As IF Times

link Kevin Smith fuels row over fat plane passengers | Reuters.

You know it had to happen eventually.  Mr. Smith was informed he was a safety hazard and would be denied boarding onto a Southwest Airlines flight.  This not because of his larger than life movies, but literally because he was  larger than life; super sized.   The “world” famous director of such classics as “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” was so annoyed with his treatment by the airline that he went all a-twitter to marshall sympathy from his rabid fans.  Apparently a “wave” of protest from angry passengers supported Mr. Smith.  Although “wave” is not defined as an absolute number, I suspect at least 2, both likely of plus size.

It doesn’t appear to be an issue of size per se: Smith himself acknowledged as much by actually purchasing tickets for 2 seats on the original flight.  On the standby flight which he wanted to board, only one seat was available and apparently the airline made the judgement call that shoe-horning him in wouldn’t do.  What’s wrong with that?  Imagine if you were the person having to be seated next to a human wall.  God forbid that in some kind of emergency, you’d have to climb over Mt. Smith to exit the aircraft. 

It looks like he was inconvenienced by having to miss the flight and so he pursued today’s popular method of retribution, trial by media.  Disregarding the fact that calling attention to his story would heap even more ridicule upon his super size, he spins the story as one of indignance and positions himself as a champion for the rights of similarly proportioned fliers.  All of a sudden, it’s his rights that are being trampled.  As if.  What if his size 14’s were on someone else’s feet and he had to be seated next to a couple of people rolled into one?  My bet is that he would be complaining about his nose being buried in someone’s armpit.  Anyone who flies knows how ridiculously small the passenger spaces are these days for even an average sized person.  Having to sit next to anyone tipping 300 pounds on a flight of any length is unbearable.  It’s like sitting in a full nelson for hours.   What if you’re claustrophobic? What if you need to see daylight?

I’ve written numerous times on encroachments on personal freedoms, but guys like Smith use their “celebrity” in order to have things their way.  For them, it’s not about personal freedoms, it’s about their personal freedoms, others don’t matter.  What if he had an afro hairstyle the size of a hula hoop?  Are people obligated to accept his individuality?  Southwest for their part were wimpy in their response, apologizing and offering a credit.  What they should have offered were tickets on Sumo Airlines.

link Op-Ed Columnist – Palin’s Cunning Sleight of Hand – NYTimes.com.

If you’re just observing the political action in the U.S. and have no stake either way, as is my case, the level of commentary and debate is both fascinating and amusing.  Unlike the Canadian experience where the overwhelming political zeitgeist is liberal and socialist in inclination, the American environment is one of strongly held convictions from both the political left and right.

American politics is fascinating because of the deep roots and traditions of political parties there.  There are those whose entire lives are lived in the political arena and their very names are synonymous with politics.  Think of the Clintons and of course, the Kennedys whose only role in life is the pursuit and maintenance of political office.  

Cynicism aside, it’s hard to imagine that most anything said or done by such political animals is for any other reason than  the pursuit of some partisan end goal.  People whose lives are governed by polls and popularity will tailor their messages to assuage the most voters.  Professional handlers and spinmeisters constantly control the message.  Consequently, unless you happen to  blindly agree with all party policy issues, you would be rightly skeptical of anything that comes out of mouths of career politicians.  Politics is indeed a very sophisticated and evolved contact sport there.

The amusing side is the level of debate and discussion which stands in such stark contrast to the process just described.  Rather than issues based debate, much of what passes as repartee is essentially name calling by grownups who should behave better.   After all, most participants are highly educated legal types from Ivy League schools.  Throw partisan media into the mix and the whole process resembles high school for middle-agers. 

At the moment, the present administration is beset by failures on all policy fronts, on domestic economics, on domestic seccurity and most importantly failure to maintain the confidence of the electorate.  It becomes clearer as time passes that the people charged by the admistration to run programs have not been up to the task and this perception of incompetence is creeping up the ladder.  Appropriately, the oppostion’s job is to point out the failures of policy and bring up instances of incompetence where applicable.

In response, the administration prefers not to defend their policies, but to attack and demonize those that oppose them.  The favorite target of attacks is of course, Sarah Palin, an individual who doesn’t even hold public office.  As the condescending linked article notes, there are continued snide references to Palin’s intelligence and referral to her as a “sub-literate clown”.  Ironically, the Democrats actually do have a member of congress who was formerly(?)a professional clown.  The mainstream media have been particularly keen to jump on the “slag Palin program” as everyone from political commentators, to comedians have thrown cheap shots her way.  To watch from afar, it’s hard not to see this as a real life “Mean Girls” movie, since the venom is irrational, it is personal and it is tribal.  I seldom read any intelligent critique of her policies, the attacks are always directed at her perceived lack of intelligence and at her values.  Next time, pay attention to who exactly is calling for a “civilized debate” on the issues.  Hint: they’re in office.

Interestingly, as the author acknowledges, these attacks only serve to make Palin more popular among “the regular folk”, or those not in the high school “in crowd”. She is mobbed everywhere she goes despite not being a public politician.  Obviously, what she says and what she stands for is agreeable to many depite being disparged by the media.  There is a lesson here for politicians.  While the shrillness of the left has favor with the media and most entertainers, there is a large silent majority of “plain folk” for whom the snide exhortations of the Chris Matthews’ , of the Rosie O’ Donnells and Jon Stewarts and Katie Courics don’t resonate.  Just completed were a series of state elections widely accepted as referenda for the administration’s policy initiatives.  In resoundingly clear terms, the policies were rebuked by the electorate and surprisingly in erstwhile friendly states to the incumbents.  So far, it’s appeared to fall on deaf ears.  Global Warming.  Cap and Trade.  As if.  So who’s the dummy?

People can figure  out over tiime  the genuine article from manufactured personnas.  What the left leaning media may never figure out is that when they attack Palin, they attack a large contingent of Americans as well.  Palin’s message has been consistent and it appears unscripted.  She doesn’t appear to be governed by polls or popularity efforts.  It appears that her central message, that people should be more self reliant and not depend on government’s ever expanding role in their lives is one that’s embraced by many ordinary people.  Doesn’t sound stupid to me.