
Christ. A three-week overstay isn't even a violation that has a penalty most of the time. Final decision on whether someone gets to enter the country is always up to the guys at the port of entry, but usual procedure if you're turned around is just to put you on the next flight back.
Good thing she was a blonde.
I am appalled at the story and irked by the, "people with privilege are forced to suffer too" tone of the article.
They're worried that they're going to run out of Middle Eastern terrorists and so they're trying to generate terrorists in other countries now.
I suppose the point of the blondeness was to contrast to the swarthiness of the real terrorists. Everybody knows terrorists aren't blondes. Doesn't sound that different from a DUI arrest, but a visa overstay twelve years ago doesn't seem like that much of an indicator to me.
What is the deal with the cuffs and leg chains? Why would anybody think that at all necessary? If it all transpired the way she describes, it sounds like a couple of perverts getting their rocks off.
it sounds like a couple of perverts getting their rocks off
That's how it read to me. Except that they're doing it with the authority of the state.
The only way 90% of the public is going to understand how crazy we've gotten over security is to see that it's not just scary swarthy people caught up in it. After all, we don't want another 9/11, do we kids? Our brave boys can't take any chances when there are lives upon the line.
I am a little appalled at the tone but more appalled at the fact that the tone is necessary to get it through people's thick skulls that as a nation we have collectively lost our mind.
I don't remember and am too lazy to look up the specific rules but I think Iceland is a country that does not need a tourist visa to visit the U.S., but I also think that if you overstay your allotted 90-days on the visa waiver program, then you are required to get a tourist visa. But I'm also not sure whether that's a de jure penalty or just a good idea (so you don't get turned around at immigration.)
I am appalled at the story and irked by the, "people with privilege are forced to suffer too" tone of the article.
It's to counteract people who might think that this was acceptable if the tourist woman had been Aliah from Cairo instead of Eva from Reykjavík. Mind you, it won't shut up people who complain about harassing and driving out of the countries pretty blonde women from Europe instead of swarthy dangerous folk from Eurabia ("Why is my grandma getting her luggage searched while Achmed Praysalot gets to pray menacingly! In Arabic!!"), but it's worth it as a reminder of what an incredible job we're doing of torpedoing our image worldwide.
Doesn't sound that different from a DUI arrest
It doesn't? Remind me never to drive drunk.
Hey mcmc: don't forget to refrain from drunk driving.
TLL: Except that I don't think you're normally in leg chains or asked about when you last menstruated for a DUI.
it sounds like a couple of perverts getting their rocks off.
She thought it couldn't happen to her. She was just going to New York to take advantage of the dollar/ euro exchange rate. She had seen Midnight Express, but she didn't expect to live it herself. Midnight Sun, starring Jessica Simpson, coming soon to a theater near you.
"...it sounds like a couple of perverts getting their rocks off."
The SS had their fair share of perks.
I am fucking terrified of bin Laden managing another attack, or Bush bombing Iran. I am terrified of 2008. So many possibles to send this country over the edge. Umm, further over the edge.
I spend too much time remembering the 60s. IIRC, most of the violence was anti-establishment, from both right and left. There wasn't that much violence in support of integration or in support of the war.
And yes, spontaneous street violence in support of the government is, and condoned, is according to Neiwert, the key indicator of fascism.
I consider this episode in the post official violence. Had some in the sixties, Kent State, Chicago, FBI vs Panthers, but I don't remember that as the tone. Even the Chicago cops were considered a police riot. I may have to start looking at Latin America or elsewhere overseas to understand this.
Serves them right, rich snobby Europeans thinking they can lord it over the poor civil servants of a third world kleptocracy. I bet she didn't even realize that when they asked her for a bribe it was because they hadn't been paid in months.
when you last menstruated
Whoa, I had read over this detail. Creepy.
"Obama or Hillary gets shot and WE WILL BURN IT ALL FUCKING DOWN."
A Joke, huh. You won't, not really. You didn't mean it. They know that, use it.
We came close in 1968. Think on it awhile.
Except that I don't think you're normally in leg chains or asked about when you last menstruated for a DUI.
No, but I have heard of soccer moms getting strip searched. It is defintely about power and "respect mah authoritah". I do not endorse this, and I'm sure it was quite shocking to our heroine to be so rudely treated.
It seems odd to complain about tone in something so poorly translated.
There's a followup today in the Iceland Review.
If you don't want to get spitting mad, I'd advise against reading the comment thread under the story.
22: I think the complaints about tone have to do with the "OMG, they did this to someone Blonde and Pretty and European!" undercurrent in the article.
to someone Blonde and Pretty and European who can afford to fly first class!
25: I don't think that would have come across to anyone if it weren't for the title.
Why is everybody complaining about the "They did this to a blonde!" tone? Clearly doing it to a blonde is what it took to get people's attention.
A swarthy middle-easterner has to be renditioned and tortured before anyone notices.
7 - What is the deal with the cuffs and leg chains? Why would anybody think that at all necessary?
Standard procedure. It's procedure. Sorry about this ma'am, but it's procedure. We don't make the rules here.
Typically you find that your genetically engineered supersoldiers are blonde, as exemplified by various Dolph Lundgren and Brigitte Nielsen characters, so I'm not surprised that they wanted to act preemptively before she used her superstrength to overpower them.
This story and ensuing thread has me shaking my head in disbelief. Don't you guys get it? This woman broke the law! She overstayed her visa by three weeks and expected to come back to the US without hindrance. As far as I can see, she got what she deserved. If you want to be treated with respect and dignity, respect and dignify our laws. I'm sure the government in Iceland would expect the same from US citizens. Tens of thousands of foreign nationals stick to the rules every day and have no difficulty entering the US. Being blonde, beautiful, and from Iceland doesn't make you special here.
Jesus, there were only 3 commenters who posted this kind of thing, but one "janus" posted the above, and about 10 more time.
So who's going to be detained on their flight to DC? Bunch of liberal fascists who are known to consort with Iranians, flying into the capital for a couple days during the holidays- maybe there should be a buddy system in case someone is sent to Cuba in leg irons.
on a not really serious but still very very annoying note, I was at the DMV the other day to get an in-state license & I got sent home for want of an original social security card, which I think my parents lost years ago--so I spent much my first day off in ten days waiting in line at the social security office. I was informed that "it's because of 9/11". Got mainly a funny look when I replied, "no, see, that passport you're holding is good enough to get on a plane & enter or leave the country--this is because of the anti-immigrant jerks in Congress" But I'm pretty sure that it is, in fact, Jim Sensenbrenner & Tom Tancredo's fault for the REAL ID act.
I just saw "The Big Lebowski", and Janus above reminds me of the John Goodman character who pulls a gun over a scorekeeping dispute in bowling: "Bowling isn't Vietnam, man -- there are rules!"
original social security card, which I think my parents lost years ago
I now carry my original card, signed by my thirteen year old self. It looks less authentic than the one I can buy from that guy downtown.
35:
God damn you Walter! You f**kin' a**hole! Everything's a f**kin' travesty with you, man! And what was all that **** about Vietnam? What the F**K, has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the f**k are you talking about?
Asterisks from site where I found it. Takes the dude the whole movie to say it, though.
One of my 1967 15-yr-old SS cards is still attached to the original sheet. I have a sheet with the front and back of my driver's license and it scanned onto the same page, because I work for a new employer a dozen times a year. A copy of that takes care of it.
The Big Lebowski Random Quote Generator
Walter: That's fuckin' combat. The man in the black pyjamas, Dude. Worthy fuckin' adversary.
Donny: Who's in pyjamas, Walter?
Walter: Shut the fuck up, Donny. Not a bunch of fig-eaters with towels on their heads tryin' to find reverse on a Soviet tank.
QUINTANA
Let me tell you something, bendeco.
You pull any your crazy shit with
us, you flash a piece out on the
lanes, I'll take it away from you
and stick it up your ass and pull
the fucking trigger til it goes
"click".
DUDE
Jesus.
QUINTANA
You said it, man. Nobody fucks with
the Jesus.
I do appreciate the elements that help bring this particular incident home to the masses, but this is the "Full Kafka"? After Jose Padilla?
Meta-topic, but looking at the most recent post at Yggy's place, further confirmation that things seem to be heating up between him and Drum.
31: There were a couple of comments about how the ilwegals got in by overstaying visas, too. They failed to note that she'd been visiting regularly with no problems since her overstay.
I think they recently tightened up some rules, or started enforcing things that they hadn't before, because there have been more than a few Canadians who have driven across the border daily for years being told they were inadmissible because they tried marijuana back in the 70s. New database or something.
more on-topic, i wonder if the girl in this story would make an excellent speaker at the Dem convention, along with the message "we're going to get rid of George Bush's America"
44: She might be willing to do it via video from a remote location.
The questions about whether she was suicidal or menstruated recently are not for screening out pregnant ladies trying to give birth to an American citizen or suicide bombers in the Terrorists War on US (TM). They relate to whether you can leave someone in custody unattended. I learned this where I learned to play the harmonica and dig tunnels behind cheesecake photos.
Of course, the whole reason she was put in custody may have been to lord over her the chance to ask these personal questions and stick her in leg irons.
If we're going to have an underpaid and overworked group of federal workers meeting with every visitor to this country, couldn't we try to motivate them by sending them to charm school in Orlando, FL (number 1 destination in the US, natch) rather than feeding them this Jack Bauer of the DMV routine?
A copy of that takes care of it.
Not at my company. They recently wanted a re-do of my eligibility because the passport I had used years ago had expired. They accepted my original SS card from '59 and my driver's license in preference to my current passport. I decided not to argue with them, I really do not want another non-fatal stroke.
47 What I give them is what they would make themselves, at the copier. I carry the originals in case they look, but since the file copy is what they need, I make it easy for them.
"Jack Bauer of the DMV "
love this phrase.
you ppl actually have your original SS cards? shame on you for raising the bar. Go burn them.
What I think the Icelandic government should have done is not demand an apology, but institute the following policy:
All American citizens visiting Iceland must spend 24 hours in isolation in a cell before they can pass through customs. Seriously. Even American government officials. Fuck the tourist dollars.
Every single government in the world should adopt that policy the next time one of their nationals is mistreated in this fashion for this kind of trivial reason on entry into the US, where customs officials cannot later show due cause that warrants detention or interrogation. As long as there are no consequences that have any meaning for most Americans, most Americans could give a shit about this kind of thing, blond or not. If, on the other hand, driving into Canada or Mexico or flying to the Caribbean involves having to spend 24 hours by yourself in a barren cell with no luggage, maybe folks will start to get the point.
This story deserves to get so much publicity that it hurts the American tourist industry. American xenophobes need to learn that our country will suffer if we cut ourselves off from the civilized world.
52: It's my understanding that furriners pretty well understand what it's like coming to the U.S. these days.
American xenophobes need to learn that our country will suffer if we cut ourselves off from the civilized world.
American xenophobes, by definition, disagree. Damn furriners should be glad we don't bomb them (I mean, the ones we aren't bombing should be glad of that.)
What I like is the way stories of this sort bring out the "she broke the law so she deserves whatever she gets" crowd.
I was hoping that if you hit Americans in the wallet, it can change their views. At the very least, pressure on the government from people who depend on good overseas relations for their livelihood will start to outweigh pressure from jingoist yahoos.
QUINTANA
Let me tell you something, bendeco pendejo.
Fixed.
</benjamín hijo de lobo>
Nah, we're hitting the wrong Americans in the wallet, unless the tourists are flocking to Abilene.
54: ilwegal terrorist Mexican Icelandic dhimmijihadist!
At UnfoggeDCon 2: 2 Chaste 2 Curious, one of the entertainments will feature Spackerman hitting Labs in the wallet.
Can't wait!
Are M/tch and Kraaby going to be at DC Unfogged?
I am appalled at the story and irked by the, "people with privilege are forced to suffer too" tone of the article.
What? Look, the entire fucking *point* of all articles like this, including the one in Salon recently that profiled a man from Yemen who was kept prisoner for over a year and a half, is that it's shocking that people who haven't the first clue about terrorism, who have, at worst, broken the same kind of small rules/had the bad luck as every person in the entire world does sometimes--fibbing about your birthday for a scholarship, taking a longer vacation than planned, losing a passport.
It *is* shocking. It should be shocking. And yeah, the article prints her blondey-blond picture up top; I'd do it to, because it's too easy for Joe American to read the story about the Yemeni with the new passport and think either "fuck, that went all wrong, but it's totally understandable" or else "well maybe he *is* a terrorist; just because they couldn't prove it doesn't mean he's not."
But I don't see the woman in the article playing on her blondness at all. I see her being amazed that a routine flight, the kind we all take every day--how many of us are flying cross-country to *go to a party*, hmm?--can wind up with you in leg chains and having to undergo "medical examinations."
I won't say y'all's lack of sympathy is misogynist, because that's Not Nice, but jesus christ, people.
60: With bells on, W/will.
Check the e-vite.
With bells on, W/will.
I think they are called tassels.
54
semi-OT:
I imagine the people who think nothing of locking someone up for a technicality also believe the French to be rude and hostile to the American tourists feeding money into the French economy.
Of course if someone accosted me in French on the streets of DC I'd be bewildered. If it happened to me every day, I might be a little put off. Even if most people in Paris speak English, is it so hard to say (even in English) "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
61: Perhaps this makes me a bad feminist or a bad teacher of logic, or both, but I have no problem with people using sex appeal to win others over, when the cause is just and the issue straightforward enough. If there were organizations like "strippers against torture" or "porn stars in support of habeus corpus" I would gladly go to their fund raisers.
61: This is right. And I would add that her demographic profile is more than a superficial part of this story - more than just a way to engage the sympathy of white people. If something like this can happen to her, then what do you figure is happening to that poor Yemeni?
If something like this can happen to her, then what do you figure is happening to that poor Yemeni?
He should be thankful that under the new inclusive policy, when he gets arbitrarily thrown into the brig there are hot blondes for him to hang out with. Only in America!
when he gets arbitrarily thrown into the brig there are hot blondes for him to hang out with
...and lemon chicken!
I won't say y'all's lack of sympathy is misogynist, because that's Not Nice
Also because it wouldn't make any sense. I don't think anybody has expressed a lack of sympathy for this woman; they're talking about how media operates, not unlike when we discussed all the missing blonde stories from last summer.
70: I dunno, 4 and 16 (just at random, I can't be bothered to remember more than two numbers) seem to have a certain misogynist undercurrent (surely 110% unintentional). Both come across to me as versions of "A terrible story, but *how dare* that rich blond woman be surprised at being treated like that!"
Here's comment 4: I am appalled at the story and irked by the, "people with privilege are forced to suffer too" tone of the article.
Wow, now that's some misogyny.
I won't say y'all's lack of sympathy is misogynist, because that's Not Nice, but jesus christ, people.
I'm going to get annoyingly scoldy for just a minute (my apologies):
B, could you specify a little more who you mean by "y'all" and "people" in the above comment? It comes across, at least to me, like you're shotgunning everyone in the thread. I don't mean to pick on you, Ogged does this same thing too often enough to be noticable. I think it leads to needless defensiveness from a lot of people. I know that I often have a quick visceral reaction along the lines of "WTF? I didn't say that! What the hell is s/he talking about?"
I don't mean you need to call people out by name everytime or anything, but when a thread is already 60 comments long, and contains a variety of opinions, addressing your response to "people!" as opposed to specific comments is, I think, suboptimal.
</preachy>
73: you're not the first to notice this
I dunno, 4 and 16 (just at random, I can't be bothered to remember more than two numbers) seem to have a certain misogynist undercurrent (surely 110% unintentional). Both come across to me as versions of "A terrible story, but *how dare* that rich blond woman be surprised at being treated like that!"
I was careful in my phrasing of 4, and not only is any misogynistic undercurrent unintentional, I attempted to avoid it.
I don't hold her responsible for the way the article was written, and I don't object to the article being written, but the tone irked me.
74: But I'm the most tactful so far.
I continue to affirm that the title given to the article is the only thing that made anyone think its "tone" was characterized by enwhitelment.
75- I didn't read it that way. It was more like, 'She had a technical violation dating back to 1995 and she's thrown in jail with leg irons. wtf.' Although a brown person would have been treated worse, the fact that she's a young, blond European being treated this way is newsworthy.
Although a brown person would have been treated worse, the fact that she's a young, blond European being treated this way is newsworthy.
casual innocent racism, how cute
77 is right; the author focuses on her treatment and her shock that this was apparently triggered by a minor violation, not her race or hair color.
I can't get misogyny out of 4 without adding words, and I think 70 has it right.
Thing is, people need to know that this can happen to them, too. I think it is extremely newsworthy whenever a line about who gets targeted is crossed, "This is the first time this has happened to an American citizen" or "this is the first time this has happened on American soil."
In the same vein, there is something biased about any newspaper story that plays up the local angle. If the Plain Dealer ran a story "Cleveland woman held for 24 hours in leg irons", it would be in a sense unfair. Why is it important that she is from Cleveland? Ultimately it is not. But the audience needs the message delivered in a way that hits home.
79: descriptive not normative, read.
There was a story last year about a Canadian woman who was driving with her family who was pulled over and then detained and strip searched by some jackass sheriff who was out for 'immigrants.' Caused a bit of a stir.
Thing is, people need to know that this can happen to them, too. I think it is extremely newsworthy whenever a line about who gets targeted is crossed, "This is the first time this has happened to an American citizen" or "this is the first time this has happened on American soil."
Thank you, this seems completely right.
I've been trying to decide how much I want to elaborate on 4, because I don't really want to continue the discussion about the tone of the article.
I will say part of what had been bothering me about the article was that it's purely argument by anecdote, and 81 presents a good argument why that shouldn't be an objection.
82: Ima change my opinion on the second amendment pretty soon. In fact, I think I just did.
||
I want cornbread stuffing, but it is dumb to make a bunch of cornbread just to stuff a cornish hen.
|>
85: Jesus Christ people. Making cornbread just to turn it into stuffing is fine.
85: Why is that dumb? Go big or go home, Cala. 'Tis the season.
And any that won't fit in the hen you can make in a pan alongside and call it "dressing".
Couldn't you just eat the remaining cornbread? Warm, for breakfast, with butter and maple syrup?
but it is dumb to make a bunch of cornbread
casual innocent racism, how cute.
85- I've never known why stuffing is made that way. Juices from the bird or something?
91: The reason (why) they stuff it inside the bird is so as not to feel stupid for naming it "stuffing". Duh.
I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get pulled out for additional security this trip. Not only did I buy my ticket online very late, but my new passport was vouched for by a citizen with a suspiciously middle-eastern-looking name. Also, I almost always get some level of additional security attention. My hair is brownish.
I almost always get some level of additional security attention
That's probably just the crazed look in your eyes.
The reason (why) they stuff it inside the bird is so as not to feel stupid for naming it "stuffing".
Which leaves those who call it "dressing" feeling very stupid indeed.
Why is it important that she is from Cleveland? Ultimately it is not.
The Plain Dealer's sports section is are the worst about this. They act like the Browns, Indians and Cavs are somehow more significant than the Patriots, Yankees or Lakers.
How silly. Everyone knows the teams that matters are the Patriots, Celtics and Sox. Oh, and the Bruins.
Go Irish! Go Steelers! (this has not been a good year.)
I ended up making sourdough bread stuffing because I had some sourdough bread.
Which leaves those who call it "dressing" feeling very stupid indeed.
Not at all. Dressing isn't stuffed into anything, silly.
Unless you're counting pieholes, that is.
The Pittsburgh papers are pretty good about not pretending that anyone particularly cares about the Pirates. Although the Steelers news in July is usually more interesting than the Pirates results anyway.
53, It's my understanding that furriners pretty well understand what it's like coming to the U.S. these days.
Indeed. As I said on monday, I wasn't planning on going to the US any time soon, considering TWAT, and stories like that just make me more determined to not even risk coming near the country.
51. Tim, in principle you're quite right. But then your sorry excuse for a government would simply annexe Iceland. And whose sorry excuse for a government would lift a finger to stop them? Denmark?
I do worry about the travel thing a bit, because Mrs OFE is fairly gung ho about taking a vacation in the States in 2008 or 9, and I don't think she's fully up to speed on this shit. It worries me because she has an incredibly short fuse with jobsworth bureaucrats and would likely lose her rag if one of them started anything.
But then your sorry excuse for a government would simply annexe Iceland
Icelanders have previous, though. Teh v1kingx0r, etc.
I turned down an expenses paid, first class trip to San Diego (HugeTechCo's devcon) in the summer of 2005 in part because of this sort of thing.
If this trend of mistaking blonde first class women as terrorists continues, expect to see actors like Rutger Hauer typecast as terrorists.
