JoiIto blogs about the Canadian that got deported to Syria to be tortured by the US. ¹ I’ve mentioned it here before (2002-12-20, 2003-10-14) – and Joi Ito feels the same way I do:
Obviously, it’s probably easier for a Syrian national to get on a “list” than a Japanese, but this really scary. They say he had had a relationship with another suspected terrorist who is also being imprisoned and tortured now in Syria. He says he barely knew the guy. So what does this mean for us? If we meet someone, we should not “become friendly” with them until we are certain that they are not a suspected terrorist.
I listen to Arab music, my girlfriend has Arab friends, we both write letters to Tunesia and get letters from Tunesia, she gets phone calls from Tunesia and Syria, we know several Arabs here in town... Should I ask the government to do a background check on them to make sure I don’t associate with them? Should I just start to avoid the police? I’m certainly going to avoid the US. 🙁
And some interesting thoughts’ on Oliver Scholz’s blog about the xenophobia in Germany ² and some elaborating in his comments ³ (in reaction to a comment of mine, I admit) ;)