Be a critical thinker, people!

I got a forwarded email the other day from an ex-Dryden employee, and he in turn got it from another ex-Dryden employee. Perhaps they actually believe the ignorant, bullshit message the email supports, but my guess is they read it and thought, "Hmm, that sounds right, I better forward this off to a bunch of people to "inform" them."

Don't be a sheep...think critically and logically for yourself.

Here is the email in question and my response.

"Hi *****, I got this email from **** and noticed it was you who forwarded it to him. I thought I'd also email you my resonse to ****, as I think this is a pretty important topic that people are blindly forwarding on without giving much thought to. My response to ****: "Come on ****, that email is a complete load of shit. You could pick and choose any race or nationality, find events that suit the arguement, and support whatever messsage you were trying to convince people of believing. That is what I would call a "Red Herring" and perhaps you'd do better with some critical thinking here. -Billy"

Now, I am not suggesting we turn a blind eye to the terrorist situation we have going on in the world right now, but it is so much more complex than to simply say, "It's ok to do racial profiling" in the interests of national security. That's a very slippery slope and one I'm not willing to venture down. This is typical American style thinking, and I hope we haven't adopted this in Canada. I don't propose to know the answers of how to stop this terrorist activity, but my gut tells me it isn't through racial profiling and the blind forwading of ridiculous emails.

This email fails to mention the Oklahoma bombing, FLQ Crisis, IRA bombings, JFK's assination,...you see where I'm going with this. You want to apply a level of scrutiny and security, do it unilaterally.

If you're happy being a racist bigot, carry on with your bliss.

-Billy

----- Original Message -----
From: "*****"
To: *************
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 6:53 AM Subject: Fw: Extreme Multiple choice

Extreme multiple choice selections here but food for thought at the risk of being racist. Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. These are actual events from history. Please read the end. Do you remember?

1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. a Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Nope, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners, border guards and police officers will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honour winning and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.


Let's send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds and other dunder-headed attorneys along with American and Canadian Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, feel doubly ashamed of themselves -- if they have any such sense. As the writer of the award winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "Stupid is as stupid does." And guess who just bombed London, twice?

----- End of Original Message -----