[hecticskeptic]

But as the obnoxious "I-have-a-right" mindset grows ever more entrenched, clashes like the one involving the Knee Defender are apt to proliferate.

Exactly and what the airlines have done is create the clash of rights… the person in front has an implied ‘right’ to move their seat back since after all, they have been given a button that lets them recline. The person behind has an implied ‘right’ to reasonable space expectations and after all, that space comes with a tray that can be lowered for their personal use for the laptop.

The airlines caused this problem…it’s past time for them to actually solve it.

[Political Junkie Too]

...after all, that space comes with a tray that can be lowered for their personal use for the laptop.

That tray was not included for using a laptop. The tray was included for eating the meal that the airline served. Or used to serve.

It's only a recent phenomenon that people are working at their seats on their laptops. More likely, they are watching a movie. By "recent," I mean since the original design purpose of the tray was made obsolete by the airlines no longer serving hot (or any) meals like they used to.

Still, the new clash of "rights" is the right to recline and sleep vs. the right to work on their computer.

People may simplify it to recline vs. tray space, but it is really sleepers vs. workers.

-PJ