Airline passenger boasting 'Prepare to Die' on his chest is asked to change

[crocoduck_hunter]

Or "Let's be bad guys."

[Gutter Monkey]

Wynand Mullins boarded his Sydney flight wearing a T-shirt with the movie quote and was asked to change his attire after his fellow passengers complained that they felt threatened.

I just can't wrap my head around the thought processes that led to this chain of events.

"OMG he's wearing a t-shirt that reminds us of killing so he's surely going to kill us! Oh wait he agreed to take it off, we're now perfectly safe from the guy we were sure was going to attack us just a minute ago and we can all relax and enjoy our flight."

That guy you were afraid of is still sitting right there.

[crocoduck_hunter]

And what's more, now you're antagonized him.

[Richard W]

"My name is Sue. How do you do?"

Threat or not...?

[diddy]

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

I just can't wrap my head around the thought processes that led to this chain of events.

Neither can I. For one, it's a joke t-shirt. It's not boasting anything, it's quoting a line from a children's book that was made into a movie. That's it. And I fail to see how changing a person's shirt is going to make him less scary.

Honestly. People who are that shaken up probably shouldn't place themselves. I have seen that shirt in question (I laughed at it FWIW) and I have seen shirts that are far worse in public.

[MapleLeaf]

Originally Posted by diddy

I have seen that shirt in question (I laughed at it FWIW) and I have seen shirts that are far worse in public.

Ah. But not on a PLANE. A PLANE is a magical place where ANYONE CAN BE A TERRORIST

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

I just can't wrap my head around the thought processes that led to this chain of events.

I can. A great many people are afraid to fly because - as irrational as this is - they believe the plane will crash. Seeing someone wearing a "Prepare to die" T-shirt is only going to make it harder for them to keep it together long enough for the plane they're on to arrive safely at its intended destination.

Originally Posted by MapleLeaf

Ah. But not on a PLANE. A PLANE is a magical place where ANYONE CAN BE A TERRORIST

I don't think this is necessarily related to fears that there might be a terrorist aboard. People have been terrified of flying long before they were afraid of terrorists because airplanes can and do crash. And when they do, they kill everyone aboard.

[LadyLockeout]

No, they have the potential to kill everyone aboard, but so do car accidents, bus accidents, train accidents, boat accidents, etc etc. People can and do survive plane crashes, just like they can and do survive everything else.

I am absolutely petrified by flying, but even I can't wrap my head around demanding someone change their shirt for my own sense of comfort. Especially a well known movie quote.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Richard W

"My name is Sue. How do you do?"

Threat or not...?

Depends. Am I your father?

[Dear Babby]

I have seen the movie but am not particularly a fan. Even knowing the context of the quote, I would be a little put off by the shirt. I wouldn't complain about it but I would find it creepy.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Really? All it is is a t-shirt with a decal that looks like a "Hello My Name Is" sticker and the quote written inside the sticker. It's roughly as threatening as wearing a t-shirt with a Grateful Dead album cover on it.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by LadyLockeout

No, they have the potential to kill everyone aboard, but so do car accidents, bus accidents, train accidents, boat accidents, etc etc. People can and do survive plane crashes, just like they can and do survive everything else.

I don't think there have been more than a handful (if that) of survivors of crashes of large airliners. (Which is what we're talking about, after all. Anyone flying on someone's Cessna would likely know everyone aboard well enough to know if any of them was terrified of flying.)

[Stan The Man]

I guess it depends on how you define 'crash'.

Despite these disasters, the truth about most airplane accidents is that people do survive. In fact, according to the US government, 95.7 percent of the passengers involved in aviation accidents make it out alive. That's right. When the National Transportation Safety Board studied accidents between 1983 and 2000 involving 53,487 passengers, they found that 51,207 survived. That's 95.7 percent. When you exclude crashes in which no one had a chance of surviving - like Pan Am 103 - the NTSB says the survival rate in the most serious crashes is 76.6 percent. In other words, if your plane crashes, you aren't necessarily doomed, just like the passengers on US Air 1549 in the Hudson.

Link

[Sue]

Since when do statistics make any difference at all to someone who is afraid of flying? I don't care how many people tell me that flying is safer than driving I know it isn't and that's that.

[Psihala]

Originally Posted by Stan The Man

I guess it depends on how you define 'crash'.
Link

More specifically, it depends on the type of crash - not whether something was considered a crash. I'll grant that the odds of surviving something like a landing accident (a runway overrun, or a gear collapse for example) are really pretty good. The odds of surviving in a plane falling from a significant altitude to impact or running into the side of a mountain at flying speeds are not good at all. Both of these types are going to be considered an accident.

Of course, there are always going to be mitigating factors that will increase or decrease the odds. Those who were aboard the Hudson accident aircraft had a lot more going for them (a controllable airplane, an airplane that was equipped with flotation devices (not all of them are), rescue forces in the immediate area, and the exceptional performance of the crew) than did those who died aboard an Alaskan Air flight into the Pacific where nothing that the pilots could have done would have made any difference.

~Psihala

[HelloLlama]

I fail to see why the fact that some people have a fear of flying makes wearing a shirt like this is inappropriate. People have all sorts of different phobias. Since when are strangers expected to change their own behavior to accommodate another person's irrational fears?

[crocoduck_hunter]

I believe the answer to that is "Post 9/11."

[diddy]

Originally Posted by MapleLeaf

Ah. But not on a PLANE. A PLANE is a magical place where ANYONE CAN BE A TERRORIST

I never said where I saw said shirts ....