I had to opportunity today to hear Smith's side of the story in detail today, and really, what it boils down to is discrimination. Someone, at some point, looked at Kevin Smith and profiled him. This someone then proceeded to act on his or her prejudiced notions via other employees. That's really what it does boil down to, as is proven by what happened with another passenger on the very next Southwest flight Smith was on, where, despite sitting on an aisle seat where nobody was guaranteed to be sitting next to her, this passenger was told by the flight crew in no uncertain terms that she was too fat to fly and should buy another seat lest she inconvenience the passenger sitting next to her. Let me reiterate; the seat next to her was empty and was guaranteed to never be full. Smith, who was sitting on the other end of the three-seat aisle, had purchased the middle seat as well initially, because he liked to stretch out during flights. Mind you, this was after said passenger was ordered to sit in Smith's aisle.
As to Smith himself, well, not only did they toss him off the plane for being fat, they did so after the plane was full, and then they proceeded to dance around the reason they tossed him, saying that they weren't calling him fat, but he was "taking more than the space allotted to a single passenger."
Listening to this case, there's something to be said for the shockingly poor customer service values Southwest airlines displayed, but that's almost expected at this point. I could start telling you all the times I was chewed out at my old job for trying to help a customer, but that'd take a few weeks just for the abridged version, so I can't really blame the employees for that. No, what really got me about this case is that, as I mentioned earlier, it really was a case of profiling and discrimination, plain and simple.
What stuns me the most about hearing this whole story is that a collection of people thought this was perfectly acceptable. Somehow, the idea that they're treating a person adversely due to their physical appearance either did not register with these people, or they brushed it aside.
Let's be honest, fat passengers are not a threat to airline safety like the companies claim. If that were the case, they wouldn't be allowed on if they bought two seats, they would just be banned, period. You never see a sign on a carnival ride that says "if you're not this tall, you have to pay extra to ride", and there's a good reason for that. So not only are people gouged out of their money, but then they're publicly humiliated as part of company policy.
It really is not much more different than the discrimination of years past. It used to be women, then people of colour, and most recently it has been homosexuals. But the basic concept is the same across the board, even in regards to fat people; you'll be treated differently because of how you look and act.
And to those who say "fat people can control being fat", that's not an excuse. You can control being a douche too, can't you?
Now, I'm not saying we need to exist in an Orwellian society where thought is suppressed; you're perfectly free to dislike a person based on their appearance. That's something that occurs naturally, and nobody can control that, or should be forced to. Where I draw the line is when people act on their unfounded reactions to treat others in an inferior manner. Regardless of what you think, nobody has the right to treat anybody else in a derogatory manner due to factors and practices that are essentially harmless. It's true for gay people, it's true for fat people. Women don't hurt anyone by being women, so why treat them like they do? I'm not saying you have to like fat people, but you can't treat them like they're scum. That's crossing a line, and crossing this line under various pretenses has to end. Otherwise, we might as well just extinguish ourselves as a species now.
I thought Southwest treated him terribly, and he has every right to bring up the issue. I'm actually glad he brought up the issue, because this sort of thing probably happens fairly often. He's a big guy, but if he could slide down the armrests, then he's not breaking whatever policy they have about those sorts of situations.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it seems like they were hell bent on getting rid of him, and even when he proved them wrong, they knew they'd gone too far to back down and kicked him off anyway. Now they have themselves a serious PR issue.
Well, I wouldn't say that discrimination against women/people of color/homosexuals is in the past. Rather, people like to pretend we live in an era where these things (particularly the racial/gender concerns) don't cause problems anymore, but we don't. But I can see where it's interesting to dissect this "newly" emergent idea of fat discrimination. And it finally has a "celebrity" face on it too, which means it'll be getting more attention. As someone who is probably seen as "fat" sometimes, any discrimination I feel is lobbed at me on the basis of my weight pales in comparison to any discrimination I feel because I'm a woman. I can't really change my gender (I don't identify with another gender, and I couldn't afford a sex-change even if I did), so sexism pisses me off more than anything. Although it's incredibly difficult, and some people are more susceptible to being overweight than others, I still feel like I could change my weight. So my approach to any fat discrimination I experience is just to prove that person wrong (it happened to me with my summer job). However, I realize that Kevin Smith wasn't really given the opportunity to do this, nor do I think that there would be a plausible way for him to do it. That's unfortunate, and I really hope I never have to experience it. It does really really piss me off when people act like I'm less of a person because of my weight. The packaging has nothing to do with the insides. Ultimately, though, I'm not entirely sure that Kevin Smith wasn't treated badly based on "Jersey Girl" alone. If that was what was going on, then I'm siding with the airlines.
ReplyDeleteWe might as well extinguish the species. It's not like they're doing anything useful.
ReplyDeleteJennifer: Yeah, he did say that the same thing happened on the very next flight, so this kind of thing is obviously more common than we'd think. I don't think they expected this kind of backlash, so maybe they'll think twice now. Or atleast google up the passenger's name before ejecting them.
ReplyDeleteLeeraloo: Yeah, I worded that poorly.I meant to say that you can't kick someone off a plane for being a woman or black or gay without serious repurcussions. Racism and Sexism are both alive and thriving, but atleast there's some level of social awareness about them, no matter how minuscule. I should hope that if an order comes down the line to eject someone because they're a woman, that somewhere along the chain of command, someone will say "wait, what?" Although that may be a pipe dream too.
As to Smith being treated badly because of Jersey Girl, if that's the case, they better have banned Brett Ratner and Michael Bay from even approaching their counters, not to mention the Friedberg-Seltzer combo.
Domestic Diva: I want to disagree with you, but I'm having a hard time coming up with any points that prove otherwise. In 2 months, when we realise there was no telethon for the Chile earthquake the way there was for the Haiti earthquake, I'll have even fewer points to base the disagreement on.
I know it's several months down the road, but because of the Maura Kelly/Marie Claire thing I'm just now coming to your article.
ReplyDeleteActually, a lot of fat people cannot control our weight. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome often makes a woman (such as myself) fat - my doctor keeps saying my only hope is gastric bypass, frankly, I'd rather be fat - one of my mom's friends had a tumor on her thyroid that cannot be completely removed. Then of course there's genetics, depression, other thyroid problems, and medications that put weight on.
Yes, some of us are lazy over eaters, but there is often a deep down medical reason someone might be fat.
There's also mental reasons. Such as women who have been sexually assaulted who eat a lot in hopes that being fat will mean they'll never be raped again. I know that's another reason why I'm fat - not just PCOS - I don't like sex and wish to avoid ever having it. If I'm fat, then men won't want to date me, then I don't have to have sex. At least that's my irrational reasoning.
So really, fat people can't control being fat and those, like Maura Kelly, who think we can, need to be educated otherwise, not just given a free pass to think what they want.