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Comment by ghshephard | Hacker News Reader

While, I understand on principle why he thinks he should be allowed to fly wearing any political statement he wishes - it's the kind of principle I had when I was less than 30. Nowadays, I completely understand and appreciate why passengers don't want to fly on a plane with someone who was wearing a shirt that had the phrases, "Moisture BOMBS", "Terrorists gonna kill us all", "Alert Level Blood Red."

At a certain point, you really don't want, "that guy" flying on your plane, and I'm happy the pilot made the call he did.

In the future - perhaps different attire might be considered before boarding a plane.

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I feel uncomfortable boarding planes with guys wearing NASCAR hats, subtly racist tattoos, etc.

Can I get those passengers kicked off, too? Or is it only non-white liberals who get booted?

What do NASCAR hats and racist tattoos have to do with this?

This person knowing full well about the hysteria around terrorism, bombs, and air flights went out of his way to cause an incident, and is now complaining about "white racists", unfair treatment, and the airlines.

All he had to do was show up dressed in a normal tee-shirt. But this wasn't good enough for him. He had to make a statement. In a cramped space of an airplane, of all the places. And it turns out the other people didn't get his joke.

They have a lot to do with it, actually. My point is that if some speech, communicated by wearing a T-shirt and nothing else, is actionable, then perhaps other forms of speech should be actionable, too.

This person did not "go out of his way" to cause an incident. He wore a T-shirt and that is all he did.

"Making a statement" is ok. This is America. We supposedly protect that right, even when we do not agree with the statement in question.

"Hysteria" resulting from events that happened 11 years ago and which will never occur again is not an excuse for abandoning that principle.

You do not stand in a theatre and shout "fire!" unless there is a fire.

You do not use the "bomb" word in an airport, unless you suspect something is a bomb.

How many people need to be pulled off flights for people to understand that sometimes you just don't need to wear the t-shirt (that looks creepily white power) covered in BOMB DEATH KILL.

> You do not stand in a theatre and shout "fire!" unless there is a fire.

Do you realize that that particular constructed example comes from an argument that protesting the draft should be illegal?

(Incidentally, Penn Jillette quite regularly stands in his theater and shouts "fire!" when there is no threat. Most people aren't idiots most of the time, so it's not a problem.)

> How many people need to be pulled off flights for people to understand that sometimes you just don't need to wear the t-shirt (that looks creepily white power) covered in BOMB DEATH KILL.

Maybe it needs to keep happening until our airport cops realize they're being idiots and return to dealing with actual security threats. Assuming they can find any.

Feel free to make statements where they are appropriate, and I'll defend your right to do so. Feel free to write material on your blog, to write books, to make speeches in public areas. Airplanes are not the places to be making statements. Actually, most public travel is probably an inappropriate place to be making statements.

If you feel the need to make statements about Bombs, terrorists, and Blood while attempting to board an airplane, don't be surprised if others feel the need to spend a bit more time talking about you based on your behavior.

And yes - there are many, many forms of speech that are actionable when crossing borders, boarding planes, entering federal buildings - one of the key jobs of a security person is to evaluate you based on things like delaying in answering simple questions, being evasive, appearing nervous, and yes - talking about bombs and terrorists killing all of us.

> In the future - perhaps different attire might be considered before boarding a plane.

In the not too distant future:

Don't wear attire supporting political party X if you plan to leave your house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope#As_a_fallacy

I don't think it's a fallacy when you extrapolate the slippery slope from watching the political establishment slide down said slope continuously for the past decade.

Very much agreed. I remember once going through airport security (in New Zealand) and the guy said, "Could you please take off your jacket." So I did, then remembered I'd put on my "DANGER, EXPLOSIVE" T-shirt that morning. I looked down and said, "Oops, that was kind of a silly T-shirt to wear, wasn't it?" "Sure was," he said, "Now zip up your jacket and get on the plane!"

When I was 20 I had a pen in my pocket and it leaked all over my pants on a flight.

On the way back home, I was going through airport security and had another pen in my pocked. I picked it up from the tray, turned to my friend behind me, and without thinking said in a fairly loud voice, "I wonder if this one will explode on the plane".

Dead silence as every eye in the room turns to this young kid holding up a pen. I just stammered out an apology as my face went bright red and I shoved it back in my pocket.

I can't actually believe they let me on the plane.

The irony is that terrorists will try to remain innocuous and a guy like this is less likely to be dangerous than average.

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