Book Critique of Smerconish's Flying Blind
In the book that I read, Flying Blind: How Political Correctness continues to compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11, author Michael A. Smerconish presents an argument stating: "Because of politically correct screening regulations that forbid airlines from targeting young Arab males for questioning, we are neglecting standard investigation procedures, in a time of war," (Smerconnish, 2004, pg. 2) He has sound reasoning and evidence for his opinion but much of his views are controversial. Smerconish is the Philadelphia radio market's premier talk host who is heard daily on Infinity Radio's 50,000-watt WPHT, found at 1210 AM. The program reaches Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Smerconish is also a frequent guest host for Bill O'Reilly on the nationally syndicated Radio Factor. He is also a regular commentator on CNN, and at the age of 29 served as a presidential appointee under George H.W. Bush as a Regional Administrator in the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("Huffington post", 2005).
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US-DeptOfHUD-SealFlying Blind is definitely an informative book, and I do recommend this book to my peers but after reading the piece I cannot say I agree with his argument completely.
Smerconish uses two sound experiences to promote his view, which he states near the beginning of the novel and continues to build off. The first thing he discusses is when on a family vacation his eight-year-old son is chosen for 'secondary screening' and was twice able to substitute himself without trouble despite his carrying odd-looking electronic broadcast gear (Smerconish, 2004, pg. 5). His argument is clear, he is saying it is ridiculous that his son had to go through an extra screening yet it is politically incorrect to hold more than two Arab males in questioning. Basically, he thinks the Department of Transportation have their priorities mixed...