Okay. This post will probably bring up some things that will piss people off, so I'm gonna get that statement out right away.
I must have been out of the waking world of news when this came out, but I recently discovered that the Canadian Supreme Court passed a law that airlines are required to provide two seats to obese passengers who need them for the price of one seat.
Now, I've never been so heavy as to not fit into an airline seat. I've been somewhat uncomfortable in the seat, I've been awkwardly elbowing the person next to me or fighting with myself to not use the arm rest because they might want it. But... seriously, if I was to ever get to the point where I needed two seats to fly... I would FULLY expect to PAY for both seats. I think if someone truly had a medical condition which caused their weight to be so high that they couldn't fit into a standard seat, and they had medical proof from a Doctor, that would be a different story. But eating yourself to 600 pounds does NOT qualify for me.
I go back to remembering the flight back from Denver where the plane was delayed from leaving on time because of weight restrictions for the aircraft. We sat there as they burned off roughly 200 pounds of fuel. I probably blushed or something because I knew they could have just kicked me (and my buddy pass stand by ticket) off of the plane and it would have been just fine.
Are we, as Americans, really at the point where we are all so fat that the airplanes we fly in can't even take off without burning fuel from the tank? We can't fly with a full tank because we're so chunky.
Gah.
So anyway, if it hasn't become clear, though I'm not morbidly obese, and am just "plain ol" obese... I do NOT think this law should pass here in America, if it ever gets to that point. I think it's ridiculous, and now open myself up for people to agree with me, hate me, or yell at me, or whatever.
~J
3 comments:
I fully agree, and feel pretty qualified to do so, as I actually do weigh 600 pounds...well, 598 as of last Friday.
Anyway, I think the concept of airlines "discriminating" against super fat people by not offering two seats for the price of one is absolute and complete bullshit. When did the airlines become a charity instead of a business?
Its part of a much larger point of contention I have with the general "fat people as equal rights group" concept.
As someone who is larger than 99% of the earths population will ever get I feel I fully understand the issues that fat people deal with and why we do and can get to where we are, but I have never once felt like that was someone elses fault. Certainly not the movie theater for building small economical seats, or airlines or diners for doing the same thing. Fat people are not black people 50 years ago. They are not women 90 years ago. With the exception of extreme medical cases, anyone can lose the weight.
Meh, anyway, clearly I could go on and on, but I wont. Suffice to say that I feel empathy for so many obese people and wish them all the best (including myself obviously), but I do not think they deserve any special rights.
I like you already! Welcome to the HYC!
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