Wednesday, March 29, 2017

"United’s Leggings Fiasco: The False Narrative Needs To Stop"

Via Instapundit:  If you’ve been on a plane or under a rock, you might have missed the story of the two young women who were denied boarding a United flight from Denver to Minneapolis yesterday. I get that manufactured outrage and hot takes are a way of life in 2017. I don’t love it.

The news cycle is driven by these stories, and outlets often have no choice but to participate in the frenzy or be left behind. I mean, I really would rather be spending my day writing my overdue report on Swiss First (sneak peek: it was amazing, and they had fondue onboard), but even here at OMAAT we’re being inundated with questions about this story.

Which wouldn’t even be a story, if folks could acknowledge that they might not have had all the facts initially, and would stop perpetuating a false narrative and witch hunt. Just as United apologized for their initial tweets, Shannon Watts and others should retract theirs, or at the very least recognize that they didn’t have their facts straight.

And as so often happens, the more attention this story gets, the murkier the facts become, and the details are obscured by sensationalism.

Sadly, the facts of the matter aren’t even that complicated, and it seems that certain individuals are avoiding the facts in order to further their own narrative.

I can’t believe we as a nation are still talking about leggings, but this story seems to be picking up steam rather than going away. If you’re over this story please skip this post — I certainly won’t be offended. If you’re surprised to hear that there were two young women denied boarding, not three, and that they were on employee tickets, not paid tickets, and that the rules are thus different… well — this post is for you.

What actually happened?

(click on this Link to the rest of the article)

8 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

from link:

The media reaction is ridiculous

... I have some sympathy for the well-written stories that were given sensationalist titles. But these are the kinds of headlines going around:

United Airlines barred 2 women from boarding a flight after a gate agent decided they were dressed inappropriately [New York Times]
One girl, around age 10 or 11, was told she could not board the plane because she was wearing leggings [Teen Vogue]
Here’s the Reason a Group of Girls Wearing Leggings Weren’t Allowed to Board a United Airlines Flight [Glamour]
United Airlines bars girls in leggings from boarding flight, citing mysteriously strict dress code [Jezebel]



It's the HACK press, no matter the story. Pressing for facts? Not interested.

Leland said...

Good article at the link.

In college, I had a friend, whose father worked for American. I'll always remember picking her up from the airport one summer as she came back to school as a "non-rev" on an American Eagle commuter. Everyone else was casually dressed and then she stepped off the plane in this sharp yellow dress and hat. (wow, remembering that moment...) Anyway, she dressed up because her father demanded it, because he knew the dress code. Small price to pay for a free trip.

bagoh20 said...

Entitlement. It what's in, daddio.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I heard that so far the airline is sticking with the dress code for their buddy pass passengers. Good for them.

ndspinelli said...

I know 2 young men who worked for an airline as baggage handlers, working their way through college. They used the free flights to see the world. One guy was a baseball fan and would just fly to cities to see MLB games. I picked them up a few times when they came to visit us in San Diego. They were ALWAYS dressed biz casual. That's the way it works. No surprise an entitled female would create this fuss.

AllenS said...

When I was in the military, I was able to buy tickets at half price, and the military had priority access to the plane. You had to be in uniform to fly.

I can't stand to fly these days, and it isn't the dress code that bothers me, but the number of passengers that just flat out stink. Take a fucking bath before going out in public!

ampersand said...

Shannon Watts is an anti gun activist who started an organization "Mother's Demand Action"
Even though she got an explanation for the non-rev rules she still refused to back off.
If I was United I would put her on a no fly list. I hate these digital lynch mobs.

Methadras said...

It's all clickbait. The internet has literally become a giant billboard of clickbait. Use grabbing and teasing headlines, click the link to see the rest. The whole thing is a fucking scam and a total non-story.