Thang Nguyen 555

We need SNL to develop a skit about “my name is Khan” detainee at NJ airport.

And have it air in India (to show how “irreverent” American free speech could be).

(At this writing, there still is a sit-in in Berkeley to demand a firing of the professor who wrote the legal justification for detaining suspects without the presence of a lawyer. )

But when it comes to law and order, the system is not flexible, at least, on the surface.

I know, I got camera-snapped while doing 40 miles in Juno Beach. It costs me $125. Who said the air and water (beach) is free?

Cat Stevens himself got his visa denied a few years back.

It just so happens that I am half way through Netherland, whose central character is also named Khan.

This novel was lucid, and helps us take a step back and look at Post 9/11 era in New York from the perspective of a dark pale European.  Playing cricket is a metaphor for immigrants to carve out a piece of home in a strange land.

Sort of getting lumped together in an ESL class, and DO NOT say “Repeat after me” (or else, it would be a never-ending loop).

Mr Khan came back to India, probably more of a celebrity, and his picture better known worldwide.

(I am sure he can afford the lost luggage, even if they weren’t found. See my other blog on lost luggage).

What those protesters in India did not know is that here in America, even a Bush got pulled over for DUI, not once but twice in two generations.

Senator Kennedy himself has had live down Chappaquiddick, and British actor Hugh Grant his Hollywood incident.

Let’s keep it in perspective.

When you get pulled out of an airport line, it’s either random, or you fit a certain “profile” (male got searched more than female, adults more than kids. I know better to stop here).

But overall, airport security have a job to do, and their jobs to keep.

It is like this in all countries, and as a world traveler, one should expect surprises, and not the comfort of home (why not bring your own pillow?).

Now, the White House did appoint an actor as a liaison to the Asian American community.

He should have been able to come out to Newark, bail the Bollywood superstar out, and use this as a “teachable moment”.

Man, in America, you often deal with embarrassment alone (silent cry), but in other parts of the world,

people tend to lose face, and take it as a group. Of course, the agitators would never miss a “teachable moment” of their own to incite flag burning and other emotionally charged, mob hysteria. The Peace Train is coming, but you need to get in line. It’s still a mono-chronistic society i.e. one person gets on at a time. Order please! No smoking! No spitting! No refill. And no free admission. The Industrial Age automates everything, from train boarding to video rental. It serves both purposes: cutting down on labor costs, but also, human empathy (or bribery). I’d rather be homeless else where but America. No address, no check. No check, no address. Try to break that cycle.