02-16-2010
11:58 PM
1 Love
First off, I'm not a Southwest fan. After several negative experiences with the airline over the years, I'm unlikely to be a customer again. I feel that way about NWA also, but that is for another website.
My concern is the ongoing "anti-fat" bias that seems to be looming everywhere these days. Just like it is OK to lie to a car salesman, or mistreat a telemarketer, it seems acceptable to kick the fat people when they are down. Movies do it, radio-jocks do it, and airlines also among many organizations. Dirty looks, sideways glances, shaking heads, booths that don't fit in newer chain restaurants, mainline stores such as Kohl's and Sears that don't stock anything larger than regular sizes. Well, much of the world is fat. We vote, have feelings, and rights guaranteed under the constitution and our money spends too.
As a fat person who does happen to fit into one airline seat, I've had to sit next to smelly people, people who don't brush their teeth, one who had lice (frightening), a couple who must have been edgy gang members, not to mention the assembly of older people and those who seemed to have to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes. Should we not allow them to fly also because the person next to them might be uncomfortable? Heck, I had someone change a diaper next to me on a transatlantic flight, then stuff the diaper into the seat pocket in front of her!
My point is that we should all look past each other differences and realize that there are real people underneath that exterior. No one is perfect, and has at least one trait annoying to someone else. Fat is not the end of the world if one sits next to you. Stop the bias and prejudice!
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