DiscussMormonism.com

When you travel by airplane, you're called on board by zones. I'm assuming we'd all agree that it is good manners to go when your zone is called and not before. So why do people go on board before their seating zone is called? What I've seen happening a lot is people placing their carryon bags in the overhead compartment 4-5 rows in front of their seat. This way they get to exit the plane first. Of course when I got on the plane their bags were over my space and hence I had to wait until last to get off the plane. Is this just a wise maneuver on their part or would I be right in labelling this as bad manners, similar to cutting in line.

The first flight attendant I questioned about it wouldn't answer my question which I posed similar to what I posed above. He just called security on me. The security officer was white and since he didn't seem to have a reason to favor the black woman who had done this to me as the black flight attendant did, he admitted to me that it was wrong but that they could only stop it if they caught them in the act. All I had a right to from my ticket purchase was the seat, my bag was placed at the flight attendants discretion. Now would I have been willing to help an old woman or make something more convenient for a mother with kids? Sure, but that wasn't what was going on here. I've seen many able bodied young men and women do the same thing. And in the eyes of most people there the only sinner was me for having questioned what was done. I'm not sure what directs peoples view of right and wrong in this way or was it just a case of favoritism? I confronted two black men who cut in line in front of me at the courthouse. I was scolded by the clerk for questioning them if they had been waiting in line. I was told I was lucky I didn't get shot. That was probably true but I think the ethical outlook of the clerk was skewed. They were wrong for cutting in line not me for speaking up for myself and everyone else who was waiting in line. But in the end, security was called, the clerk still waited on the line hoppers first, security never came, and in the end they got their way.

Is a space in line worth getting shot over? A large part of me believes that it is. It's a question of right and wrong and to an extent a question of self respect and honor. Are there thieves on the street? Are you wrong for walking down the street? Are their rapists on the street? Does that make a woman wrong for walking down the street to the store after dark? I don't think so, but the other side would contend, if she had just waited until tomorrow to go to the store she wouldn't have been killed. Going to the store wasn't worth losing her life and she knew that there were thieves out after dark. How much does another man have to steal from you before you say, "Ok, this is worth a confrontation." If you want to fight, we'll fight, but I'm not going to let you do this to me without fighting to stick up for myself. In my case, I wasn't even allowed to verbally state my case. Had the security officer been black as well I'd probably be sitting in jail right now, all for saying that I didn't think it was right.

Another situation in which I think the issue of the morality of potentially igniting or engaging in a very costly fight in comparison to the nominal cost of what was actually taken unfairly is Rosa Parks. Many black people probably gave up their seats to white people before her. They could have fought just like she fought but chose not to do so. Perhaps they felt it was morally better to keep the peace than gain a better seat on the bus. After all, it's just a seat on the bus right? It's much more comfortable to stand on the bus even if it's every time than lose a limb in the war that results, right?

But I suppose one could have told the American colonists that the taxes still weren't as high as they were in England. And even if the British people think you are not equal in rights to those born in England, you're still better off to have your shops and commerce than to lose a limb in the war that will result if you resist? It makes sense that I feel this way. Those are the kind of people I descended from.

What one views as moral, right, or wrong, really has more to do with his immediate personal self interest. The other people on the plane viewed me as wrong because their interest was in not having to hear me argue my case. That was all that concerned them. The people who cut in line simply believe that it is good to cut in line if it is them but not someone else. What is right or wrong for me? It never really was a question of manners. It's a question of might or lack of might. What is right without might to define it?

You know I was thinking, all this is just over a few eggs.

If you want some catharsis I recommend this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubEJp7RXyA

Thank you so much for that video clip Nehor. It made me feel better to see the people clapping at the end of the exchange. But notice that woman never even apologized. It's a clear demonstration of her skewed sense of right and wrong. Sometimes it's just a misunderstanding, you know, it's not always clear where the line starts. But when even discussing the issue with those cutting line elicits a militant response, you really start to see how uncouth people really have become.

I had an old man friend confront a similar woman once and the people basically blamed him/shut him down for the simple reason that he was an old man and she was a sexy young woman. The issue of wrong and right was the same as in the clip. Had she been a fat and ugly woman I doubt the people would have reacted that way. In a way, being a very beautiful person changed the judgment of the people to an extent that in my view, the majority rule actually was basically enforcing a double standard in her favor. What power exists that is greater than sex appeal? It seems to bend the judgment and rule of the democracy stronger than any force I know, perhaps like gravity might bend and electric field. That's the pervasiveness of feminine power compared to the smallness of the world's strongest men toiling to lift a few boulders or pull a bus down the road.

The pediatrician who taught my med school class said it best. "Little boys manipulate things. Little girls manipulate people."