Unquestionably Stupid

There have been a couple of recent items in the news that deserve some attention. Once again they point out how uncivil our society has become. We seem willing to do really stupid things when some simple good manners would go a long ways to prevent issues.

United Airlines flight 1462 from Newark to Denver was diverted on Sunday due to the poor behavior of two passengers. They were seated in what United calls "Economy Plus" which allows passengers 4 inches of additional legroom over a seat in coach. If you have ever flown and sat in coach then you know it allows you about enough leg room for an average 10 year old child. The man in this case used a device called the Knee Defender which prevents the person in front of them from reclining their seat. He had his tray table down and was working on his laptop. I'm sure it was something very important. The female passenger in front of him tried to recline her seat. Never saw the point in it since it only moves back about two inches. When she couldn't recline she complained to the flight attendant who directed the man to remove the Knee Defender since they are not permitted to be used on United flights. He refused. The woman in front stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water on him. The pilot was notified and diverted the plane to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and the two misbehaving passengers were removed. The flight then continued on to Denver. So, what do we have here? Two apparently childish adults fighting over four inches of legroom. The man was doing something he thought was important. The woman wanted her way. Perhaps some conversation before the flight attendant got involved would have been helpful. So, 4 inches of legroon caused the diversion of a flight and inconvience to every other passenger. Usually a woman's disappointment over 4 inches is another issue altogether.

The other day ESPN spent several minutes talking about Michael Sam. He is the first openly gay professional football player. What was the topic of ESPN's concern? Michael Sams shower habits. I'm not real good at math but I think there are 32 NFL teams and at this point in the roster process each team has 75 players. So right now their are 3,200 men on the NFL roster not counting those players who are physically unable to perform or on injured reserve. ESPN has chosen to discuss on national television the shower conduct of one player. He's gay, get over it. The other men he is in the locker room with are professional athletes. They must be able to take care of themselves. It seems impossible that he is in the shower soliciting for sex acts. ESPN seemed to be making air time for a nonissue. No one other than some ignorant homophobes cares what Michael Sam does in an NFL locker room shower.

We continue to become a more unquestionably stupid society that lacks common decency and manners.