You're in trouble now, Trom -

[Roxanne Appleby]

Man threatened with arrest at Heathrow for wearing Transformers T-shirt

An airline passenger claimed that a security guard threatened to arrest him because he was wearing a T-shirt showing a cartoon robot with a gun.

Brad Jayakody, 30, from London, said he was stopped from passing through security at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after his Transformers T-shirt was deemed 'offensive.'

The IT consultant was set to fly off on a business trip to Dusseldorf in Germany when he was pulled to one side.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/06/02/article-1023560-0136D8B0000004B0-329_468x550.jpg

Mr Jayakody said the first guard started joking with him about the Transformers character depicted on his French Connection T-shirt.

'"Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly,' he said.

'It's a 40ft tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?

He was cooperative with the supervisor and took off the the 'offensive' T-shirt, replacing it with another shirt in his carry on luggage.

A spokesman for Heathrow operator BAA said: 'If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it, for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it.

'We are investigating what happened to see if it came under this category.

'If it's offensive, we don't want other passengers upset.'

He said there was no record of the incident and the passenger 'certainly didn't make a formal complaint at the time.'

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/06/02/article-1023560-0174F68100000578-917_468x634.jpg

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Y'see, the tee shirt had a picture of a cartoon character holding a cartoon gun. So the cartoon airport security goons acting on the cartoon society's cartoon PC-run-amok standards acted in a typically cartoonish manner. All quite reasonable, once you put things in context.

 

[DesertPirate]

Some people are born stupid, others work at it. Govt. employees have a tendancy to be both.

 

[JagFarlane]

The downward spiral of our society

 

[Liar]

Wow. I'm not one to resort to stereotypes, but when I read the words "The IT consultant...", I got a picture in my mind of a typical IT guy. Then I scrolled down, and there he was. Identical.

 

[DesertPirate]

Trom can't go to England, thats for sure.

 

[3113]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/06/02/article-1023560-0174F68100000578-917_468x634.jpg

I dunno. I feel kinda threatened by that tee shirt

 

[scheherazade_79]

Wouldn't it be better to focus on the people who are trying to bring explosives on board?

I had problems with a French Connection tshirt at Pittsburgh airport once. It said "FCUK Spirit" and the guy at security was dyslexic.

I offered to take it off, but it turned out that zipping my jacket up was enough in the end

Still, Trom needs to watch it

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I think I'd feel more threatened by the guy wearing the t-shirt than the t-shirt!

Not really.

PC has gone a little too far in the world if everyone is worrying about everyones feeling about an image on a fucking t-shirt. It's a fucking cartoon for Christ sake.

 

[3113]

PC has gone a little too far in the world if everyone is worrying about everyones feeling about an image on a fucking t-shirt. It's a fucking cartoon for Christ sake.

PC? What has this to do with being "politically correct"? Politically correct would be "That teeshirt could offend robots! Please remove it." This is about fears of terrorism--Robot has a big gun and we can't have you wearing anything with a big gun on it as that suggests terrorism.

That's being "Patriotically Correct" not Politically Correct.

 

[Guest]

Has a horrifying vision of cartoons and television problems with absolutely no violence.
Bad guys and good guys will battle by singing to each other (which may well be worse than death in some cases!)

 

[3113]

Has a horrifying vision of cartoons and television problems with absolutely no violence.
Bad guys and good guys will battle by singing to each other (which may well be worse than death in some cases!)

I believe that all the Transformers have good voices

 

[Guest]

I believe that all the Transformers have good voices

Yeah but what about the others?
Can you imagine the characters of Prison breaks or Cops breaking into song?

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

PC? What has this to do with being "politically correct"? Politically correct would be "That teeshirt could offend robots! Please remove it." This is about fears of terrorism--Robot has a big gun and we can't have you wearing anything with a big gun on it as that suggests terrorism.

That's being "Patriotically Correct" not Politically Correct.

I disagree. The animus against free men and women owning firearms is one plank in the leftist platform that is the basis of "PC." It's most often expressed in absurd enforcements of school "zero tolerance" policies ("Johnny got suspended because he drew a picture of a cowboy with a gun"). This is that same impulse carried into a new venue and directed against an adult.

 

[3113]

I disagree. The animus against free men and women owning firearms is one plank in the leftist platform that is the basis of "PC."

And this is why a security guard is going to deem a teeshirt offensive? I'm sorry, but security guards who tend to profile and toss out nail clippers and water bottles because they might be used as weapons on board a plane are likely to have such "leftist" sensibilities when deciding what teeshirt gets on the plane or not. The security guard is likely to be "rightist" and see a non-white guy wearing a shirt with a big gun on it as promoting terrorism. Simple as that.

Argument is bogus, Roxie. If this had happened at a high school, I'd agree it was "PCism" that took away the tee shirt. As it was at Airport Security, I doubt it. I know you right wing folk love, love, love to make PCism the great boogie man for all wrongs in the world--"Oh," you cry, wringing your hands, "If only the evil PC folk were gone and we free men and women would live happy with our guns and our racially offensive insults!"...but there are other biases in the world that could have done this.

You come across as pretty blind and foolish if every time something like this happens you assume it must be PCism. It's about time you realized that there are right-wingers are as desperate to take away free speech as any "PC" leftist--and as eager to take guns from any free man or woman who isn't white as well.

 

[emap]

I rather can't beleive nobody has mentioned this one, but perhaps they weren't upset about his shirt, but rather who was wearing said shirt. He's brownskinned, still to many screams terrorist. Either the security guards realized that and made him change shirts just in case, or one of them said hey maybe we better check him out, he might be a terrorist.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

And this is why a security guard is going to deem a teeshirt offensive? I'm sorry, but security guards who tend to profile and toss out nail clippers and water bottles because they might be used as weapons on board a plane are likely to have such "leftist" sensibilities when deciding what teeshirt gets on the plane or not. The security guard is likely to be "rightist" and see a non-white guy wearing a shirt with a big gun on it as promoting terrorism. Simple as that.

Argument is bogus, Roxie. If this had happened at a high school, I'd agree it was "PCism" that took away the tee shirt. As it was at Airport Security, I doubt it. I know you right wing folk love, love, love to make PCism the great boogie man for all wrongs in the world--"Oh," you cry, wringing your hands, "If only the evil PC folk were gone and we free men and women would live happy with our guns and our racially offensive insults!"...but there are other biases in the world that could have done this.

You come across as pretty blind and foolish if every time something like this happens you assume it must be PCism. It's about time you realized that there are right-wingers are as desperate to take away free speech as any "PC" leftist--and as eager to take guns from any free man or woman who isn't white as well.

Now now, there's no need to get nasty.

I agree, this guy might have had right-of-center preferences (who knows?), and mostly likely was not all that bright, either (a safe bet). I still think it's PC-run-amok: A not-bright person who's adopted a bureaucratic mindset to go with his job is expressing the PC zeitgeist that dominates the culture, especially in a bureaucratic environment like that (a British one, no less).

And as a libertarian I'm perfectly willing to resist right-wingers when they want to infringe free speech, as much as I am when left wingers do. (Which you should know.)

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Yeah but what about the others?
Can you imagine the characters of Prison breaks or Cops breaking into song?

You obviously never saw Cop rock

(neither did I, but I know it exists)

 

[Trombonus]

Trom can't go to England, thats for sure.

Actually, I was born there. Torquay, South Devon to be exact.

Wouldn't it be better to focus on the people who are trying to bring explosives on board?

I had problems with a French Connection tshirt at Pittsburgh airport once. It said "FCUK Spirit" and the guy at security was dyslexic.

I offered to take it off, but it turned out that zipping my jacket up was enough in the end

Still, Trom needs to watch it

I don't really know what I'll do. This pretty much makes 99.9% of my wardrobe unwearable.

I believe that all the Transformers have good voices

I can agree with that. I think the Decepticons were a little too similar though, and I would have liked to have heard more dialogue from them.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

And again, we get proof that there really DO exist people like those on Jerry Springer...

 

[Trombonus]

And again, we get proof that there really DO exist people like those on Jerry Springer...

You don't mean me do you? I would never appear on such an abomination of life. Jackass maybe, but not Jerry Springer.