On Profiling

One of the hot topics in Americana is the issue of profiling. Specifically, many Americans want young, Muslim men to be profiled at airports, subways, etc. Doing so--many argue--is better than just randomly checking people's bags.

While I heartedly agree that checking one year old kids does nothing to curb terrorism, I do not believe profiling will actually help with terrorism. Now, I can make the case as to why it is unethical, immoral, or inherently racist, but I won't. Instead, I think that profiling fails as a pragmatic policy--although I do believe it's immoral. Why do I believe this? First off, 19.9% of the world's population is Muslim according to the CIA World Factbook (that's approximately 1 billion and 250 million people according to the CIA). As one can imagine, such a large group of people cannot be stereotyped into a single set of characteristics. The image most Americans have of what a Muslim looks like is probably accurate for only 50% or so of Muslims. Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopa, the Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, and Yemen all have a plurality of Muslims in their country (most in the 75%+ range, with two of the above in the 35%-40% range, and a few others in the 45%-50% range). Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen fit the stereotypical view of Muslims that most Americans have, but none of the others do.

If we continue, we find that Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, India, Israel, Liberia, Macedonia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Suriname, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia all have a significant Muslim minority population in their country--myself arbitrarily placing the percentage for a significant minority at 15%. Out of those countries, Israel would probably be the only one with Muslims that fall in the pre-conceived image of Muslims Americans have. China has a Muslim population of 2-3%, but considering China's size, that means around 26 million Chinese Muslims.

As you can see, this extensive list geographically goes from Southern Africa to East Asia, to the fringes of Europe. To imagine a single set of physical characteristics blankets the entire range of Muslims is ridiculous. Muslims come in every color, every size, and nearly every appearance. You can probably rule out the white person with yellow hair and blue eyes, but that is about it. Macedonians tend to be white, Middle-Easters tend to be darker, and Africans tend to be even darker. Profiling for physical characteristics seems purposeless.

Nor does profiling by name help either. While many Muslims tend to have names like Mohammed, this is mainly true for Muslims from the Middle-East. Muslim names are much more diverse in places like Pakistan, India, Mozambique, etc. So other than young, men, there seems very little one can truly "profile". Thus, making screeners focus on a single set of people gives the screeners an excuse not to focus on other people who are as Muslim, and possibly as radical as Bin Laden. Some people will argue that most radical Muslims come from the Middle-East; but, while it is true that many terrorists are Wahhabbists, this ignores terrorism in Chechnya, the Philippines, and India--among many--committed by Muslims.

As a final note, I would like to add, that it probably is not that difficult to find an older Muslim to carry an attack; or a woman Muslim--in Iraq, women are leading the movement to curb women rights because they believe it is against Islam's laws. Once we typecast terrorists, it becomes easier for Al-Queda to find participants capable of foregoing careful background checking. The truth of the matter is that the only type of profiling that can work is profiling for psychiatric traits--mannerisms or weird behavior before an attack. And, in the end, profiling is no substitute for intelligence.