Well United airlines has really stepped in the dog doo this time. The world of social media has been on fire the past 24-hours after video surfaced of a doctor being beaten by airport security and dragged from a United flight because he refused to give up his seat on an overbooked flight. The incident comes just a few weeks after United ordered two teenage girls flying on employee passes to change out of leggings and into real pants before they could board their flight. Now in the end of that “incident”, United was found to be justified in their actions–and the celebrities and liberals that immediately took to social media to condemn the airline as “sexist” were exposed as the reactionary, ill-informed troublemakers that they are.
It’s entirely possible that United could be justified in the overbooking, “re-accommodation” incident of this past weekend as well. Private business reserves the right to refuse service to whomever they want–unless that customer identifies themselves with some sort of “minority group”, hires an ACLU lawyer, and sues claiming discrimination. Of course, it didn’t help yesterday when United said the passenger was given the boot so that members of another flight crew could board.
The video adds fuel to the fire, showing the doctor sitting peacefully in his aisle seat, reading a magazine when armed security “thugs” accost him. He starts to scream as passengers yell for the guards to stop. We see the man thrown from the seat–striking his head on another seat–gashing his face and knocking him out. There is the woman choosing to become “the voice of the others” screaming at the guards “STOP!! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO HIM!!”–which incites more people to shout as security drags the man down the aisle.
You know, there was a way for the flight crew to handle this situation that would have not only not resulted in physical violence–but would have also made United look like the sympathetic character–not just in the eyes of those on the plane, but with the general public as well. They just needed to employ our most successful political tactic today: scapegoating.
Here’s what should have happened. All of the passengers should have been allowed on the plane. The four people who needed to be bumped should have been announced and when Dr So-and-So refused to leave the next announcement should have been, “Ladies and gentlemen, this plane will not be going anywhere until Dr So-and-So gives up his seat as he has been ordered to do. If you miss your connecting flight, or you have to wait even longer to get home to your family, you can thank Dr So-and-So sitting in seat 13C.
After that, cellphone video would have shown the passengers (who in the actual video are yelling to keep Dr So-and-So on the plane–would be yelling for him to “get the (expletive) off so we can go home”. Voice of the Plane Woman would be demanding that security come on-board to remove Dr So-and-So by force if they had to. And if the guards came in, they would have been cheered by the passengers–even if they had to knock out Dr So-and-So and drag him off.
Monday would have seen Twitter and Facebook filled with posts by celebrities and liberals “Who does this rich doctor think he is refusing to get off the plane when ordered like he is ‘too good to be bumped'” We’d be hearing from the passengers on the flights that needed the crewmembers that bumped the passengers off the original flight thanking United for getting their flight out on time–despite the “selfishness” of Dr So-and-So. And the network news stories this week wouldn’t be about “Airlines abusing the rights of their passengers”. The headlines instead would be “Ill-behaved passengers are ruining the ‘friendly skies'”
There are lines from the movie Gladiator that “The mob is Rome” and “The mob is fickle”. United–and all other companies–may want to consider adopting “mob mentalities” to stay in the positive graces of modern American society.
