Southwest boots woman off plane in Re:?no! for "obsceni

d6 · Post by d6 » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:22 am

Hiya ,
so I'm pitifully trying to stay up until 11 pm Tuesday night to catch "South Park", when I hear a blurb on the Re:?no! local news regarding a Southwest Airlines Passenger being kicked off.

This is the lead story for the nbc affiliate, so I give up the SP theme song to hear that:
"A woman was asked to disembark from a Southwest Airlines Flight today, during the stopover in Reno. She didnt say anything, or act in a hysterical manner - the reason she was asked to leave the flight was due to her t-shirt, which was a parody of "meet the fockers", with one important vowel having been replaced".

"The shirt was embellished with pictures of the president, vice-president, and Con.Rice, under the heading "Meet the F-ckers".
The Southwest Staff asked her to cover the "offensive" shirt at the behest of "offended" passengers, which she did.
However, the covering slipped off while she was napping, and she was subsequently asked to leave the Los Angeles,Ca - Portland, Oregon flight during its layover in Reno, Nv."

"She was offered a DISCOUNT for a later Southwest Flight, on the stipulation that she change her shirt - which she declined to do, and chose an alternative way to get home." (rental car)

"A spokeswoman for Southwest stated that -qoute-"this happens every so often" end quote."

d6,
throwing up as i type,

AND
the next time I see you wearing that Crucifixion Jewelry, baseball hat, jersey or whatever I dont like,
____________(insert offensive whatnot)
I'm asking somebody to ask you for me to kick you off the plane, since I certainly dont want to confront on my own......that would be scary,
now

GIVE ME BACK MY ALCOHOL!!!!!!

[email protected]

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:46 pm

Didn't you get the memo that tells you that freedom of speech is only allowed if it presents a positive and promotional image to the current administration, and any other non-conforming usage constitutes treasonous activity and will subject you to imprisonment? I think it also had the clause about all elections will be decided in favor of the current admin, regardless of the actual vote count went.

Freedom of Speech - it was an American Value at one time...

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:51 pm

She covered her shirt the first time but then declined to do it again. And it doesn't matter if the shirt referenced shrub, Hillary, or the Dalai Lama, if it has an offensive word on it they were within their rights to make the request. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

ZaphodBurner · Post by **ZaphodBurner** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 1:56 pm

Legendary local public TV character Jim Spagg, who proved freedom of speech by broadcasting an actual closeup shot of himself taking a shit on the set of the public TV studio, told me one time "You can say whatever you want as long as it's what they want you to say."

Spagg was once aired video of himself being beat up and assaulted with rocks by his neighbor in his own yard. When he complained to the police he was charged with harassment.

-z

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:04 pm

Your freedom of speech stops at their airplane.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:39 pm

Chai Guy wrote:Your freedom of speech stops at their airplane.

Someone understands!!!!!

d6 · Post by d6 » Wed Oct 05, 2005 3:21 pm

I feel I "understand" (some)things to a certain extent just fine,
however I dont like the idea of an ever declining societies lack of ability to even "tolerate" personal expression or choice, whatever they may be:

you own your house, do whatever you like, unless the homeowners association doesnt like your choices,
you own a store, sell whatever you like, unless someone out there somewhere disagrees with your inventory.
you sell tickets to a big desert party?

and on and on and on.

at that time last evening, i'd had "enough"

and that is why i'm feeling "fussy"

Anyone care to rail on topical injustices, I'm available at decom sunday-(THAT MEANS YOU)

d6,
currently frustrated by humans,
wheres my avian virus?

lazarus · Post by **lazarus** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:12 pm

Ever seen this in a restaurant or bar?

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:18 pm

Did anyone at Southwest think of telling the offended passengers, "Yes, she's wearing a t-shirt that is critical of the current administration. There are people in this country that do. In the interest of maintaining a free society, you're going to have to learn to live with them. If it really offends you, YOU CAN STOP LOOKING AT HER!"

I'm going to start boycotting Southwest Airlines.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:18 pm

I wonder how accepting you would be of a person wearing a t-shirt with a picture of an aborted fetus along with a profane anti-abortion slogan across it?

Personally, I'm not offended by the word "Fuck" or any word for that matter. I'm not even that offended by pictures of aborted fetuses. Some people are however, and as a business, you sometimes have to make difficult decisions that defer to the perceived notions of taste and community standards.

In this case the person was asked to cover up the offending word, they weren't thrown off the plane or denied entry. They were given an option. They choose to fly another airline. That's freedom. You have the freedom to express yourself and I have the freedom to tell you what is appropriate or not appropriate in my place of business.

edited to add: after re-reading it looks like they wanted the entire shirt covered, and I made an assumption about the F word being the part that offended them. That's an assumption and I might be wrong about that, never the less, it's still their airline.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:20 pm

Did anyone at Southwest think of telling the offended passengers, "Yes, she's wearing a t-shirt that is critical of the current administration. There are people in this country that do. In the interest of maintaining a free society, you're going to have to learn to live with them. If it really offends you, YOU CAN STOP LOOKING AT HER!"

I'm going to start boycotting Southwest Airlines.

Someone understands!!!!!!!!!

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:09 pm

Isotopia wrote:
Did anyone at Southwest think of telling the offended passengers, "Yes, she's wearing a t-shirt that is critical of the current administration. There are people in this country that do. In the interest of maintaining a free society, you're going to have to learn to live with them. If it really offends you, YOU CAN STOP LOOKING AT HER!"

I'm going to start boycotting Southwest Airlines.
Someone understands!!!!!!!!!

>>grins<< More than one.

Were this board censored (again) you think people would say "it's their board, they can do as they wish"? I remember the last condemnation of the LLC over it, and just like yon airplane, it's *their* board.

Then again, what difference does it make if F.O.S. is curtailed? Or any other parts of the bill of rights? I mean... seriously... the American people don't care about that, as long as they get cheap gasoline and a good story on the morning news to cover up the real news, so all they hear (or read) is pablum or the propoganda from the propogandists from DC making you believe what they want you to...

Example - a murder in California. Remember Lacey Peterson? Who can tell me 5 important issues that happened concentrically, with as much ease as the story of the hair or the boat or whether the kid was born before or after...?)

I'm not saying SWA was outside their rights, no matter how wrong the censorship was. What I am worried about is how fast people are defending their actions to censor someone's freedoms. And where that rush to give up rights will lead. After all, it's NOT a grade school full of kids...

Or am I that old? Damn...

bb
__________

Harrrumph. Be dazzled by the flames and booming voice, do NOT pay any attention to the man behind the curtain...

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:15 pm

My buddy Flash (ex unofficial mayor of Gerlach, operator of the infamous white whale and bartender extraordinaire) couldn't understand why he was stopped by gate guards at SFO and basically stripped searched for wearing a tee shirt with the word 'BOOM!' printed on the front.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:49 pm

Holy shit. So I guess my "I am the BOMB" with matching sneakers having 2 inches of fuse protruding from the heels is out of the question. Fuuuuuck.

Sensei · Post by **Sensei** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:14 pm

You guys (at least some of you) know I like to give away Palestinian kefiyahs as gifts. It's really not a political thang, I just think they look cool. I wonder what would happen if I rented a Ryder truck and put my kefiyah on and tried to park at Sea-Tac. Would I

A: be arrested on the spot for (insert trumped up charge here)
or
B: be shot on site, before leaving the truck.

Just curious. Not that curious, but I'm curious. I ain't got the guts to find out, so I guess I'm curious yellow.

(1 point awarded for getting ancient porn reference.)

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:36 pm

Chai Guy wrote:I wonder how accepting you would be of a person wearing a t-shirt with a picture of an aborted fetus along with a profane anti-abortion slogan across it?

Wonder no more.
I'd sneer a little, think "yeah, fuck you too," and proceed to defocus off him and turn my attention elsewhere. If I paid anymore attention to him it would be to stay on the watch for threatening behaviour but if he went to another seat and didn't bother me, I'd ignore him. If he sat next to me or in my line of sight, I'd stick my nose in a book and keep it there. If they sat next to or near me and tried to talk to me, I'd foist them off with monosyllables and generally give them the impression that I'm not going to talk to them. But I wouldn't complain, I wouldn't raise a stink, wouldn't demand that they cover it up and I certainly wouldn't support him getting pushed off the plane.

I certainly wouldn't "accept" it, either. But I'd tolerate it in the name of peace and freedom, because those concepts mean that much to me. If I take someone to task, it's because of something they <i>did</i>, not because of something they wear or think.

By the way, I do things like that on an almost-daily basis.

Edit to add: Peace is a two-way street. If Jews, Muslims and Christians can live peacefully together in Moorish Spain, I can live with anti-choice slogans on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:51 pm

If he sat next to me or in my line of sight, I'd stick my nose in a book and keep it there.

Ideally you'd pull out either Lloyd Graham's Deceptions and Myths of the Bible or recent Border's purchase of Intelligent Design and the Brain Dead Asswsipes Who're Foisting It On American Schools.

Oh, and answer any and all questions in your best Linda Blair Exorcist voice.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:08 pm

Badger wrote:Ideally you'd pull out either Lloyd Graham's Deceptions and Myths of the Bible or recent Border's purchase of Intelligent Design and the Brain Dead Asswsipes Who're Foisting It On American Schools.

Hehhehheh

Sounds promising...damn, another book I have to go look up, devour, then stick on my already groaningly-overloaded bookshelves...

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:30 pm

What bugs me is who says Intelligent design, the laws of physics, and evolution are mutually exclusive? Seriously. Wo says someone didn't set this whole shit in motion 4 and a half billion (or however many) years (in *our* tme continuoum - may be a billionth of a nanosecond in the one our "reality" is trapped within) ago, and this - now - is the result. Or better - wanna paradox? The "big bang" that created everything was *one* of the atomic nuclei in the chain reaction at Trinity which was shattered, and there are octillions of billions of other "all of existances" out there. Were it not for our own atomic blast in '45, nothing in this universe would exist. Or any others. So we created ourselves - in our own image.

THERE'S one for the books. And who says it can't be true?? Can anyone disprove that our universe - all the galaxies it contains - isn't really a portion of a quark? >>grins<< Kinda strange, no?

bb

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:33 pm

""Edit to add: Peace is a two-way street. If Jews, Muslims and Christians can live peacefully together in Moorish Spain,""

If memory serves me correctly, the Moors were originally invited into Spain by one faction. They poured in and overran everything. They proceeded to fight for about 600 years and then finally were driven out. 6 centuries of bloodshed.
The Jews on the other hand came in slowly in a general diaspora. "The Bell Curve" has the Jews generally smarter than anglos. They amassed money partly because they weren't limited by the biblical prohibition against usuary. They were rich. The Catholic church instituted "The Inquisition" partly to rob the Jews of their property.
The Moors did a lot of good in Spain but there was always bloodshed.
A common surname in Spanish is "Matamoros"=Moor killer.

Islam has just recently brought violence back to Spain by blowing up trains. Too bad
Dan

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:48 pm

And who says it can't be true??

Therein lies the crux Sue.

Anyone can say it.

And anyone can believe it but... saying it and believeing it don't necessarily make it so.

THAT'S the insurmountable chasm between science (fact based) and religion (faith based) knowledge.

It's the religion masquerading as science that gets a good number of folks up in arms - including (obviously) myself.

BTW, a very nice overview of the argumnets currently buttressing the current court case in Pennsylvania can be found here: http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurri ... nsense.pdf

Pretty lucid I think. Originally posted in Scientific American I think it spells out the case being made by trying to spear the law with reason, fact and little in the way of overt ridicule on the part of the proponents.

Further discussion might warrant a new thread.

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:55 pm

[quote="Bay Bridge Sue"]What bugs me is who says Intelligent design, the laws of physics, and evolution are mutually exclusive? Seriously. Wo says someone didn't set this whole shit in motion 4 and a half billion (or however many) years (in *our* tme continuoum - >>grins<< Kinda strange, no?

Sue, i've been kicking myself for so long, my butt is sore. I CAN'T find one of my books.
I bought a book many years ago that lists "Out of Place Artifacts". It listed a few silver objects that were found in coal deposits,,,from the Carboniferous Period. If I remember correctly, there is a silver chain running through a lump of coal in a British museum. There was a silver teapot that was found inside a large lump of coal that is in a museum also. The book reported that upon examination, you could see where the ancient plants were impressed with the shape of the teapot.
I found these to be very intruiging. I believe that the examinations were done at least 50 years ago.
I don't believe that there was any duplicity. Nobody tried to get rich and nobody had an explanation. I've found no reference to these items on the net.
It is entertaining to think about either a temporal displacement or perhaps aeons old window of opportunity for some other sentient species to have appeared. Or of course a visitor. It's hard to fathom how the mamalian line could have produced an offshoot in that time period. I vote for a visitor. You have to see the animated flick "Allegro non Troppo" by Bonsetto? You'll vote for a visitor.
The book was called "Mysteries of Space and Time"
Dan

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:00 pm

What bugs me is who says Intelligent design, the laws of physics, and evolution are mutually exclusive?

Good point and one that many scientists over the years have thought about. Part of the problem is one of fear and control. I believe that some people do not feel comfortable with current scientific theory because they don't understand it. This leaves them feeling "stupid" or somehow inferior. They might feel like they are some kind of "second class" person because they can't grasp quantum physics. On the other hand, they can, or believe they can grasp the bible. So if they define the universe in those terms it serves two purposes. First it places them on equal footing with anyone else that knows the bible and above many who don't. Secondly it serves to "bring down" those snooty scientists off their "high horse". Believe me, I have seen that attitude. To me, Intelligent Design is more the manifestation of individual insecurity and a desire to feel validated in an understanding of things than it is about any faith. Personally, I have faith that the scientists are onto a thing or two and personally don't feel a need to have a complete understanding of it all. And some of those snooty scientists might have trouble doing my daily job too but they have faith that I am able to route around a major internet issue that cropped up today. In other words, to me it looks like security and control issues manifesting (as usual) as high drama.

Personally, I don't care, really. I know I am mortal. I know the earth and sun are mortal. I know our galaxy is set to collide with the andromeda galaxy and all hell will break lose, but our sun will have burnt the earth to a crisp by then anyway. Besides, we should just make one simple decision and that should be the basis of going forward. Are we going to learn to live off this planet and away from this sun or not? If we aren't prepared to move all of humanity off the planet at some point, we are doomed anyhow and we might as well forget about science anyway and spend all that money on hookers instead for all the good it is going to do us. Let's ban clothes and have manditory sex hours at work. If we are doomed anyway, we might as well enjoy it. Let the scientists work on making better beer instead of informing us of the exact moment of our demise.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:00 pm

I believe that the examinations were done at least 50 years ago.

Not terribly long after 'examinations' of Piltdown Man were made in England I'd note.

can't sit still · Post by **can't sit still** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:09 pm

Piltdown WHO?? Yeah they went apeshit over that one. But it was one guy trying to enhance his rep. When I examine a situation I always look at possible motivations. It usually makes things clearer.

I just remembered that I have some kind of shoestring relative in Cambridge. I'll ask him.
Dan

Meet the FUCKERS. There I've said it. I don't hear any crying. I think that in a lot of cases one has to choose to be offended. You know,,,get oneself all worked up.
Sticks and stones will break my bones,,,but I can easily ignore your pansy ass.

I had to come back and change the pronouns so that there was no chance of misinterpretation

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:18 pm

Then again, if you wear something that is simply designed to push people's buttons, you shouldn't be surprised when pushing that button results in an explosion and you have to go into it knowing that you risk getting some of it on you.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:42 pm

I don't believe that there was any duplicity.

Why would there be? I mean, silversmiths back in the Carboniferous had better things to do 300 million years ago than to try pull the wool over our eyes.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:56 pm

be'cept all those Carboniferous silversmiths were reptiles and I don't trust no fucking reptiles. You know where the expression "snake in the grass" came from? Yup, fucking reptiles. Don't trust 'em. Even if they can make pretty silver stuff.

calsur · Post by **calsur** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:46 am

I did a google search on “coal mine oddities”

http://www.askwhy.co.uk/analogiesandcon ... ikosm.html

One thing led to another

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/michael.magee ... ls144.html

I put 5 minutes into this and offer no warranty.

Piltdown Man. Doc Strangelove, I mean Badger, was that the filed on orangutan skull and bones stained with brown shoe polish?

And I wish someone on the plane or with the airline would have the guts to tell the person complaining to leave the aircraft if they did not like the tee shirt.

Personally I do not like the message but I am an American and I will defend your right to say it with my dieing breath.

joel the ornery · Post by **joel the ornery** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:26 am

if all y'all think your rights are being infringed upon now.... you ain't seen nothing yet.

stay tuned, i am sure it will get far more stupid (restrictive) before it get better (less restrictive).

Alex, i'll take Roman History between 100BC and 400AD for $1000, please.

Southwest boots woman off plane in Re:?no! for "obsceni

Southwest boots woman off plane in Re:?no! for "obsceni

Laurussia I'd like you to meet Gondwana...

2 cents