Profiling, really?

Submitted by Heather (United States), Dec 4, 2008 at 09:51

Look, you say profiling is a must but a wierd, coincidental turn of events in a family can make them targets and aquire an FBI file they will never know they had. I, for one, don't mind profiling itself but the implications behind it and the fact that I'll not be informed makes me extremely angry. Take this for example:

Sally decides to hobby farm and buys sodium nitrate for fertilizer

Her husband Tom decides he wants to be a small-arms dealer so he buys a lot of guns but gets disinterested and sells them all

Her son is a bit of a pyro and likes to blow stuff up and she and her husband decide to not ignore his interest but help him to do it safely so Tom buys gunpowder and materials to make a small cannon

They are now tagged by the FBI—they have bought all the materials to make bombs and seem to be running a weapons operation as well-- lovely.

Tom applies for a job at the sheriff's office but is rejected because he has a FBI file he never knew he had—and the sheriff's office doesn't have to tell him that he does or that he even HAS an FBI file.

A crude example, to be sure, but a realistic one as well.

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