“accidently brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving”
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The violence is shocking and awful. But yes, the fact that a government agency sent people in to beat someone unconscious at the behest of a business is beyond disturbing.
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And also not even remotely new. Check out the Carnegie Steel union fracas, as an easy example.
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Call me crazy, but there’s something about a Nazi being thrown from a dirigible at altitude that curls my toes in glee.
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He ran into my knife.
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Again, the horrified onlookers outnumber the oppressors something like 50 to 1, and don’t do anything to actually help somebody being beaten besides documenting the event? It’s good that it was witnessed and recorded, but this is some amazing complacency.
Even if they were all pacifists, they could have easily prevented the victim’s removal from the plane by simply standing in the aisle. The few sociopathic authoritarians are bad enough without the rest of the population making things worse by acquiescing to them.
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Strong disagree.
First, there’s the logistics of hardly any people on the plane physically being in a position to do much here. At best, aisle seats forward of the incident. That’s a small fraction.
And then there’s the issue of what happens next: blocking the police will lead to an escalation- more police summons to handle the unruly passengers, more bodies hurt and abused. It seems to be a rare occasion that escalating with police works out well for anybody involved.
On top of that, all the people blocking or whatever would have made filming the scene unclear- and there wouldn’t be this clear video of exactly what happened to the passenger. There’d be this video of a bunch of people yelling and whatever and no clear evidence of what brutality took place.
This was a disgrace, and one of the few useful things was the clear footage that might lead to some action. A lawsuit, or criminal charges, or some change.
By your proposal, the news story is about unruly passengers causing a ruckus in which someone (who knows how!) was hurt.
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In law school i formed a contingent of what are called “legal observers” who act as monitors at protest marches and rallies. There is a strong argument to be made for intervention, but just observing is an worthwhile action in itself.
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Resistance and escalation are certainly not the same thing. And even if - for the sake of argument - they were, police are by the nature of their position always outnumbered. Their main advantage is organization, and people’s general lack of organization and discipline is what allows them to be easily overcome. It is not very much a factor of numbers or weapons.
No, that is still putting an authoritarian group - corporate news media - in charge to control the narrative. The real news is the public discourse, and it risks normalizing institutionalized disempowerment and control of the average person.
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Try telling that to the cops.
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T’isn’t mine!! I just repost!
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Bravo. Timely and on point.
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Wish in one hand, spit in the other - and see which is full first.
The delusion is that fighting cops is risky, but letting them take over your society and your lives somehow isn’t. It’s just like the learned helplessness of domestic abuse. Yes, challenging violent creeps is dangerous, but so is resigning to them running your life.
Trying is precisely what is needed. Not ironic resignation.
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Maybe if they had to reschedule their appointments they could sue the airline too.
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You could likely get that changed simply by pointing HR at the news coverage about this.
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May the odds be ever in your favor!
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Maybe if they missed lifesaving surgery their family could sue, as well. I don’t see your point.
The point is their random selection for a ‘volunteer’ may have had a far more reaching consequence than if he’d been a sales man or in another less time sensitive job.
The airline might get lucky and there will be few knock on effects or they could be up against a bigger PR issue than they are now.
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I’m aware; that’s why I brought it up initially, up above. I don’t see how minimizing language, such as his patients “might miss their appointments” isn’t directly missing the point.
