It's Bullshit Like This That Makes Me Want to Blow Up an Airplane

Comments

I understand what you're saying, but your headline is a little over the top.

on December 30, 2011 at 7:11 AM

Let me say this: Ryanair is likely the worst airline in the world. Doesn't surprise me... their staff is poorly trained and paid minimal wages. It's like flying on a scary old bus run by carnies.

on December 30, 2011 at 7:15 AM

Yeah, someone's FBI file just got a little bigger. Might want to add a little more time into your schedule next time you have a flight.

Soo on December 30, 2011 at 7:16 AM

It's Bullshit like this headline that make me want to stop reading Slog

Well not really. To be clear, I find the slog SOMETIMES to be stupidly simplistic.

corky on December 30, 2011 at 7:22 AM

@3 Given that Christians, Muslims, Republicans, and old white men also have a history of blowing things up maybe they should be denied the privilege of flight as well?

furburger on December 30, 2011 at 7:23 AM

Goldy, if you're propensity for shock-value headlines gets you on the Do Not Fly list, you'll only have yourself to blame.

Matt from Denver on December 30, 2011 at 7:26 AM

i swear, the collective mental age of stranger bloggers is about 12. between this and the endless "santorum" posts, it's really hard to take you guys seriously about anything.

tainte on December 30, 2011 at 7:47 AM

"It's Bullshit Like This That Makes Me Want to Blow Up an Airplane"

Thanks Goldy, time to make an anonymous tip to the FBI.

Kinison on December 30, 2011 at 7:49 AM

While the frequently pseudo-intellectual, judgemental, all black-clad, staunch and unswerving Bakuninists make us all look bad, I think Goldy needs to read more about anarchism before he knocks it. That having been said, this is a ridiculous thing for an airline to do. Anarchism gets equated with terrorism all the time, which is funny, only because for the most part, contemporary anarchists are too lazy to terrorize anybody. Also, because industrial civilization IS terrorism.

Erin Daisy on December 30, 2011 at 7:49 AM

Congratulations, Goldy. It took you until December 30th, but you win the award for the dumbest post of the year. You had some pretty stiff competition this year.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on December 30, 2011 at 7:56 AM

Unless you're the only person on board and Dick Cheney is the pilot, blowing up an airplane is a bad idea.

DOUG. on December 30, 2011 at 8:07 AM

What exactly does Occupy London have to do with this? Sounds more like something to do with the anarchist group he belongs to.

Not that his occupy participation is irrelevant, exactly.

Also, poor taste in the slog headline. I get the point, but poor taste.

wingedkat on December 30, 2011 at 8:28 AM

Matt @7:

Goldy, if you're propensity for shock-value headlines gets you on the Do Not Fly list, you'll only have yourself to blame.

So what you're saying is, you've got absolutely no problem with our nation's security apparatus being used to punish people for speech you find offensive, rather than, you know, being used to keep our nation secure. Hey, thanks for illustrating my point.

Goldy on December 30, 2011 at 8:42 AM

The pilot exercised his perogative and it was a good call. It's best to keep depravity off the plane for the safety and comfort of the passengers.

Phoebe in Wallingford on December 30, 2011 at 8:49 AM

OMG DISTRIBUTED LITERATURE.

@3: Anarchy's "history" of political violence was a 100 years ago. did the Malaga-bound tourist HAVE a bomb? no. he had DANGEROUS IDEAS.

if corporations are people, Ryan Air is the perfect Republican: scared of it's own shadow.

Max Solomon on December 30, 2011 at 8:50 AM

Anarchist reading material saved me on a flight to Seattle once.

It was one of those airlines where you pick your own seat (Southwest?) and I had run into someone I knew from high school so we decided to sit next to each other and chat for the 2 hour trip.

About 30 seconds after the seatbelt light goes off he starts digging out pamphlets on why I need to be a vegan. "Fuck," I thought to myself.

Thankfully he also had some anarchist themed reading material so I steered him directly towards that and we proceeded to have a fine conversation about anarchy without a second thought on a flight (pre-9/11).

Swearengen on December 30, 2011 at 8:54 AM

@ 15, no, but nice try. I happen to agree with you, that this anarchist being kept off the plane is bullshit. But not with your immature, attention-seeking headline. You like to shout "Fire!" in crowded theaters, too, I bet.

This is why you usually don't answer my points. I'm always more logical and sound than you are.

Matt from Denver on December 30, 2011 at 8:56 AM

Goldy @15, not only did you misread Matt's comment, you didn't notice the story is not about "our nation's security apparatus" but England's. Maybe your next cup should be decaf?

gloomy gus on December 30, 2011 at 8:58 AM

@8 Yep, back in dickety-six, when you wore an onion on your belt.

Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on December 30, 2011 at 9:02 AM

@15 "So what you're saying is, you've got absolutely no problem with our nation's security apparatus being used to punish people for speech you find offensive".

A plane is not a staging area to demonstrate. It is not and should never be considered a zone were people can exercise their first amendment rights.

Kinison on December 30, 2011 at 9:53 AM

@3 Christians have a history of violence, too. Are we getting banned yet?

Joe Szilagyi on December 30, 2011 at 10:01 AM

So they found a single book, no leaflets, yet the pilot feared that this young man might distribute said invisible leaflets and get people thinking about things they wouldn't normally think about in their day-to-day lives. Wait, which one is the terrorist again?

suddenlyorcas on December 30, 2011 at 10:04 AM

@8: It's a good thing the world doesn't actually work according to your suspicions. We have thinks like facts on our side. You have paranoia.

suddenlyorcas on December 30, 2011 at 10:07 AM

@16: So what you're saying is that you'd have no problem if a pilot decided to boot YOU off his flight for the same reasons. Interesting.

suddenlyorcas on December 30, 2011 at 10:10 AM

@22: How does simply having the reading material count as demonstrating? If anything, this is a case of the PILOT using the material as a political point, not the anarchist.

suddenlyorcas on December 30, 2011 at 10:13 AM

@22: Um... he was not kicked off a plane for leafletting passengers. He was prevented from boarding the plane, allegedly out of concern he might, simply because his luggage contained anarchist literature.

Goldy on December 30, 2011 at 10:14 AM

@22

Sorry, but im mostly replying to Goldy's insane rant about how planes should be covered under the first amendment right to free speech. It shouldnt, people should sit down, shut up and deal with the flight without any idiots (like Goldy) suggesting this is the ideal place to stage a protest.

But I wouldnt have any problems with preventing an idiot trying to board a plane with a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook. You get arrested in an airport just by saying "Hi Jack!!", they made a joke about it in the movie Airplane, but its not a joke and before DHS took over, US Customs would indeed arrest and detain you for saying something so stupid. Goldy has probably black listed himself with the title of his rant.

Kinison on December 30, 2011 at 11:02 AM

So we can keep people off a plane if they might upset other passengers...?

Those suits in first class offend me.

beelzebufo on December 30, 2011 at 11:09 AM

@29 - I bet you're whacking off just thinking about it too.

Donolectic on December 30, 2011 at 11:41 AM

The way this story paints it (I can't vouch for this site, it was just the first hit besides Goldy's insane headline), he was canvassing (they used the word "upsetting") passengers in the waiting area and was pulled aside by security and questioned for an hour, which caused him to miss his flight.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/29/oc…

It's not clear whether he caught the next available flight.

Dougsf on December 30, 2011 at 12:39 PM

@me "This story paints it." Good Lord can I not write.

Dougsf on December 30, 2011 at 12:40 PM

Kinison @29:

Goldy has probably black listed himself with the title of his rant.

Sorry to disappoint you, but if this old headline didn't land me on the No Fly List, I sincerely doubt this new headline will.

But here's my question for you: Do you actually believe that I present an actual security threat? Or are you just a fan of using the power of the state to repress dissidents? And if the latter... why do you hate America?

Goldy on December 30, 2011 at 12:54 PM

@34 - I think we're berating you simply because our subconscious does not like to read those words attached something most of use find very unpleasant already. We're all a bit more superstitious than we'd like to be. No one thinks your a real threat, but a journalist engaging in hyperbole of course is going to be met with some, er... feedback.

Dougsf on December 30, 2011 at 1:01 PM

Yes, Goldy (and commenters) please make sweeping generalizations based on a few (apparent) facts. From this news article I think we can infer the existence of dark matter and the terrorist inclinations of Marsha Brady.

Does Goldy present a security threat? He presents more of a threat than the typical person who doesn't suggest blowing up planes. I think his garage and storage unit should be searched.

BLUE on December 30, 2011 at 1:13 PM

@ 34, how many hits did HA get in 2007, compared to SLOG today? My guess is significantly fewer, probably on the order of magnitudes.

Matt from Denver on December 30, 2011 at 1:53 PM

@37: June of 2007? HA was probably getting about 4 to 5 thousand page views a day, on average, back then. But the post was also up for most of a day on Huffington Post before the editors there chickened out and pulled it down.

As I joked in the comment threads at the time, if you really wanted to shut down JFK airport, just put "David Goldstein" on the No Fly List.

Goldy on December 30, 2011 at 2:46 PM

Ah, having it on Huffpo would be highly visible, all right. Good thing it wasn't 2002, eh?

Matt from Denver on December 30, 2011 at 3:20 PM

CrimeThINC, the group behind the lit the dude was carrying, is local and produces some awesome stuff:
http://crimethinc.com/

I really like this one:

http://crimethinc.com/texts/atoz/fuckpol…

NaFun on January 2, 2012 at 10:16 AM

Hey trolls... more than three day's later, and my door still hasn't been kicked in by Homeland Security. I guess they're more nuanced readers than you are.

Goldy on January 2, 2012 at 4:46 PM

@ 7 your, jackass; as in, improper your use of punctuation shows you're a jackass.

ladybot on January 2, 2012 at 7:51 PM

It's Bullshit Like This That Makes Me Want to Blow Up an Airplane

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