Counter-Terrorism student accused of being a terrorist after being seen with the book "Terrorism Studies"

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Staffordshire University apologises after counter-terrorism student Mohammed Umar Farooq was questioned under Prevent anti-extremism initiative

The Guardian

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@doctorow

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head->desk, oh man the stupid it burns.

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Perhaps they need to borrow GW’s book.

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That pic can’t be real, Dubya doesn’t read.

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reading a textbook entitled Terrorism Studies in the college library

Just. C’mon.

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His replies, Farooq said, were largely academic but he stressed his personal opposition to extremist views. However, the conversation in the library was reported by the official to security guards, because it had raised “too many red flags” .

When contacted, Noel Morrison, academic registrar and director of student experience at Staffordshire University, said that he was “very sorry that a misjudged situation has impacted on this student. “We do, however, have the right policies and procedures in place and are confident that the situation was investigated and concluded appropriately.”

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This story is so braindead stupid. Just
 It’s like Crank was real:

You know what’s really fucking terrifying? I think that it could actually happen. Like if I were walking down a street in Seattle, pointed at a brown guy minding his own business and started yelling “Al Qaeda” I bet there’d be panic. I’d bet there’s an alarmingly good chance that guy would be mobbed. And that’s terrifying.

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I read about this, and it really pissed me the fuck off. Does anyone really think ISIS publishes a book called “Terrorism Studies?” We don’t live in a cartoon. There isn’t a Walid Bin Coyote reading books like “Acme’s How To Be A Terrorist.”

Fucking maroons.

I wonder if they would think anything of someone reading a book titled “Energetic Materials?” Not that they should go after someone reading any book, but it’s just an example of how idiotic it is to expect that you’ll know what the book contains based on its title. Honestly, I worry about what I read in public sometimes, and I live in the United Fucking States of Fucking America. That’s not how it should be. While this happened in the UK, Ahmed Mohamed and other such stories have shown us that irrational paranoia is something we can almost depend upon in our daily lives.

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ftfy :smile:

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When I was in library school–within the last ten years–most of my classmates were eager computer advocates who were strongly pro-intellectual/academic freedom oriented (in addition to being advocates for pro-patron privacy policies), so I’m surprised that anyone in a university library setting would have an accusatory finger pointed in their way with regard to the material they were researching. This creates a rather ugly stain on Staffordshire and their library.

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[quote=“ActionAbe, post:7, topic:66260”]Governments and the media (ie the ruling class) cultivating irrational paranoia is something we can almost depend upon in our daily lives.
[/quote]

FTFY  

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Everone knows that the Isis book to read is this one.

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You’re unfair. He’s not that stupid.

(oops, this should have been a reply for @slybevel)

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I don’t know much about the university itself, but it’s about a km away from my parents’ home. The area around the university has quite a large Muslim population, so I wonder if that had an influence on the library workers? It’s such a weird “red flag” though, and the fact that the university defended a policy that’s clearly open to discrimination is a bigger deal than the cluelessness of the individuals themselves.

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