Mood swing
Belatedly, and therefore unconvincingly, Oscar Munoz issued a statement saying he feels just terrible about the whole thing. If that’s true why didn’t he mention it yesterday?
The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.
Very true, so why didn’t you say so yesterday? Sir. Why did you say yesterday that the passenger who was beaten up was “disruptive and belligerent” while you didn’t say one word about a truly horrific event or your outrage, anger, disappointment at that event? Why didn’t you apologize to him yesterday? Sir.
I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.
That’s nice, but it would be nicer if you’d done that yesterday. Sir.
I think they should make it more than right. I think they should provide the passenger with free airline travel for life – on a different airline, of course.
I know you’re using the Sir honorific in a snarky way, but somehow every time I read it I can’t jam enough snark into my inner voice to achieve the required effect. What an appalling piece of shit that man is. The only way he can make a transition from yesterdays stance to todays would be by making one hell of an apology for HIS words yesterday. Only thing is, that would now ring hollow unless he first apologises for treating us like idiots with the blind transition.
Did I call him a piece of shit already? What a piece of shit.
You have to say it in a really hard mean voice. That’s what I was doing. Heavy mean cold emphasis.
I was reading over at PZ’s place that some people are excusing this on the basis that the passenger at one time in his life lost his medical license for abusing prescription drugs…damn, people can be awful!
I remember reading, in ‘An Evil Cradling’, of how Brian Keenan’s terrorist captors in Lebanon would wile away time and perk up their spirits by endlessly watching ‘Rambo’ and other violent Hollywood movies, of which there is still no shortage whatsoever (the local cinema at Fuchu, in Tokyo, is advertising yet another block- and morals-buster, full of over-muscled, righteous, Randian men bursting out of prison-cells and beating up goons, cars exploding, etc). This may seem anti-American, from someone who was born and brought up in Britain but has lived most of his life in Japan (and has never visited the States), but I never cease to be surprised by what seems to an outsider the extraordinary levels of violence that are both tolerated by ordinary Americans and celebrated in popular American culture. This cult of violence, for that is surely what it is, is closely linked with the cult of hyper-masculinity that is also so extraordinarily strong in the States – the cult that is behind the Donald drumpfing himself into the White House and informs the chatter of those right-wing ideologues who promptly asserted that Drumpf had shown himself ‘presidential’ by firing a few cruise missiles, as well as of course the attitude of the despicable CEO of United Airlines, who is very righteous and clearly sees nothing wrong – unless it leads to bad publicity – in having passengers who are unwilling to obey ridiculous ‘orders’ beaten up.
Tim Harris, I don’t know that I would call that anti-American, merely observant. And too few Americans are bothered by it because they have been brought up to view that as normal. Everyone else – Europeans, in particular – are sissies, and live in highly flawed, imperfect cultures. American culture, in that view, is only flawed to the extent that the liberals and coastal elites have sissified it, and it just needs real men to bring it back to “great again”.
This could partially be the function of history class. When I was taking history, even from a very early grade, the focus was on the American Revolution and the heroic soldiers, followed by the Civil War and the heroic soldiers, followed by WWI and the heroic soldiers – you get my drift.
Then, of course, there is the cultural mix that has become toxic here because white people, particularly but not exclusively white males, have come to regard themselves as some sort of natural leaders, destined to rule over inferior cultures and races (and sexes), and having trouble understanding why said others do not actually appreciate that.
In short, this country is a rogue nation that needs to be listed as such and treated as such.
iknklast, I think that was also more observant than anti-American. Reality does tend to have a certain bias, as they say. A correction may be overdue.