Lying ....

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
21

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Munni: *
OldLahori,

If its said online, whom do I report to? AOL is currently under a lawsuit filed by some muslims in chatrooms, where they contended that AOL ignored the plea of muslims to close down the chat due to threats directed at them soon after Sept. 11, whereas they closed down other chats.

Therefore reporting to AOL or even MSN may not get me anywhere. Do I call the police? What do I tell them? That someone online said he wants to kill all the muslims? How far would that get me? Sure I can post it here, but what will that do? I'd end up posting a lot of stuff, which may soon get ignored due to sheer volume of related posts. I appreciate your advice, but if you would kindly elaborate, that would be of assistance to me and maybe others that are reading this.
[/QUOTE]

Earlier you said:
As far as threats go. People have told me they want to bomb people in Pakistan, they want to kill all muslims, etc... and many individuals have said this, in chat rooms, emails, and private messages to me online. One or two in person, not knowing that I am muslim. Should I take them seriously? When do I report them to the authorities?

Munni: Separate situation require separate responses. If you know the people, can identify them, etc. that whether the threat comes via email, internet, phone, what ever, then report them to the police. Do not endanger yourself by trying to "take them on" by yourself.

If the threat is more diffuse, but outrageously and violet threats are being made as in chat room then first register a complaint with the operator of the site. This means starting to keep track of the comments and documenting the statements and threats. When you have enough material to report it to the site operator, you should have enough material to report to organization like CAIR, or even the ACLU. Write to the local newspaper, write it to your congressman, write it to your senator. Remember, the worst thing you can do vis. vie bigotary is to keep silent.

I know there are many many Anti-Islamic sites that have sprung up over the net. I visit some of them, but I just not have been able to bring myself to participate in either chat rooms or discussions. Some people I have heard on these sites will say quite a bit of Anti-Islamic stuff, but frankly I have not heard them spout bizarre things like "kill all muslims". I assume they know that would get them shut down faster than they can say what happened.

Again silence is complicity in many ways. Speak up.

Go through this site, and you will many posts that have flamed hindus and hinduism; some in jest and some not. So I assume that on many other sites there are users who flame Islam and muslims on a regular basis. However, when the flaming degenerates into "let's go kill all" and bomb etc. on a regular basis then that has gone beyond the pale and needs to be reported to one and all.

22

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by OldLahori: *
Pir Sahib, there is no sign that says you cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. However, it is aginst the law and it is a felony. Horsing around is one thing, but then don't complain because someone took it the wrong way. Think about it they did not land in jail, they did not get declared enemy combatants, they were not even given the standard Lahori thanedar treatment. They were kept in a police car for crying out loud for 7 hours and asked questions while their id's were verified. And they are medical students!!! Absolute exhibition of good judgement!!
[/QUOTE]

bad judgement yeah, I still want clairification on them speaking ina foriegn language cuz all 3 have 3 diff native languages. yelling fire is one thing and someone saying man I am so mad at this movie I wanan set this theater on fire is a diff thing.

My issue is not at all with her complaint, even though there needs to be a little bit of a bull**** test there. specifically on the topic of "foriegn language"

as far as authorities stopping them and checking them, no problem with that either. But once all is said and done, there was some sherrif who was hell bent on booking them for some charge. That was a bit extreme in my view. If indeed the said what is reported, a little community service and a slap on the wrist may be needed, but beyond that I dunno.

I do have some threats and all in my email from last year. one jackass actually was bright enough to use his att.com acct rest were free email accts so prolly hard to track. I suppose I should turn them over to the authorities as well.

23

I read this morning that the hospital they were going to intern in has said that they are not welcome anymore. It sucks. It is sad that if it were a misunderstanding (I would bet that it was a misunderstanding on that Lady’s part) that it can tie up so many resources and cause so much trouble.

I would be very careful in future not to mention anything that can be misconstrued in any way. When I go out to a restaurant with friends, all we will talk about is sexual adventures of Clinton while in the White House. For example, Billy’s willy was at 11 0 clock while Monica was waiting for her 9th encounter. See I mentioned 9/11 and someone can still misconstrued my comment and send FBI guys to check me out.

24

Not a lie.

Some of the language they used (the 3 medical students) about “bringing a car down” to Florida is odd, such as “If we don’t have enough to bring it down, I have contacts and we can get enough to bring it down.”
I understand why the woman would call the police after hearing something like that.

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) – A car, not a building, was what three Muslim medical students were talking about “bringing down” in a restaurant conversation that triggered the daylong closure of a Florida highway, lawyers for the students said Sunday.

“Our conversation at Shoney’s had nothing to do with terrorism or 9/11 or 9/13,” said Kambiz Butt, one of the three students. “We were basically sitting down having a regular conversation about our trip, the experience we were about to face in Miami, we were talking about school and friends.”

Police in Florida detained Butt, 25; Ayman Gheith, 27; and Omer Choudhary, 23, for 17 hours Friday after a woman at the Shoney’s in north Georgia told authorities she suspected they were plotting a terrorist attack in the Miami area. Investigators closed off a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 75 – the major east-west connector in south Florida – while they searched the students’ cars.

Florida authorities were told to be on the lookout for the students, who were traveling in two cars, after the woman told police she heard one of the men asking, “Do you think we have enough to bring it down?” Another one of the men replied, “If we don’t have enough to bring it down, I have contacts and we can get enough to bring it down.”

25

Lie, notta lie :mudhosh:

26

TV dots airwaves with inaccuracies](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/4071560.htm)

27

Frankly,

That woman was on CNN fast enough to make your head spin. Perhaps she was suspicious, and her story grew out of control once the cops and the cameras showed up. I hope her 15 minutes of fame are over.

But shame on the hospital in Miami who asked the students to intern elsewhere when there is no evidence that they did anything wrong, and have been convicted or charged with nothing....

28

How did the "suspects" names get out? I'm thinking they might have there medical school bills paid for when this is all said and done.

29

we have to be vigilant, incidents like these should be dealt seriously because it would prevent others from creating panic. I for sure will be more careful than before. On the other hand we should also be vigilant that this does not become an easy 15 minutes of fame for anyone. For all I know tomorrow someone may think just send someone after me, not because they saw me doing something suspicious but because in the court of pbulic opinion they would be some proactive citizen just trying to do what is needed.

Can you imagine if people just start calling authorities in bulk volume to report such stuff. Not only would it be counter productive in terms of how people like myself feel, but in a bigger picture it may become "the boy who cired wolf" situation. Would authorities always be as responsive as they were in this case if they had multiple false alerts every single day?

If these guys were foriegn medical grads going to this hospital for their residencies..for all practical purposes atleast a year of their life is shot unless some other program gets some opening now, or they would just have to wait until next year for their match.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in security arena. if regular security industry is taken as an example, false alarms are the biggest issue in security industry, extrapolate that to homeland security and we have a bigger problem.

By no way am I suggesting that we give up being vigilant, I would not want to have some terroists do something in my city. There has to be some protocol set which discourages ppl from causing alarm by joking about stuff like this, at the same time it should also discourage publicity seekers from getting their 15 misn of fame.

It is going to be a complicated issue, but you cant turn this country into a police state. if we allow that the terrorists have succeeded

30

I would bet that any friendly neighborhood attorney could assist these guys back into the program of their choice. The hospital in Miami apparently cancelled their slots due to "threats on their lives". That should mske it the decision of the students, not the hospital as to whether they should continue at that hospital.

When you think about it, these guys had a lot to lose. All that education (albiet in a "carribian" medical school), and their futures that they had worked hard for... If they WERE screwing around, they should have a good slap on the side of their heads, and sent on their way. The woman at the Shoney's had nothing to lose and a lot to gain from her instant notariety. On the other hand, who can be critical, when she is doing exactly what the government has asked everyone to. Apparently her 18 year old son was at the same table, and if his story was consistant with hers, then these guys should be sent a bill for the time and effort. Nothing a lie detector could not figure out in a few minutes....

31

I find it really strange that the waitress claimed she had Palestinians in her family. Just struck me as kinda' odd. She had quite a list of other than "white" relatives.
The 3 med students did state that the cops were doing their job. I would hope that they were checked out, though. Tough times for every body.