Een leugen?

The Huffington Post kwam met een onwaarschijnlijk bericht, dat zo onwaarschijnlijk is dat het weer waar kon zijn. Het gaat om een incident, dat zich zou hebben voorgedaan aan boord van een vliegtuig van United Airlines.

Volgens de passagier Tahera Ahmed, een moslima en medewerker aan Northwestern University, zou een stewardess haar een (gesloten) blikje cola hebben geweigerd, omdat het blikje als een wapen gebruikt zou kunnen worden. (Tahera wilde geen ingeschonken beker, maar het hele blikje). Ze kwam tot de conclusie van discriminatie, omdat een volgende passagiers wel een blikje kreeg, dat nog ongeopend was.

Na onderzoek besloot United Airlines dat de passagier gelijk had en besloot de stewardess te ontslaan.

De beschuldiging van islamofobie was zwaar:
“After investigating this matter, United has ensured that the flight attendant, a Shuttle America employee, will no longer serve United customers," Charles Hobart, a spokesman for United, told The Huffington Post in an e-mailed statement. "While United did not operate the flight, Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred on the flight."The ordeal -- which Ahmad said left her in tears after a fellow passenger told her to "shut the f**k up" -- began a firestorm of media coverage. The hashtags #UnitedForTahera and #IslamophobiaISREAL quickly spread across social media with many calling for a boycott of the airline.Ahmad said she was initially "truly disappointed" with United and that the airline was dismissive of her claims, boiling them down to a misunderstanding rather than an act of discrimination. “This isn’t about me and a soda can,” she told The Guardian. “It’s about systemic injustice that is perpetuated throughout our community.”

Hier het interview met Tahera Ahmed:


Crew Member Who Refused Muslim Woman Unopened... door naveed-ahmad242

Maar inmiddels wordt getwijfeld aan de woorden van Tahera Ahmed. Via Twitter (jmorika) kwam ik het bericht tegen over een andere passagier, die heeft verklaard dat het hele incident door de Tahera uit haar duim is gezogen. Hier de verklaring:

“I was actually on this flight on Friday evening from ORD to DCA. I have been a reader of this forum for a long time but seeing this all over the news made me sign up so I could tell you what really happened here and hopefully stop this liar in her tracks. I was sitting close enough to her to hear everything that was said. The flight attendant came up to the lady (I believe she even took her order first in the entire cabin as she was seated in the bulkhead 7d) and took her order. She ordered a coke zero and a hot green tea with a Splenda. The flight attendant handed her a full diet coke with a cup on top and then told her that the green tea would take a few minutes and she would get it to her ASAP. The lady said very rudely and condescending to the FA that she ordered a coke zero and basically pushed the soda back to the flight attendant. The FA said she was sorry and attempted to find a coke zero for her (which she did not have many of) and told her that she could only give her a portion of the can not the full can. This is when the lady in question started to freak out and told the FA "What do you think I will use this as a weapon?! Why can't I have the whole can? I think you are discriminating against me. I need your name...." The lady just kept yelling to her "I need your name... I am being discriminated against." This is when a few passengers told her to calm down and one guy told her to "shut her mouth and she is being ridiculous over a can of coke". No one ever said anything anti-Muslim to her at all. She was the one who started screaming discrimination when she did not get what she wanted. The FA asked her numerous times if she would like anything else when the lady just basically pushed her away with a hand in her face. The lady then got onto her phone with her credit card and paid for the internet so she could start spinning this story on social media and she was never in tears. This person is a liar plain and simple and is just pulling the discrimination card.”

Wie gelooft u?
Op de sociale media wordt er druk over gespeculeerd. De tegenstanders maakten er dit plaatje van:

© Tahera Ahmed