Eric Cordia wrote... "I mean, a 1 inch button, for Christ's sake. They must have had to use a magnifying glass to read the slogan." Actually, that's an interesting point. Let's first of all remember that Gilmore was allowed onto the plane in the first place, so airport security didn't care or notice. And it doesn't seem that onboard Gilmore was causing a ruckus or creating the sense of insecurity. And I'm willing to bet that none of the staff actually felt/believed that the guy was a threat (let's assume they have the right to remove somebody that perceived to be a threat). So clearly this was punitive. No don't get me wrong, I would have thought the guy was a little bit of dick for "spooking the straights", and I would have been tempted (note the word tempted) to punch that button off of him so we didn't have to turn around. But it sounds like a rehash of the mall incident...had he walked onto the flight with a button that said "I support our troops", he wouldn't have been thrown off. Thus everyone has become a kind of thought cop....but what they're enforcing is not the collective perceived reality, but what most people believe the collective perceived reality is supposed to be. There're cracks already though, and the fact that NY Times ran that photo on the front page the other day means a lot, actually... -TD
From: Eric Cordian <emc@artifact.psychedelic.net> To: cypherpunks@minder.net Subject: Re: Fwd: [IP] Gilmore bounced from plane; and Farber censors Gilmore's email Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 14:31:15 -0700 (PDT)
I felt sorry for the other 300 people on the plane who had their flight delayed for some guy with a small badge on his chest, and a big chip on his shoulder.
The other 300 people on the plane had their flight delayed by the actions of the carrier, not by the actions of Gilmore.
You are falling for the usual mental trap here of viewing authority as some sort of inviolate physical law, and transferring responsibilty onto the victim for "making them do it."
You should watch that in the future.
I mean, a 1 inch button, for Christ's sake. They must have had to use a magnifying glass to read the slogan.
-- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
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