Slashdot Mirror
Southwest Declares Kevin Smith Too Fat To Fly
theodp writes "Kevin Smith is not a happy Southwest customer. The director was thrown off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, after being deemed too fat to fly. He later wound up on another Southwest flight, but has declared It's On and taken his rants to Twitter. 'Dear @SouthwestAir — I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?' he began. He also let the airline know he'd made it to his destination. 'Hey @SouthwestAir! I've landed in Burbank. Don't worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.'"
Yeah, except people in wheel chairs generally didn't choose to be in them. Fat people chose to become fat by overeating and underexercising.
No, it isn't genetic. Scientists have proven that, with the exception of EXTREMELY rare genetic diseases, the reason fat parents have fat children is because the children learn their poor exercise and diet habits.
Personal responsibility. Remember that? We should be encouraging it.
People with legitimate disabilities get special treatment because there's nothing they can do to suddenly be able to walk again. Fat people just need to lay off the donuts. It's not the same thing at all.
Personally, I think this is a great advertising campaign for Southwest Air. I'm glad to know that they're working to make sure that at least the part when you're on the plane will be as pleasant as possible. Next time I fly (if ever), I'll have to make sure I consider Southwest.
And before all the fatties cry about how hard they got it, how many of you make life easier for people with real disabilities like blindness or being in a wheel chair?
I would guess just about all of them. Though from your contemptuous tone I'm guessing you're one of those few people who DOESN'T try to accomodate people in armchairs or blind people.
Sure make excuses for them, enable their bad habits without mentioning the burden they pose for society in health care cost, visual pollution, etc, and consider this if the plane goes down will fatty fit thru the emergency exit?
The airplane seats were designed for a normal weight person, if you feel that's not correct then why don't you start your own airline for fatties, or as you so sensitively put it "large people".
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
The difference is that an overweight by body fat person can't fight.
Very large muscular people, OTOH, look really intimidating and you're unlikely to want to ask them to move.
The body fat person is already likely dosing themselves with food to overcome depression and/or anxiety disorder, so they already have no id. They'll move like cattle.
But on Southwest, like every other carrier, I already feel like cattle... mooo.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
he just comes across like another whingey fat ass. I've had people call me fat, i'm a little over weight. I make no excuses and i'm doing something about it, kevin smith should do the same.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
"It's perfectly fair that I pay for more space than a woman? "
Yep, it costs them more to ship your tall ass. Why wouldn't they charge you more? If you ship a package that is extra tall they charge more. Clearly they aren't simply discriminating against tall packages...
Over here, we just call them "fat fucks".
Person of size is useless. What size? Fat fuck describes it in a succinct, accurate manner.
Ironically, I've yet to see a "white" person who was actually white. Even albinos are some shade of pink...
>Most of us have watched the fatty squeezing
>down the aisle and dreaded the idea of them
sitting next to us. Why should I have to put
>up with someone like him taking up my space
>on an already cramped airline seat?
Because you didn't pay for a First Class ticket, plebe, so suck it. ;) Seriously, when you fly on a budget ticket or on a budget airline you have to expect getting crammed in next to...whoever. That's what makes it cheap. You never hear about anyone getting ejected from First Class for being too fat, because they don't pack you in like you're on the Middle Passage.
You seem to want First Class elbow room at steerage prices. For that you can't blame fat folks, you can blame your cheapness or poorness. Pony up the cash for guaranteed elbow room, or shut it; don't blame other people for YOUR problems.
Seriously, Kevin Smith isn't even very overweight. He's actually lost weight relative to how he looked in his earlier films, so I doubt he even qualifies as "obese" just "overweight". To kick him off a flight for his weight is a sign that the anti-fat hatred and discrimination we see among some in society has gone way too far. It's bad enough that we bombard people with unrealistic body images constantly on nearly every TV show, film, and magazine, which makes people (esp. women and young people) of "normal" body weight self-conscious; but, to promote outright discrimination and therefore hate of overweight people, even the slightly overweight like Kevin Smith, is unacceptable. We're not talking about the rare 500-lb. person who really does need to buy an extra seat to have adequate room, just an average overweight (and therefore, studies show, longer-lived relative to the underweight or even "normal") person.
I for one am glad the average weight in the U.S. is ballooning. Not only does it make me look more attractive relative to others, it makes discriminatory folks like you uncomfortable, and part of an endangered group of bigots. Fat people are one of the few minorities it's still "okay" to bully--but it's not right to bully anyone, least of all based on appearance, socially awkward behavior, or other shallow criteria. You'd think folks on Slashdot, especially, would be past the bullying stage, but I guess some people in any group will always hold social progress back...
"It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word."--Andrew Jackson
Spoken like a moron with poor reading skills. Try reading it again and maybe you won't sound so stupid.