"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
This isn't discrimination at all. The only person being discriminated here would have been the passenger sitting next to Smith who paid full fair but had less space. It's true that most airlines have reduced the available space for passengers and at the same time, the size of Americans has increased.
If he already knew he needed to buy a second seat, his tantrum makes no sense. His twitpic attempt at humor noticeably avoids showing how he fit into his seat. For his neighbor on the flight, I doubt they would receive a discount due to the over sized passenger spilling into their already cramped space. Average sized people or small people don't receive any special benefits for taking up less space, do they? Even after Southwest apologized, Smith still blasted them. They'd be better off without this guy as a customer.
So what do you guys think?
NOTE FROM JOHN: I fly a good deal, and have sat next to someone obese before. I had to pull my left arm over to the right, with my elbow half way to my navel, the entire flight, so as not to be playing snugly with the guy to my left. It was very disconcerting, and physically uncomfortable, having someone else basically sharing your seat. I appreciate that we should not judge people by their weight. But I'm also not so sure that treating obesity as if it's a minority status is correct either. If your metabolism is screwed up, fine. If you eat too much crap, then I have less sympathy for you.
Hey Kev, you're a lardass and it's not the world's fault. Hire a semi to haul your fatness around. And spare the rest of us having to sit next to you and next to you and next to you.
They should travel by ox cart or something. I mean really. Do they need to inflict their smelly fatness on everyone else?
I've been next to fat slobs on airplanes and it's not fair. They are in your space and totally oblivious to it. If you are in halfway decent shape, then you couldn't possibly need "all that" space, now could you?
If I were dictator I would demand they be harvested for their fat, Tyler Durden like. All that fat is energy and can be turned into clean diesel.
Kevin Smith and Kate Harding cheek by jowl in coach on a trans-Pacific nonstop. I would love to see these walking externalities get a load of their own medicine.
Sorry, I don't want someone's fat touching me. It's just nasty, and in many cases there are some hygiene issues too.
I don't want someone else rubbing up against me, and if people can't fit in a seat without rubbing (or blobbing onto) the person next to them, then they need 2 seats. Airlines should make it easier for the Obese to purchase 2 seats, but it has to be done.
Labels: assholes, hypocrisy, Progressives, weight
I'm surprised you can still stand it.
That isn't all that much.
Plus, the policy discriminates against women. My husnband is extremely wide in the shoulders, enough so that we have difficulty sitting comfortably next to each other in a movie theatre. While his hips are much under 17 inches, his shoulders would make an airline passenger sitting next to him pretty uncomfortable. Me, I'm broader in the hips (go figure, eh?) but would not "spill over" in the same way.
If they've got a hip measurement criteria, I'd like to see them use one for shoulder width too, or be called out for the inherent gender bias in their policy.
"Leave me alone!", he inevitably cries. I'd say that he's gay about everything but I detest literality in all its forms.