T-shirt intimidates airplane passengers

[Granny square]

Next thing you know we will all have to line up for clothing inspection beofre being allowed onto the aircraft. Our fellow passengers will have to give us a pass or fail, and if we don't get a 80% approval rating we don't board.

I find it more offensive when some inconsiderate twit brings a tuna sandwhich on board.

Don't forget too that the TSA obviously didn't find his shirt scary. But maybe they had common sense.

Ewwww, tuna! I've never experienced that one. I get headaches from some perfumes. I don't ask the person to go shower. I pop excedrin and migraine meds and know that it isn't all about me and my needs and wants.

 

[Granny square]

I would think the guy explained it was just a movie quote. But perhaps he was too astounded by the request. One would have thought the fa would have asked the context also.

But those are just musings.

 

[design_mom]

I wouldn't have thought twice if one of my kids grabbed the shirt for a flight. Because common sense should reign. I would have explained and my dear husband would have argued. .

But, isn't that what happened in the OP? Man wore shirt. Passengers who were not familiar with the movie were "intimidated" by the shirt and questioned the flight attendant. Flight attendant approached the man who explained that it was a movie quote. Flight attendant askedif he had another shirt he could could change into (didn't demand that he change). Passenger did not change. End of story.

To reiterate my position from earlier in the thread: I would have instantly recognized the quote and it would not have bothered me one bit. However, if you don't know who Inigo Montoya is, I can see it sounding similar enough to terrorist rhetoric and making some people "concerned."

I also agree that true terrorists are unlikely to wear their plans emblazoned on a t-shirt. However, as far as it being innocuous because it's "mass produced" -- there's no way to tell. My friend has screen printing equipment in his basement, and I'm a graphic designer. We could make a professional-looking t-shirt that said anything we wanted it to. I'm sure we're not the only ones who could do this... and that shirt is not a complicated design.

I guess what makes me sad about this entire thread is how many people don't seem to give a flying fig about other people's feelings. It's all "I'll wear whatever I want and if you don't like it, that's your problem not mine." If I owned that shirt, I might not have anticipated the reaction on the plane. But I would have been apologetic if I'd scared someone -- and I certainly wouldn't wear it on a plane after hearing this story. It's not my intent to make others uncomfortable. I'll choose something else. I think that's common courtesy... and something that's lacking a lot of times. (Same with eating a tuna sandwich or wearing heavy perfume on a plane. It's within your "rights" but it's not good manners.)

 

[Granny square]

Caring about feelings goes both ways. I don't manipulate people with my feelings and don't expect others to do so either.

Everyone is offended by something. Get over it. Realize that you can live your life differently than I live mine and it is ok. My niece is terrified of dogs, even pictures (autistic) Her mom doesn't ask that others hide their dogs or not wear their Doxie tshirt she teaches niece to deal with life.

I might think that violent video games are evil, but if I hear two kids describing kills, I'm not going to assume they are going to start killing people. If I see a tshirt with a reference to something I don't get I'm not going to go whining to a teacher. If I can suck it up and get over it so can other people. If I can think for a minute about other possibilities others can too.

So I do care about he feelings of others. I just don't think that people need to rule anyone's life but their own with their feelings.

 

[design_mom]

Everyone is offended by something. Get over it. Realize that you can live your life differently than I live mine and it is ok. My niece is terrified of dogs, even pictures (autistic) Her mom doesn't ask that others hide their dogs or not wear their Doxie tshirt she teaches niece to deal with life.

Would you intentionally wear your Doxie t-shirt to your niece's house, knowing she's afraid of it, because she needs to learn to "deal with life?" If so, you and I are very different. Once I knew my behavior was frightening to someone, I would change it if I could. There are plenty of people who wouldn't know she's afraid. She can learn from them. I would not intentionally frighten her just because it's within my rights to wear whatever I want.

I'll admit that I might not have anticipated that people would react the way they did to the shirt. However, once I knew (as I do from reading the OP) that people might react that way, and realizing that many people are "nervous fliers" even before 9/11, I would definitely choose something else rather than just say "deal with life." I think that's common courtesy.

 

[Granny square]

No, I know her. I would not guess that your kid has a fear of white rabbits and not wear one either.

I don't want to have to think of every possible negative situation every time I get dressed. People, wear tshirts for fun. Just because I don't like it or agree with it or understand it, it is up to me to deal with my feelings and opinions not up to you to change your clothes and bow to my insecurities.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

If I wore a shirt that says, "Bring back Snow White's Scary Adventures", would people worry that I was saying that the plane was going to go on a scary adventure? If I wore a shirt for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would people think that I was threatening them? The terrorists want us to live in fear and it certainly looks like their mission is accomplished.

 

[Granny square]

You'd best run...the nerds are going to take over!

 

[Granny square]

Weapons, oh no!! Oh wait the New Zealander would have recognized them and not been frightened...

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I have an honest question for people who are anxious about flying.

If you found this shirt anxiety provoking, would that anxiety diminish when the wearer took it off? If so, how would that work? Would you think "See, that's proof that he wasn't a terrorist afterall, because terrorists don't take off their shirts when you ask nicely". Or would you think "Gee, that flight attendant was persuasive, I bet she can convince him to forgo violence too". Or is it simply that looking at something that references death is scary, and once it's out of sight you can put it out of mind?

If taking off the shirt would make a difference for you in the moment, does the logic still make sense when you reflect on it later? Or does it seem irrational in retrospect?

I love the shirt, but now that I know that it would make people uncomfortable on a plane I'd probably not wear it there. I'm a nice person, I don't want to make people uncomfortable. But if I made the mistake of wearing it, I don't understand how taking it off would fix anything once it has already been seen.

 

[Granny square]

I have an honest question for people who are anxious about flying.

If you found this shirt anxiety provoking, would that anxiety diminish when the wearer took it off? If so, how would that work? Would you think "See, that's proof that he wasn't a terrorist afterall, because terrorists don't take off their shirts when you ask nicely". Or would you think "Gee, that flight attendant was persuasive, I bet she can convince him to forgo violence too". Or is it simply that looking at something that references death is scary, and once it's out of sight you can put it out of mind?

If taking off the shirt would make a difference for you in the moment, does the logic still make sense when you reflect on it later? Or does it seem irrational in retrospect?

I love the shirt, but now that I know that it would make people uncomfortable on a plane I'd probably not wear it there. I'm a nice person, I don't want to make people uncomfortable. But if I made the mistake of wearing it, I don't understand how taking it off would fix anything once it has already been seen.

Well said.

 

[sam_gordon]

Do we know the passenger who "complained" about the shirt asked for the shirt to be removed? Or did the FA take it upon herself to ask the wearer to change so as not to possibly upset someone else?

 

[Granny square]

Do we know the passenger who "complained" about the shirt asked for the shirt to be removed? Or did the FA take it upon herself to ask the wearer to change so as not to possibly upset someone else?

No clue. Wonder if he wanted the person removed from the plane? I gather it didn't bother him enough to get off the plane himself.

 

[robinb]

I love the shirt, but now that I know that it would make people uncomfortable on a plane I'd probably not wear it there. I'm a nice person, I don't want to make people uncomfortable. But if I made the mistake of wearing it, I don't understand how taking it off would fix anything once it has already been seen.

I'm not a nervous flyer, but I think that complying with the request to remove/change the t-shirt would have been an acknowledgement that he made a mistake that made someone uncomfortable. Nice people (like you) would make an effort to smooth things over once they knew they upset someone. Instead, he thumbed his nose at them. For me, the issue is not that he wore the t-shirt or that people were offended by it. The issue for me was his reaction to the request.

 

[ford family]

If I wore a shirt that says, "Bring back Snow White's Scary Adventures", would people worry that I was saying that the plane was going to go on a scary adventure? If I wore a shirt for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would people think that I was threatening them? The terrorists want us to live in fear and it certainly looks like their mission is accomplished.

Reductio ad absurdum

ford family

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I'm not a nervous flyer, but I think that complying with the request to remove/change the t-shirt would have been an acknowledgement that he made a mistake that made someone uncomfortable. Nice people (like you) would make an effort to smooth things over once they knew they upset someone. Instead, he thumbed his nose at them. For me, the issue is not that he wore the t-shirt or that people were offended by it. The issue for me was his reaction to the request.

His reaction was to explain that he didn't have another shirt and to ask if the pilot had one to share. If he didn't have a spare shirt what should he have done?

 

[cluvsdisney]

I'm not a nervous flyer, but I think that complying with the request to remove/change the t-shirt would have been an acknowledgement that he made a mistake that made someone uncomfortable. Nice people (like you) would make an effort to smooth things over once they knew they upset someone. Instead, he thumbed his nose at them. For me, the issue is not that he wore the t-shirt or that people were offended by it. The issue for me was his reaction to the request.

I didn't get that from the article at all. He didn't have another shirt and asked to borrow one from the pilot. To me, it sounds like he would have complied but didn't get the chance since he can't sit there with no shirt and he wasn't given another one to wear.

 

[robinb]

His reaction was to explain that he didn't have another shirt and to ask if the pilot had one to share. If he didn't have a spare shirt what should he have done?

I didn't get that from the article at all. He didn't have another shirt and asked to borrow one from the pilot. To me, it sounds like he would have complied but didn't get the chance since he can't sit there with no shirt and he wasn't given another one to wear.

Really? You don't think that asking to borrow a shirt from the pilot was snarky?

 

[cluvsdisney]

Really? You don't think that asking to borrow a shirt from the pilot was snarky?

No, who else would he borrow a shirt from? The airline asked him to change his shirt, the airline should provide a different shirt.

 

[Granny square]

I'm not a nervous flyer, but I think that complying with the request to remove/change the t-shirt would have been an acknowledgement that he made a mistake that made someone uncomfortable. Nice people (like you) would make an effort to smooth things over once they knew they upset someone. Instead, he thumbed his nose at them. For me, the issue is not that he wore the t-shirt or that people were offended by it. The issue for me was his reaction to the request.

It is just who one wants to relate to. You chose the person complaining. I choose the one being picked upon. The worrier wasn't concerned about the wearer's feelings. They had no problem jumping to the worst possible conclusion about a complete stranger.