From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Sun Jun 23 2002 - 18:25:03 MDT
I missed whatever original message there may have been on this, just as
the message on teleportation that mentioned Alfie Bester seems not to have
made it here. But I have a comment anyway.
On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, Terry W. Colvin wrote:
> >"Obesity is an out-of-control epidemic in the U.S.A. "
That doesn't mean there's an excuse for punitive greed on the part of the
government-subsidized airlines.
New York City has subway trains built in Japan where the little
scooped-out seats are far smaller than the average American butt, even
if "fat" people are left out of the calculation. The result is that most
people don't get to sit comfortably on those case because they're sitting
partly on a ridge.
Daniel Pinkwater, one of America's funniest writers, commented on NPR the
other day that he doesn't fly anymore because airlines have turned into an
assault and a harrowing experience even before this decision. Anyone who
ever spent a half hour stuck on the ground unable to get on or off while
the air vents fail knows what he meant.
The truth is not just that Americans are larger than ever, but that
airplane seats are crowded close enough that people are dropping dead form
lack of circulation as a consequence. The airlines are not concerned about
your comfort or the horror of being next to a fat person on an overbooked
flight. (Just because airplanes CAN function with every seat filled
doesn't mean that is optimal, does it?) If they cared about your comfort,
they would already provide enough leg room and baggage room. And they'd
figure out what to do about a packed flight with screaming babies aboard.
And the grueling ordeal that is airline flight today, within the US
anyway, has not gotten any better with the new "safety" rules that are
sending this summer's vacationers scurrying to their cars. What we need,
of course, are passenger trains that are comfortable and fast, as in most
of the civilized world outside North America. THEN we would not have the
airport parking ordeal, the check-in ordeal, the misery of being aboard
flights without air, food, water, or functioning toilets (as in numerous
horror stories) or the increasing dangers of flight itself-- not improved
by the still unresolved safety issues that led to Reagan's attack on air
controllers who were, even before mass firings, overworked and
understaffed and working with outdated technology.
Naturally, what trains we do have are about to go bankrupt. So much for
the dream of being able to board an eastbound train after work, having a
pleasant dinner, a movie perhaps, a good night's sleep, and then having
lunch at your destination a continent away, traveling downtown to downtown
in comfortable and civilized fashion.
> >"Those of you who have been squashed on a long plane trip may
> >feel that justice is being done in one small way"
Being squashed is not because some people are larger than others, but
because the seats are too close for comfort even for skinny people, and
because there are too many seats in the first place.
> "Why should we be accommodating (usually you don't have much choice
> about being squashed) to someone who lacks respect for their body and
> health and who apparently doesn't give a hoot about the discomfort of
> others."
I find it totally bizarre that someone would even attempt an argument that
fat people lack respect for their body or their health and are imposing on
others as a result. The same nonsense said about people of other races or
who are less than beautiful by today's constantly changing definition
would bring cries of outrage at the idiocy and bigotry. I mean, don't you
find it offensive that an ugly person would impose on your sensitive
esthetics? That you have to fly with people of inferior races (meaning any
but your own)?
> There is nothing in being fat that is some sort of intense afront to the
> universe that it's a lack of respect to body and health.
Wheelchairs! Disabled! Ban 'em all! Why should we even have to look at
them, much less fly with them and breathe the same poorly filtered air for
hours at a time? And I don't want to fly with crazy people, either.
Everyone should take a test before being allowed onboard with me to see if
they're worthy. If they refuse such a test, obviously they "don't give a
hoot about the discomfort of others."
Silly me, if I were running a business that had lost a very considerable
percentage of its customers pretty much overnight, I'd be trying to find
ways to lure customers in, not drive them away. "You've bought your
nonrefundable ticket, now we're going to charge you full price at the last
minute... because we can." Very smart marketing move.
> "No one said that you have to take any instructions. However, it's only
> fair for you to pay for taking up the space of two people when limited
> resources exist."
What resources are limited? Most large people are not taking up two seats.
They may be larger than the dinky seat provided, but that's another
matter.
> Obesity tend to make people react strongly because it is at the
> intersection of other hot issues such as the ideal body image, the right
> to be oneself, ideas of sin and of aesthetic appeal. It is a convenient
> jumping-off point for a lot of people to push their agendas, as seen in
> the article above.
> of oppression or body image discrimination. While on the other hand
> attempts to "fix" the "problem" phrased in terms of health are
> acceptable as long as they work on the entire population (i.e. central
> influence over all citizen bodies).
Being one size is healthier than an obsession with weight-loss diets, with
self-hatred, with yo-yoing fluctuations and all the rest of it. That
self-acceptance is not a matter of disrespect for others, but of respect
for oneself-- something that at least SOME others are evidently not going
to supply, esp. when there's an economic motive that mitigates doing so.
> >From a transhumanist position, I think we should wend our way carefully
> here. In we end we both need morphological freedom and self direction.
> The SA policy is reasonable since it is a local action that makes people
> pay for their lifestyle choices - and opens the door for competing
> airlines without this rule; let the market sort this thing out.
I'm not sure what "lifestyle choice" is involved in being fat, but I'm
helping the market sort things out by refusing to fly on Southwest Air.
And that's not a function of MY size.
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, [Cochise County] Arizona (USA)
Primary: < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
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