"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.
Yes, but who was being punished?
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.
Right, all the passengers were being punished. The captain was the "dick".
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...
Anyone have a deep link to the photo?
Looks like this is a good opportunity for a airline DoS "attack". Perhaps a organization like the ACLU (or a new group) should actively enlist those who support a expansive view of free speech and fly infrequently (so it won't impact their livelihood should they be put on the CAPPS exclusion list) to don buttons and other benignly expressive (and 1st Amendment legal) apparel, etc. once aboard airline flights.
steve
"Il dulce far niente" The sweetness of doing nothing
My unemployment motto
