On the 16th of this month, Catherine Banks, a Marine Corps veteran, boarded a Delta Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport. She was on her way to visit her sister, an active-duty member of the Corps. According to SFGATE and KNTV, a flight attendant told Banks that she could not board the plane because of her "offensive" t-shirt. She was made to change into a sweatshirt on the ramp and had to turn away from everyone because she was not wearing a bra. Banks commented:
“I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m a Marine Corps vet. I’m going to see my Marine sister. I’ve been in the Marine Corps for 22 years and worked for the Air Force for 15 years. I’m going to visit her,’” Banks said. “He said, ‘I don’t care about your service, and I don’t care about her service. The only way you’re going to get back on the plane is if you take it off right now.’”
Not only was the flight delayed, causing Banks to miss her connection, but she also said the crew forced her to sit in the back of the plane instead of in the seat she paid for.
What did the shirt say that was apparently so triggering to this flight attendant? It read, “Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide.” The shirt is a product of the Til Valhalla Project. You can see the shirt in question and even purchase one here if you are so inclined. The focus of the project is twofold: it creates memorial plaques for the families of vets who have died and raises money to help pay for therapy for veterans:
Today, T.V.P. pays tribute to dozens more Fallen Heroes each month while funding therapy for struggling Veterans. This impact is only possible thanks to millions of supporters dedicated to making a difference.
Delta is reportedly looking into the matter, but SFGATE notes that the company's policies allow fight crews to remove a passenger whose conduct, clothing, hygiene, or odor could offend someone. I don't know about you, but an anti-suicide message hardly qualifies as "offensive."
While this is strictly conjecture, it may be that the flight attendant was worried that the word "suicide" might offend a passenger with delicate sensibilities, or, and again, this is conjecture, he may have seen the word "veteran" and immediately equated it to "Trump supporter." If the latter is the case, we have yet another instance of a person being entitled to someone else's opinion but not their own, not that the issue of suicide prevention should be considered political if that was the point of contention between the two.
Last week, my wife and I attended an industry conference. A large Jewish group was having a Sukka festival at the same resort. I do not know the laws regarding speech or freedom of expression in our host country, but a young woman was walking outside the festival area with a t-shirt that read "Palestine Shall Be Free." Unlike the situation above, there is no room for interpretation when it comes to "Palestine Shall Be Free."
This girl may not know what a Sukka festival is, but it is hard to miss that many men in yarmulkes along with their wives and children. So she was well aware of the message she was sending and the impact it had on other guests. Perhaps she felt said effect was negligible or even essential.
At the same conference, my wife and I ran into a couple and, after a social event, went out for a nightcap. The woman was wearing a MAGA hat. Not the big red variety, but an understated cap that read "Make America Great Again." We were having our drinks and chatting when yet another young woman seemingly materialized from the ether and began throwing a tantrum over the hat in question. I was annoyed enough to tell her to stop believing everything she had been spoon-fed and take the time to understand the issues. She was having none of it, shaking her head and becoming even more obstinate. Things were about to get heated, and then the bouncer showed up.
Just as I was thinking that I was a bit too old to get chucked out of a nightclub, the bouncer took the offended woman away, probably because we had been minding our own business, and as the old saying goes, "she started it." So chalk one up in the "win" column.
The above episodes demonstrate that as we close in on the "Official Day of Reckoning," the public no longer needs the government, the media, social media, the educational system, or celebrities to tell them how to think. Mark Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift, CNN, and college professors are almost obsolete. Large swaths of people are so indoctrinated that they willingly censor opposing views and are no longer interested in cultivating opinions of their own. To do so would not only be heretical but isolating and even terrifying. It is a bit reminiscent of a novel people often cite today.
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
However, unlike Winston Smith in "1984," these poor souls never even tried to put up a fight. And now they wouldn't even think of bothering to do so.
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