I am going to be perfectly honest with you...as a regular person sitting on that flight, the behavior described would have made me very nervous too. I would not have the luxury of knowing there were FAMs on the plane with me, for obvious reasons. If we knew there were FAMs on every flight, perhaps Americans would feel better about flying, and the presence of 14 Middle-Eastern men acting strangely would not be so disconcerting to the average American airplane passenger.
Quite frankly, the WASP remark is somewhat harsh. I can be considered a WASP(althoug I am Catholic, not Protestant, but you get my drift) myself, and to be perfectly honest, I make as much of an attempt to judge people on their merit rather than their looks as the next guy. Like it or not, the fact remains that the majority of terrorist activities against the USA are committed by people of Middle-Eastern descent (don't bring up Timothy McVey...I said majority, not all), so therefore Americans are going to be more suspicious of those folks. Fair? no. Understandable? yes. Quite frankly, if the majority of terrorist acts had been committed by middle-aged, brown-haired, chubby, white women, I'd expect to be stopped, searched, and looked at suspiciously. I'd also do everything in my power not to behave in a suspicious manner.
I have no intention of letting the fear of terrorist activities stop me from living my life. I try to be observant and vigilant, without being paranoid. But we learn from what we experience, and if someone accuses me of profiling because I was nervous about a group of Middle-Eastern men on an airplane acting suspiciously, then they can call me prejudice or whatever else they want. I have a thick skin.
