On One Hand, ON the Other Hand...

Greetings all -

On the one hand, it certainly was a positive sign that Mr. Sadiq Kahn has been elected the first Muslim Mayor of London.  There has been pretty good coverage of this; I think the story at The Intercept is pretty good.  It is definitely a sign of hope when folks reject fear-mongering and divisive dog-whistles.  I liked what the new Mayor had to say about the "politics of fear" not being welcome in London, and this regarding the campaign Conservatives ran against him:  “I think it’s for them to ask themselves the question, how is it that, in the most diverse, fantastic city in the world, they chose to have a negative, desperate and divisive campaign?”

But on the other hand,  University of Penn. economics professor was questioned on a flight because the passenger next to him thought the MATH PROBLEM he was working on looked suspicious and she thought he might be a terrorist.   Here's another story.

And a third!

Oh, yes, those math symbols are quite suspicious.  Begs the question: how much work do we math types need to do?  Evidently a lot, as this gal mistook math stuff for Arabic.  And I have to wonder: would she have done the same if the professor was a blue-eyed blonde?

Take-away?  Let's get some common sense, people.  Reject fear-mongering, dog-whistling and profiling.  Be cool-headed and don't give in to paranoia. 

And how about submitting an item for the "Positively Diverse" page?