Land of the free indeed

Discussion Open Forum
1

Check it out…

From The BBC:

Pair grounded over ‘lewd’ shirt

A US couple have been removed from a New York-bound flight at Miami airport because crew members considered a T-shirt one of them was wearing obscene.
Oscar Arela and his girlfriend were kicked off the American Airlines flight 952 after he refused to change his T-shirt depicting a bare breast.

The couple said the move violated their constitutional right to free speech.

American Airline spokesman Tim Wagner said the crew acted properly and that the couple had their fare refunded.

“It’s a picture of a man and woman, and the woman’s breast is showing,” Mr Arela’s girlfriend, Tala Tow, told the Miami Herald newspaper.

“The flight attendant basically walked up to us and yelled, ‘You have to take off that shirt right now’.”

Mr Arela refused to change the T-shirt or turn it inside out.

The couple - who were making a connecting flight home from Costa Rica - said that nobody on their early flight objected to the T-shirt.

But Mr Wagner justified the crew’s decision, saying that the T-shirt was more graphic than described by the couple.

The spokesman said that American Airlines’ policy clearly stated that someone “clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offence to other passengers” can be removed from a flight. :loco: :loco: :astonished:

Tom Hill says fly Delta:

Yall be goin on vacation? See the thing is, if you bout to be up out dis biatch. Check it. Beep Delta. We be flying all ova dis bitch.Let me ax you somin. You fian ta raise up and git yo travel on? From the interior to the exterior. You got to get your posterial in one dese big ass planes. Shit dog! You lay in da cut straight sittin on your ass an gitting yo drink on an snack on while we floss and fly dis mo fo all ova dis bitch.East coast, west coast, it don’t matta. Ni–a, we git’cha to yo ho an back lickety split, no shit. Then you be back at yo crib chillin wit a flat splif thinkin we was some crazy ass angel. Hell dese phat, round, thick ass vessels run up in da sky so deep it be cryin. Yeah, you thought it was rain. So bring a towel cause at Delta, it’s layed out like dat. Call one of dese fly ass Delta coochies an make all dem punk ass co-workers of yours catch da vapors as you be off an up out. You goin? We fly you dere. You ben? We done already flew up in dere. We got’chu covad like a Jimmy hat. At Delta we loves us some flyin an it be showin like a mother fucka.

( Taken from: DJ Yoda, How to cut and Paste vol.1)

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[quote]The couple said the move violated their constitutional right to free speech.[/quote]What “constitutional right to free speech” ? what exactly does the US constition say exactly about free speech ? I think some people need to read it before they quote it.

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Doesn’t AA have the right to refuse service to anyone? It isn’t a gov’t entity, is it? I think this has more to do with offering a comfortable flying environment than a flight safety issue. If I had children, I’d be miffed at those people’s insensitivity.

4

Stole this from Daasgrrl’s sig:

Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don’t know what your rights are, or who the person is you’re talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door. - Jack Handey

:smiley:

5

Land of the free indeed…

To me, it is an interesting quirk of human nature that one who excels at something will still be derided by onlookers for lacking perfection.

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[quote=“seeker4”]Land of the free indeed…

To me, it is an interesting quirk of human nature that one who excels at something will still be derided by onlookers for lacking perfection.[/quote]

:beer: :America: :thumbsup:

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I would take it off voluntarily if it offended someone simply because I would rather not offend people who are stuck with me on a plane or anywhere else. This seems to me just good manners. I included seekers line about human nature in my list of great quotes. It is right under Tigermans “Justification for Protecting Free speech” and “The Delphic Oracle on Virtue.” No mystery where my great quotes are coming from these days. I am not one prone to gushing displays of gratitude but what the heck…

8

It’s one of the interesting facets of American culture that many Americans are offended by the sight of the naked human form.

This kind of reaction doesn’t surprise me. North American airlines, with the exception of I hear JetBlue, are not known for their exemplary customer service. Are the airlines required to carry all who they sell tickets to?

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Question: How does a T-Shirt offend anyone while you are sitting in an air-plane?

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What if the guy sitting next to you on the plane was wearing a T shirt that stated:

[color=red]
RASCAL IS A LYING NAZI
[/color]

Would you be offended? What if your real name, rather than “Rascal” was used in the above statement printed on the T-shirt? Would you be offended?

If yes, why? Its just a T-shirt.

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No “constitutional” protection for wearing a T-shirt inside a private company’s airplane, but it seems like really bad customer relations. Considering how uppity the airlines have been behaving, I wouldn’t be surprised if that couple were put on a “no fly” list.

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I rephrase my question:

How does a T-Shirt showing the picture of a bare breast offend anyone while you are sitting in an air-plane where no one is forced to look at it except perhaps when passing by during boarding and exiting the plane, assuming people do not sit face to face to each others as in most commercial airplanes?

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My friend used to wear a hat that people always asked him to take off whether it was at the park, in school, at the supermarket etc.

It said

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The illusion of freedom is what makes America great!!! :smiley:

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[quote=“Rascal”]I rephrase my question:

How does a T-Shirt showing the picture of a bare breast offend anyone while you are sitting in an air-plane where no one is forced to look at it except perhaps when passing by during boarding and exiting the plane, assuming people do not sit face to face to each others as in most commercial airplanes?[/quote]

I think the deal is boarding and exiting, and walking around in the plane. If I was a parent, I might not want my children to see something like that. Or if I had had a masectomy. I have no problem with bare tits, but a lot of people, especially many women, don’t want that in a public palce. All it takes is one upset cranky person to rock the boat and you’ve got a fight or what not going on.

An airplane is a place where all walks of life are thrown together, and I think air travellers need to be considerate of others.

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The guy is free to wear his shirt on his own property or on any other person’s property, provided he has obtained consent. He, obviously, did not have the consent of the owner of the airplane. Where is the illusion in that?

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[quote=“Vannyel”]The illusion of freedom is what makes America great!!! :smiley:
[/quote]

Everything’s relative.

Especially my relatives.

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If I had children I’d teach them that the human body is not diry or offensive.

I don’t think they should have been thrown off the plane. If I read it right none of the customers on the flight was offended it was a memeber of the flight crew.

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There has to be a line somewhere. If there were absolutely none you would get some guy with a photo of…well let your imagination run wild. It isn’t suprising that people have disagreements about where the line is. And it is not my place to say what should or should not offend somebody else. If someone on a public conveyence found a photo on my shirt offensive and I could see how that might be, then I would change my shirt. I would not however offer up any sort of apology. In other situations they could take their sensitivities and shove them. I am all for free and wild self expression. Just not in public places frequented by children and families.

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America,
The home of drunken frat parties (See AXN Max Exposure), Playboy/ Hustler, Riots, president’s who cheat their way in to office. But not, home of the tit t-shirt.
Im not America bashing, just head scraching.