The United Dilemma

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

in light of all the stuff swirling about United Airlines and the negative perception it has with the public, do you think they or the customers are the victims? This is obviously in relation to good doctor who had his face slammed into an armrest after resisting from being removed from an airplane due to overbooking.

 

[Sucumbio]

I heard about that. After reading up on it, it's obvious they are trying to buy their way out of any public outcry, though there's still plenty to go around. My take is that this further exemplifies the current problem we face as a nation in terms of law enforcement and what they do if a citizen approaches and or crosses the perceived barrier between compliance and non compliance.

Ultimately what do you do if you're a cop and your subject refuses to do as their told? Kill them? Yes, they do. Beat their ass? Yep. It's sad. But it's a line that's constantly being tested. Some citizens simply comply, like myself. Then again I've never really had the misfortune of being asked to do something I whole heartedly felt was wrong. If a cop ordered me to do something that I simply couldn't do because of whatever physical or moral dilemma I felt, would I remain in defiance up to and including being killed? Dunno. Not much on Earth is worth losing your life over when you consider the billions of decisional combinations available for this type of thought experiment. And yet authority figures everyday and in every corner of the globe have to face such a situation.

Flying is already an absurdly tense and problematic prospect. Suddenly being told your experience has to be dragged out for any reason is enough to enrage even patient people.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

This entire situation is a huge PR headache obviously. But it's very interesting to see where people stand in regards to the outcome.

Take my parents who are middle-class neo-cons who jumped on the Trump Train late in the game and continue to ride that in light of everything that's happened. They hate the internet mob just as much as fake news liberal media but they think that's United and the entire industry greatly mishandled the situation and made it possible for this to happen. Even though they advocate for greater police strength and #bluelivesmatter. I thought they would place 101% blame on the victim and maybe even mock his circumstances as they did in the past (like the woman who live streamed her boyfriend getting shot by police which my mom called her "an attention *****").

Then take my far left almost alt-left friend from Boston who has placed 101% blame on the victim saying that he made this happen and United isn't at fault. He said that if the passenger didn't think so highly of himself it wouldn't of happened. It doesn't matter if he's a doctor. He's not important at all.

Then take my flight attendant Facebook friend whose husband is a pilot. She said that passengers are entitled brats and the passenger deserved everything he got and more. According to her, he should be arrested.

And on another end of the scale, my Filipino friend said this was a shining example of racism since the victim of a Vietnamese-American and that he was singled out for his race. He advocates now that only Whites can be removed from overbooked flights.

And one more fun example is an old friend who is a deep reublican but not quite yet trumpservative qho is borderline Libertarian. He actively advocates for State rights in almost every arena from health insurance to gay marriage to education to even adoption regulations and conservation laws. Everything should be a state level. Save for air travel. He has been advocating for the government to take control and regulate air travel rather than companies.

I find this entire situation both distressing as well down right hilarious. The internet and Facebook lets everyone voice their opinions and, in this day and age, it's popping off like crazy.

 

[Sucumbio]

(like the woman who live streamed her boyfriend getting shot by police which my mom called her "an attention *****").

Not to derail the thread topic, but... SERIOUSLY?

Woooow. No offense against yer mom but dang that's harsh.

Now that you mention it, I seem to remember a rather off-beat attempt by some media outlets to sort of discredit that woman by trying to make her out to be a malcontent. I dunno, I just think our information-age gadgets when put to such use can indeed expose situations that otherwise would fly under the radar. There's definitely no reason why she shouldn't have facebook live'd it.

HA then there's that dude who killed a senior citizen because his gf dumped him and he put that on fb live and then killed himself when cornered by authorities. Crazy. It's like that movie where a killer executes people using slow torture methods broadcast live and viewers could "like" the guy to death. o.O

But back to the plane thing, I was... hesitant to signal Race as a motivator. See, the news stories didn't actually even get into HOW the 4 people were chosen to vacate. I don't even know if they were all economy class or some of them business class/first class (doubtful). But here's the thing, if you are a member of a minority, and get singled out for whatever reason, how quickly would you and others witnessing/hearing about it, assume it was based on race? I find that in situations like this, it's the lack of explanation that forces individuals to default to race as a motivator because, simply put, why else would you be treating me this way? kinda thing.

I hate to say it, I don't know how I'd react to being put off a flight. I dislike flying, but only do it rarely, and the few times I've done it, it's been mostly routine, with only minor delays involved. My worst experience was being seated next to a passenger who basically had a severe chest infection and was coughing the whole flight, and of course I came down with it and ended up with pneumonia for like a week. But it's been a long time since I've flown. Nowadays you pretty much should expect things to suck, at least in terms of delays, lines at the security checkpoints, etc. Being put off a flight, yeah, it can happen. I'd certainly demand a refund of my boarding pass, and an upgrade to first class on the next flight they put me on, and a hotel room if it's going to be longer than a day's wait. But going all protestor mode and refusing to comply with authority figures, nah.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

According to what my mom said, she called her an attention ***** because she was streaming the event instead of being with her boyfriend in his final moments. She said the woman was wholly consumed about her self-righteous SJW mentality and failed to recognize that her boyfriend was alone and dying while she was trying to make la stand". If she really wanted to make a teaching point, she would of used that moment to try and teach corrupt black youth about the dangers of "being a thug" and to respect authority. Instead, she chose to selfishly film her boyfriend dying to inflate her own desire for quick fame and fake social justice. my parents (and by extension my entire family) prides themselves in speaking bluntly and not cutting hornets - or so they say.

My worst flight experience was coming back to America with my wife and her parents for our wedding ceremony a few years back. My in-laws cannot speak or understand English at all since, well, they had no reason to. I taught them a few English words and phrases as well as made them both a small booklet that they can use to show people such as my parents address and number should they get lost. But I had wrongfully assumed that either myself or my wife could help them get through customs.

I asked to go through the same line as them (which has worked in the pass when I needed to help my wife in previous visits) but this time it didn't. When I got through, I found my wife almost in tears since they wouldn't let her translate or even near her parents as they asked them questions. My in-laws who are in their late 70's was visible flustered and aggravated which I blame the customs agents on as they were acting aggressive and an antagonistic asking questions why "Speak English" and "Dont look at them, look at me."

They showed the agents the book I made which they dismissed. They had to bring a Japanese interpreter in to interpret what they were saying even though both myself or my wife could of did that. I was then pulled aside during the entire ordeal and questioned why I eas bringing so many Japanese nationals into ththe county and even was slightly accused of trying to illegally immigrant them. They had to call my parents to verify the information about our wedding. We had the proper tourist VISAs set up for everyone and everything.

We were an hour and half late to our flight and had to wait two and a half hours after the fact for our connecting flight. I had explained everything to AA and they rebooked us on a new flight thankfully. So that was a "nice welcome" to America. I even heard one of the nearby people who was too nosey for her own good saying "Learn to speak some freaking English" to us as she passed by. We ended up getting to my parents home at 1:30 am rather than the 10 pm planned timing.

And to make matters worse they lost our luggage and then lost it again delivering it to us. We finally got our luggage almost six days into our stay in America. my father-in-law said after he came back to Japan that "I'm never leaving Japan again."

 

[Sucumbio]

Oh wow. No doubt! I'd never leave either. How horrible.

Your mom illustrates a fundamental lack of appreciation for how our younger society exists. It's probably worth its own discussion topic. But suffice it to say, millennial youth are so much more integrated with technology that traumatic events need not be delayed in sharing. The instinct to share with the Internet intimate details of one's life means everything including final moments are fair game. And then there's the desperation factor. Quite simply if you're helplessly stuck sitting in your front seat next to your dying mate, with a frantic cop still pointing a gun at you, what more can you do? In the back of her mind I'm sure she felt sharing the experience on Facebook Live could have possibly expedited any attempt to save his life.

 

[wedl!!]

if your mom thinks Castile was murdered by police officers for being a "thug" she's racist scum. that's some Bill O'Riley **** there.

also it was to call attention to the fact they were pulled over for a ****ing taillight and a man was killed for no reason, not because she wanted attention