Homeland Security

In the manufactured world of the media, the detention of Shah Rukh Khan by the security staff at a US airport has knocked off the dreary details of Swine Flu off the main pages. Everybody and his uncle has an opinion on this one and as usual the media is blowing this incident way out of proportion. Our politicians have got into the act as well and now this threatens to be a diplomatic issue between New Delhi and Washington DC.

My opinion is that

a) This is a stupid issue.
b) King Khan is pretty much Kommoner Khan when it comes to the rest of the world.
b) An official complaint by the Indian Government on this issue will have as much effect on the Obama Government as much as that pesky fly did in one of his interviews (It got squished by the President of USA - for the benefit of those who didn't watch the video on Youtube).
c) US is doing a damn better job of protecting its shores with its racial profiling policies than India is.

Of course, its mightily racist of the US to target people in airports just because they happen to be Muslim. But lets face it, Islamic terrorists did attack the US on 911. We must understand that after 911 the Government swore that they'd never let another such incident occur again. Plus, they are doing it within the confines of their country. If we don't like it then we should stop visiting the US.

Hence, a Khan or a Siddiqui or a Sheikh will continue to face detention in US Airports, whether they like it or not. Thats until some Hindu terrorists (Oh they do exist!) carry out some attck on Uncle Sam. Then even Bhats will no longer be secure.

As for India, it has been almost a year since the September 11 attacks and we still haven't been able to convict one Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab. We are as vulnerable to another terrorist attack as we were on September 10, 2008. Of course it is difficult to similarly profile people at our airports considering that Hindu or Muslim we all look alike. Also, there are too many options open for the ghuspetiyas to ghus into our country.

Shahrukh has petulantly threatened that he will never visit the US again. Good for him.

On a parting note, isn't it curious that Shahrukh's new film is called "My name is Khan" whose story is about an Indian Muslim in the US who is unfairly targetted by the Government after 911. Is it a case of real life imitating the reel one, or is it just me but this stinks of a publicity stunt.

Either ways we shouldn't care.

P.S. I am kinda glad that Swine Flu is off the front pages after the blitzkrieg coverage it received from the media in the past few days.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYNa4rhxffc&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORZ00OyKp0I