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New Photo Brings Flying Overweight Debate Back
The Gothamist ^ | 12/3/09 | Jen Carlson

Posted on 12/03/2009 1:46:28 PM PST by thefactor

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To: indylindy

You are a liberal. That is the only assumption that has been clear to make about you. You have b!tched about anyone who doesn’t agree with your position. Admitted that there was a problem. And blamed everybody except the one person responsible for createing it.

I, a conservative, have recognized the problem, accepted people for they are and offered fair solutions which require all interested parties to participate.

Good day LiberalLindy


61 posted on 12/04/2009 5:40:50 AM PST by GulfBreeze (Palin 2012 - For The Change You Wanted!!!)
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To: GulfBreeze

Oh yeah, I am a liberal because I believe in freedom and liberty and not demonizing citizens because I believe myself to be more high and mighty than them.

You post about these people like you really hate their guts.

I say you have a problem. Now have a good day.


62 posted on 12/04/2009 6:58:45 AM PST by dforest (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: indylindy

I don’t hate them at all. You are a silly liberal and you are probably lying about your weight.

I am 5’11” and 235 pounds, (a verifiable fat a$$). However, I can easily contain myself to the seat I purchase on an airplane.

You have so far provided 0 solutions to an obvious and real problem yet you feel free to attack those who do. THAT is what makes you a liberal.

If you are not a liberal then tell me, what is the right solution when 380 morbidly obese person purchases only one ticket on an otherwise full plane? What is the solution?

You have attacked me repeatedly but I have honest fair, compassionate solutions that protects everyone’s rights to their property. What have you got?


63 posted on 12/04/2009 7:13:39 AM PST by GulfBreeze (Palin 2012 - For The Change You Wanted!!!)
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To: paulycy

But they didn’t really solve the problem amicably. They gave the guy an extra seat which he never paid for. Had the flight been sold out that wouldn’t have been available to them, and even with the seats available it really isn’t fair to all the other passengers who paid for one seat and only got to occupy one seat.

Nobody violated anybody’s privacy. He was out in public. And again that “solution” isn’t universally available. The responsibility for the brouhaha lies with the guy that KNEW he was too big to fit in one seat and only bought one seat figuring the airline wouldn’t turn him away.

I’m not steamed at all. But I do get tired of the people who don’t understand their own size. If you’re a big guy that doesn’t fit in one seat then you need to deal with that. Don’t just buy one seat on a plane, or to a movie theater and “squeeze” in overflowing into the seat of the person next to you. Everybody needs to deal with who they are, people who are claustrophobic no better than to get into small spaces, they don’t expect the world to work around their problem.

If we “just let these things work out” then guys like him win. People unwilling to acknowledge who they are will continue to get extra seats they didn’t pay for and inconvenience those around them. It’s the same mentality as the person reported a couple of weeks ago who cut into line at a store and when confronted on it started screaming it was racist. “Just let these things work out” far too often translates to “let the rude person have their way”. Society used to enforce its rules through shame and ridicule, and those are still the best forces against these people. Somebody needed to look that guy right in the eye at the ticket counter and say “you’re too fat to fit in one seat, pay for a second or go home”.


64 posted on 12/04/2009 7:23:32 AM PST by discostu (The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression)
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To: GulfBreeze

You already said bye to me, remember? But I will play one more time. I am short. I have listened to many nasty remarks about my height. I won’t say it never hurt, but it doesn’t anymore and I laugh along with them. Fat people do that too.

Look. I am reasonable. I would not have a problem with the airline making it only possible to sit in 1st class if you cannot fit in the seat.

I wanted to be a stewardess years ago, but I could not because I didn’t meet the height requirements. Thats life.

What is unnecessary is the venom directed at this fellow by you. Everyone makes fat jokes, short people jokes, ugly jokes. Most of the time they are done in a nonpersonal manner.

Now since you are determined to pin names on me and others, I suggest you change your screenname to something like Ill Wind, or maybe Noxious Fumes, or perhaps Cyclone Sally. Gulf Breeze suggests something cool and pleasant.

Once again, top of the morning to you.


65 posted on 12/04/2009 7:50:34 AM PST by dforest (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: indylindy

Typical liberal. You are the one who started telling people that they hate the fat guy.

You feel compassion for people and that is great. I do too. As a result, I try to help them out of their plights. Another point that makes you an obvious liberal is that you choose to assign motives and blame on people who want to hold others responsible for the results of their behavior(s).

Being fat and being short are two different things. Shortness or tallness is almost entirely genetic unless an extreme version of malnutrition is at play. Being fat is the result of self disrespect, self loathing or general lack of self control for 99.9% of adult fat people. I am all for treating giganticly fat people with respect. I am not for pretending they aren’t giganticly fat or paying extra for my activities or requiring private companies to subsidize their poor life choices.

If someone can’t fit into a seat, airlines have a right to 1) Require that they purchase two seats, 2) Require that they purchase a larger seat in First Class at FULL FARE 3)Require that they wait for seating until the end and then try to coordniate two seats together for them. And it is ENTIRELY the airlines choice as to which coltion they want to put forward. It is their product and their choice on what to sell.


66 posted on 12/04/2009 8:08:37 AM PST by GulfBreeze (Palin 2012 - For The Change You Wanted!!!)
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To: thefactor

Something else I thought of:

Anyone that large needs to be seated in the back of the plane as he would be impossible for other passengers to get by in an emergency.


67 posted on 12/04/2009 8:13:01 AM PST by Let's Roll (Stop paying ACORN to destroy America! Cut off their government funding!)
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To: GulfBreeze

Enough. I didn’t read past the first line. My posting history is far from liberal. You might want to rethink your accusations.


68 posted on 12/04/2009 8:21:59 AM PST by dforest (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: indylindy

Such a liar. What liberal.


69 posted on 12/04/2009 8:45:36 AM PST by GulfBreeze (Palin 2012 - For The Change You Wanted!!!)
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To: GulfBreeze

Every post you make is proving me right. Think about it.

I will no longer respond, so do not waste any more of your insults.


70 posted on 12/04/2009 8:54:01 AM PST by dforest (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: indylindy

Good then buzz off. Maybe you can spend your time responding to your usual posting at DU. You are a hater and I would just as soon not have to deal with a hater like you anyway.


71 posted on 12/04/2009 9:04:03 AM PST by GulfBreeze (Palin 2012 - For The Change You Wanted!!!)
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To: discostu
If we “just let these things work out” then guys like him win.

God Forbid they have the same rights and respect as every other American citizen. That fat guy is deliberately trying to steal your comfort, I'm sure.

I just believe that you are flat wrong in this. That's your right, too.

This situation reminds me of a really old Saturday Night Live skit in which some people were riding in a car and they looked out the window and saw someone they didn't like the looks of and it made them feel uncomfortable. One of the characters said "why can't people like that just stay home." It was a very dark joke and the character was clearly being incredibly small. My wife and I never forgot it. We quote it now and then.

We'd both quote it right now.

72 posted on 12/04/2009 12:14:45 PM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: paulycy

He got to occupy two airline seats for the price of one. That MORE rights and respect than every other American citizen. The SAME rights would involve him paying for as many seats as he occupied.

I went out to my car at lunch today and found a dumbass that came in after me all over the line making it very difficult to get into my car and pull out. It dawned on me this really is what the whole thing boils down to. There’s a chunk of American society that has a hard time comprehending lines, whether it’s the implied lines of an airline chair, a checkout line, or parking lot stripes, they just can’t seem to keep their reality in the lines.

This has nothing to do with not liking the looks of the person. This has to do with the person infringing on the space of others and getting special privileges. What happens if there are no extra seats on that flight? This guy presented a hazard on the flight, he couldn’t fit properly in the seat, poor weather would have turned him into a projectile banging into other passengers, people couldn’t walk by him in the aisle. The “same rights and respect as every other American citizen” include NOT presenting a hazard to the other passengers on a plane, something he could ONLY do by occupying two seats. Had he BOUGHT two seats to start with there wouldn’t be any discussion, but no he didn’t do that. You should stop thinking about idiotic SNL sketches and start paying attention to the ACTUAL situation and what people are ACTUALLY saying, because your SNL sketch actually has zero bearing on this. He doesn’t need to stay home, he just needs to understand that he can’t fit in a single seat and buy two.


73 posted on 12/04/2009 12:23:25 PM PST by discostu (The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression)
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To: discostu
He got to occupy two airline seats for the price of one.

The airline simply chose to honor their contract to the passenger in this way. It in NO WAY harmed you. Still, you have a right to your point of view.

You seem to have issues here beyond this passenger. I hope they work out well for you. Bye.

74 posted on 12/04/2009 12:28:31 PM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: paulycy

Actually it harms everybody. In an age when the airlines charge everybody extra for everything, this guy got to take up two seats for the price of one. And who do you think paid for the extra fuel consumed to get him from point A to point B. The contract is you buy one seat you get one seat. He bought one seat and got two, that is not the same rights as every one else.

I have no issues at all. This passenger, and the people that excuse and enable and enable him getting extra treatment and pretend that it’s just a quest for equal treatment ARE an issue though. Even you yourself said the airline should have been able to charge the guy for two seats, funny how you’ve backed away from that and turned giving him a free seat into equal treatment.


75 posted on 12/04/2009 12:34:47 PM PST by discostu (The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression)
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