Hulleye Comes By!

here’s a few good reasons why racial profiling just won’t work for airplane security.

…here’s a more useful quiz:

• In 1985, Air India Flight 182 was blown up over the Atlantic by:

  a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
  b. Bill O’Reilly
  c. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
  d. Indian Sikh extremists, in retaliation for the Indian Army’s attack on the Golden Temple shrine in Amritsar

• In 1986, who attempted to smuggle three pounds of explosives onto an El Al jetliner bound from London to Tel Aviv?

  a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
  b. Michael Smerconish
  c. Bob Mould
  d. A pregnant Irishwoman named Anne Murphy

• In 1962, in the first-ever successful sabotage of a commercial jet, a Continental Airlines 707 was blown up with dynamite over Missouri by:

  a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
  b. Ann Coulter
  c. Henry Rollins
  d. Thomas Doty, a 34-year-old American passenger, as part of an insurance scam

• In 1994, who nearly succeeding in skyjacking a DC-10 and crashing it into the Federal Express Corp. headquarters?

  a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
  b. Michelle Malkin
  c. Charlie Rose
  d. Auburn Calloway, an off-duty FedEx employee and resident of Memphis, Tenn.

• In 1974, who stormed a Delta Air Lines DC-9 at Baltimore-Washington Airport, intending to crash it into the White House, and shot both pilots?

  a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
  b. Joe Scarborough
  c. Spalding Gray
  d. Samuel Byck, an unemployed tire salesman from Philadelphia

The answer, in all cases, is D.

Racial profiling doesn’t work against terrorism, because terrorists don’t fit any racial profile.

Patrick Smith writes the “Ask the Pilot” column for Salon. He’s written two very good posts on airline security, one about how Israel’s system won’t work in the U.S., and the other about profiling

via Schneier.

This Wikipedia article on Peru’s Inca Kola offers a fascinating theory as to why the Pepsi Challenge (where Coke drinkers are asked to blind-test Coke and Pepsi, then shown that they chose Pepsi as the superior drink) fails. According to the article, “consumers do not enjoy being told they’re wrong.”

In the 1980s, Pepsi’s infamous “Pepsi Challenge” (El Reto Pepsi) campaign helped to virtually destroy the Pepsi brand in Peru, due in large part to the fact that consumers do not enjoy being told they’re wrong. The campaign was quite simple actually: Tasting centers were set up in and around Lima where people could freely participate in a blind taste test between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Attendees were presented with two covered bottles and two glasses, each bottle was opened and poured into its respective glass, whereupon the tester was asked to drink each and declare his or her favorite, but not before being asked which they preferred and drank regularly.

The campaign was a disaster, as one of three results came from the testing, all detrimental to Pepsi: 1) People were angered by the fact that they were “wrong” in their choice and abandoned Pepsi, switching to either Coca-Cola or Inca Kola; 2) Those who chose Coca-Cola over Pepsi either switched to or stayed with Coca-Cola; 3) Those who were ambivalent between them cemented their ambivalence and switched to Inca Kola. Additionally, the costs of the Pepsi Challenge, which started tu run into the millions of US dollars, coupled with managerial mistakes left CEPSA virtually bankrupt.

Anyone who knows me personally knows my dislike of Pepsi. I think Malcolm Gladwell also brings up similar reasons in his book Blink.

Found on BB