FBI training manual encourages agents to break the law, avoid Asians
By Jeremy GlassMarch 28th, 2012, 4:00 pmComments (14)
After a lengthy review of the FBI's instructional material to the war on terror, it's come out that agents are encouraged to break or suspend the law in their hunt for terrorists. Basically, that whole "innocent until proven guilty" anti-'Merican boolshit? The FBI's been ignoring it all along! God Bless America. And Toby Keith.
If that doesn't sounds shivers down your spine, the very same source of materials claimed that agents should: "Never attempt to shake hands with an Asian. Never stare at an Asian. Never try to speak to an Arab female prior to approaching the Arab male first." The second part I could understand; the rules and customs concerning women are different in some subsections of Islam. But... never shake hands with an Asian? Where did that come from? Now, granted, the last time I high-fived an Asian, a symbiotic alien goo shot out of their fingertips straight into my face and instructed me from within my own mind to walk to the White House and kill the president, but I just assumed it was a cultural thing that I didn't understand, and it doesn't dissuade me from wanting to touch Asians.
Not all FBI agents are happy with these strange (and pretty fuckin' racist) rules, though. FBI Director Robert Mueller says agents who blindly follow these rules could end up, you know, alienating and endangering an entire culture.
"...there is a real risk that agents will be operating on false assumptions about Arab Americans and American Muslims. This could harm counter-terrorism efforts by leading FBI agents to target individuals based on their religion or ethnicity, rather than suspicion of wrongdoing." So not all terrorists are Muslim and Arabic? Remember Timothy McVeigh? That kid looked like Dewey from Malcolm In The Middle. Um... that's all. It should be said, though, that when you have a section in a PowerPoint that warns against the "Jekyll & Hyde temper tantrums" Arabs allegedly have, then, yes, there is reason to worry that FBI agents will unfairly target the wrong people.
Senator Richard Durbin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing the FBI, believes it's "stunning that these things could be said to members of our FBI in training. It will not make them more effective in their work and won't make America safer." And how! We have to put our faith in the brains of the FBI trainees in question and hope they take what they're reading with a grain of salt. Don't believe everything you hear, after all: the truth is out there.
Commentarium (14 Comments)
Obviously the bit about breaking the law is ridiculous, but nothing in the second paragraph seems racist so much as it is an overview of things that translate very differently across cultures. China and other Asian countries have very different interpretations of both shaking hand and of eye contact. Our style of shaking hands (a very firm grip) can be seen as overly aggressive, and the amount of eye contact that we would consider fairly common can come across as disrespectful (source: https://www.diversity-matters.net/publications-gestures.pdf)
Granted, the wording is overly simplistic and poor, but if anything, it's an attempt at cultural sensitivity.
What you mentioned about Asian countries interpretation of shaking hand and eye contact is very outdated. that is the kind of mentality that American (and obviously the FBI) still have of Asian stereotype, the easily offended face-saving people.
It's not true anymore today, where many grew up in fairly westernize culture. Also, if you meet an Asian here in the States, the chances are they know what to expect western handshake/eye contact, it's pretty common in Asia now too with globalization and with more Westerners now live in Asia. Many developed Asian countries even have English street signs for you Westerners who refused to learn other people language while living there. I've never met anyone from Asia who think handshake and eye contact are disrespectful. From my experience while visiting there, people are always friendly and inviting, they know Western etiquette too.
You seem to know more about those specifics than I do, so I'll concede the specifics of Asian cultural norms might be a little outdated.
My main issue with the article is that the purpose of that bit of training seems to be cultural awareness, and rather than taking a stand of "Good effort, maybe work on the details", the author seems to imply that the idea itself is somehow racist.
The error in the link reveals a little more than you'd like I think.
Whoops! Fixed.
Way to go Hooksexup, once again proclaiming racism about something that most definitely is not. Many asians find it uncomfortable to be looked at directly (jeez, didn't you guys see "Gran Torino"?) and direct physical contact with non-family members is also not something that is commonplace.
Why do liberals insist that any discussion of race is automatically racist? WTF?
So the comments about the tempers of all Arab people and the outdated stereotypes about all people from or originating from the continent of Asia count as a "discussion of race"? Uhh...no. Nice to hear you have a credible source like "Gran Torino" though. You also claim that amongst Asians, "direct physical contact with family members is not something that is commonplace." I have seen many Japanese and Chinese students on my campus holding hands in a platonic way. Of course, I wouldn't be stupid enough to suggest that all "Asians" like to get that physically close with their friends.
Can we just talk about how much PBR Clink Eastwood drinks in Gran Torino?
Wow, blood nvestyr, you totally should be the resident expert on Asians. I'm sure Gran Torino is pretty up there in terms of the Asian studies curriculum.
That was merely a tongue-in-cheek aside; the fact remains that eye- and physical-contact are not considered positive actions in many Asian cultures.
The fact also remains that liberals simply cannot tolerate any discussion of race or the differences between them. Oh the horrors that everyone is not *exactly* the same, or that anyone should have the gall to point that out.
That isn't racist, but I am; I hate Asians, mostly Chinese and Japanese, the browner ones can be annoying but aren't too bad....
Cool story, bro
Why should anyone point it out anyway? Seriously, I have never heard anyone waste the time "discussing" the differences between people of different ethnicities who wasn't racist. "note-the more you try to convince people you aren't racist by reasserting the "facts" about the differences between us, the more you seem like a defensive racist).
Um, because maybe the whole point of including that in the manual was to help the agent avoid an awkward, uncomfortable or outright dangerous situation?
There are very valid reasons for pointing out the differences between races and cultures, etc. It's not always a nefarious racist plot... but you probably don't care about that. Just go back to living in your imaginary utopia and leave the realities of the world to others. You'll be happier in your blissful ignorance, I'm quite sure of it.
Now you say something