It is not in fact normal in Western nations to be detained at the border and threatened with a month's additional detention for writing that the nation's people have the voices of dogs or ugly faces. Be careful about false equivalence. Every Western nation does, or has recently done, many bad things. Perhaps the US has done more bad things than most. But none of them are comparable to North Korea.
This rhetorical point-scoring is so old it has several names; "tu quoque" is a formal one, but the more evocative of them is "And you are lynching Negroes".
No one claimed that it is normal to be detained for insults in Western nations, you're the only one arguing that point. Parent comment specifically mentioned terrorism accusations in the context of treatment that Hayes experienced and the fears he envisioned. Had they said that all travelers to the US have fears of being held on terrorism charges then you would have a point, but they didn't. It was limited to how people already accused of terrorism are treated [0] and what fears they have, not travelers in general.
>Perhaps the US has done more bad things than most. But none of them are comparable to North Korea.
Really. Talk to someone who has gone through a terrorism-related interrogation. Interrogators do not have to tell the truth. They do threaten to lock you up for life. They do threaten to involve your family. The fact that those threats lack legal teeth doesn't matter for the hours you are in that room being threatened. Often they know nothing about why you were detained and are tasked simply with squeezing out your entire life history. So questions often appear random and illogical. It's a very scary experience.
(Talk to Muslim travellers first detained at US airports, not soldiers who think a security clearance interview qualifies as interrogation.)
Sorry Thomas, but the reason I have never revisited the US is because during a flight from London to Auckland our plane had a refuel stop in LA.
Technically we hadn't entered the USA but somehow it was acceptable for the TSA or border agents to treat us as potential terrorist suspects. We were marched around the holding area like cattle and suspects to have our fingerprints and retinas scanned. It was truly awful experience. I certainly won't ever be visiting your country again.
This rhetorical point-scoring is so old it has several names; "tu quoque" is a formal one, but the more evocative of them is "And you are lynching Negroes".