Thursday, April 13, 2017

The Absurdity of the United Airlines Fiasco Isn't What You Think It Is

There is something important for us to learn from the United Airlines fiasco of a few days ago, and it isn't what you may think.

It isn't about the greedy evil airlines. In fact, United arranged for the removal of a paying customer in order to transport a flight crew. They lost money on that deal, and that is before you even get into lawsuits and loss in stock value.

No, the true absurdity in it is WE THE PEOPLE arranged for and paid for a corporation to mistreat one of their customers. It was officers of the Department of Aviation (a division of the Department of Transportation) who performed the passenger removal at the behest of United Airlines. WE THE PEOPLE did it.

You can say, "But I never voted for anyone to do this kind of thing?" Of course you did. You voted for the legislators and government executives who oversaw the unbridled growth of the U.S. government, to the point where it was growing in ways that nobody ever expected or planned. Elections have consequences. If you do not want the responsibility, then don't vote. Nobody forced you to vote because of a 15 second sound-bite.

United Airlines may have made the call to drag an innocent passenger off their flight, but it was YOUR representatives by proxy who did the actual "beat him up and drag him off".

George Carlin said it best:
...I don't vote, because I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. I know some people like to twist that around and say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain." But where's the logic in that? Think it through: If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and you screw things up, then you're responsible for what they've done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote—who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day—am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess you created. Which I had nothing to do with. Why can't people see that?

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