"The airline faced turbulence on social media over the weekend after an Associated Press journalist was on a flight from Houston to Albuquerque on Friday when she heard the pilot use the phrase 'let’s go Brandon,' writing that it brought on 'audible gasps from some passengers.' Audio of the pilot’s greeting, which The Washington Post could not independently verify, was separately circulating widely on social media. 'Southwest does not condone Employees sharing their personal political opinions while on the job serving our Customers, especially when comments are divisive and offensive,' the Texas-based airline said in a statement to The Washington Post on Sunday."
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
It's such a failure of judgment! It's one thing for ordinary citizens to think they're smart or cute or gutsy or whatever to say "Let's go Brandon," but do it on your own time, not to captive listeners who are dependent on you. What jackasses people have come to be!
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223 comments:
1 – 200 of 223 Newer› Newest»The leftist hysterics are the jackasses.
I kind of have to agree with Althouse, but people are getting pretty pissed off about these vaccine mandates.
Lighten up, Francis.
You might ask yourself WHY a Southwest pilot might say such a thing at this time.
It's less of a political statement than it is a labor dispute. Namely, the Biden vax mandate so enthusiastically pushed by Southwest Airlines.
(calls for) #civilitybullshit
If the pilot had said “”F**k Joe Biden” and not “Let’s go Brandon”, I would agree. But he didn’t.
All the co-pilots should chose Brandon as their personal pronoun.
Now do sports figures.
Admittedly their position of employment is not a matter of life or death, but it is a matter of a LOT of money, not only for them but for the entire organization they represent.
"when she heard the pilot use the phrase 'let’s go Brandon'"
Probably said, "Let's go to Branson."
Coming from the Black Lives Matter crowd, this is hilarious.
But do go on, Southwest- you really can't afford another work collapse as you mistreat your pilots.
Civility b.s. tag.
Southwest Airlines: Get the jab or be fired.
Pilot: "Let's go, Brandon!"
Never fly Southwest. Bunch of fascist dictators.
He shouldn't have said it. The things some people think it's ok to do astonish me.
That said, I don't believe there were audible gasps. Few noticed it. Fewer understood it. Fewer still cared. Of those last few, at least half agreed. Most likely, the only gasp came for the reporter herself, who is trying to gin up a controversy for personal advantage.
What would be the reaction if the pilot intoned "Let's go Joe!"? I'm betting it would be favorable.
We had a Congress woman yelling out "We're going to impeach this Motherfucker" about a President. Civility died when Progressives started calling BusHitler. NOW you expect everyone else to be civil?? Too late. You reap what you sow....
What jackasses people have come to be!
Althouse: Calls for civility are always bullshit, because the real motivation is political advantage. Usually, the civility-demander is trying to get opponents tone it down and not take advantage of whatever hot passion and energy they've got on their side.
We had a Congress woman yelling out "We're going to impeach this Motherfucker" about a President. You had a Speaker of the House tear up the State of the Union Speech just given by the President. Civility died when Progressives started calling BusHitler. NOW you expect everyone else to be civil?? Too late. You reap what you sow....
what if SouthWest adopts it as their slogan?
how many will stop flying with them?
why assume he is incompetent at the controls of a plane?
Maybe he should have taken a knee instead!
What are the odds we get to the bottom of this comment thread without a civility bullshit callout? Yes, there are a lot of reasons this pilot's commentary crosses a line, and the last line of this post is unassailable truth, yet...
In times like these lines get blurred, and people can lose their inhibitions - particularly when others are being encouraged to let their freak flag fly. Irritated flesh suffers all the more from contact when there is a total lack of salve.
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
"What jackasses people have come to be!"
To me this pilot jabbering isn't a big deal. I'm more bothered by the number of citizens that won't say that it's bad for DJT to try to maintain power w/o winning the last election. What is the cute phrase for F U Democracy? Let's Go Demi?
A lot of citizens have brains that are not capable of sussing out self-corruption.
IMHO.
And yet Delta airlines got involved in the Georgia voting law debate. And many airlines have encouraged the airplane staff to wear BLM swag.
So surprise! People who operate airplanes have political opinions.
The real problem is that the left is not used to seeing *their guy* spoken of negatively in every aspect of life. The right is used to it. The Oscars, the Emmys, books, magazines, University Administration, Professors. The SEIU unions at the hospitals. The unions who make your automobiles. The union workers who teach your children without you present every day.
All express political opinions all the time! All have pretty big roles in your life.
Need we be reminded about Colin Kaepernut's taking a knee during the National Anthem. All the left could say is: Rah, Rah, Rah! You conquer, Colin!
Now do mentally ill teachers who spent the last 4 years doing this kind of thing.
If I can't drive there myself, I'll just stay home. Who needs the drama?
The deplorables are getting uppity and talking back out loud to their betters. Can't have that.
After 4 years of Trump and his supporters are dangerous Nazis and racists who need to be stripped of their civil rights coming from the Corporate world, suddenly it's "offensive" to bad mouth the President.
Big yawner for me. Sauce for the Goose.
Southwest prides itself on funny intercom stuff from flight attendants and pilots. Only one lame, partisan joke away from, This is why we can't have nice things.
Ive never flown Southwest, never had a need. I also need to keep up my miles (52,000 so far this year and I'm not home yet.)
This makes me wonder if I should consider them for my next trip to show solidarity with the pilot and to stick a figurative finger in that FBI/journalist's eye. (It's an expression, not a threat and not terrorism)
Good on the pilot. We need more folks going around saying "Let's go Brandon!" Or perhaps just chalking "LGB!" on lampposts and sidewalks.
I've started seeing the the more ambiguous "LGBTQ" That could stand for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans, Queer if questioned about it. Just say "Hey, I'm an ally. What are you going on about?
Then if they say something like, "Oh, that's OK, I didn't know."
You can come back with "Absolutely. A Trump ally, that is."
Or it could mean "Let's Get Biden To Quit"
Myself, I am using LGBTQBNY for Lets get Biden to quit but not yet. We can't let him quit until after the Harris/Trump exchange takes place. After that, yeah. Five minutes later would not be too soon for me.
TRUMP 21! Bring it on!
John Henry
Let's Go Brandon?
I can't even...*sob*
Stephen Miller, who tweets as “Redsteeze” says he was on the flight in question and sat next to a young boy and his mother on the way for a bone marrow transplant. His presence and the trip’s purpose were known by the flight crew and flight attendants. The boy’s name wasBrandon.
Now I know...it’s Twitter, so a grain of salt is indicated. But it seems this post has made the following errors:
1. Believing any content from the Washington Post.
2. Not adopting a wait-and-see time period on emotional uproar stories that hit the national media. A delay of 24, 48 or even 72 hours is always a good idea, so you don’t get Jussie Smoletted.
3. Southwest pilots always make jokes. It’s a corporate approved schtick. Don’t like it. Don’t fly Southwest.
I think you’re forgetting who started “let’s go, Brandon” & the specific reasoning behind it. It’s being used as a euphemism, but it was only ever a lie- a coverup. A political statement in itself. IMhumbleO.
If a pilot were to say that w/in my hearing- I’d think it was funny. But then, I’ve been called a being w/a sloped forehead by very politically correct people w/no political agenda whatsoever - so, what would I know?
'How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt? '
Stupid, I agree.
But major corporations, including Southwest, bombard us every day about politics.
BLM, trans, LGBT, etc,
In their magazines (on the plane), on their web sites, Twitter feeds, Facebook, etc.
Oh, those political statements are OK?
Got it...
The asymmetry of Ann’s outrage…how Boring.
Let’s go Brandon should be new Southwest motto. Every airline…
He just said the wrong thing.
In the world of entertainment (show biz, sports) he would be considered
to be simply and responsibly using the platform afforded to him, just as long as he said the right thing.
Because the personal is always political, or so I'm told.
Seriously, I wish everyone would keep, or would have kept, their politics to themselves. That ship sailed a long time ago.
Yes, you are right. People have become even more jackassey than ever. For me, it would have made me do a soft chuckle. But if I had a progressive mind, I imagine I would have had visions of a suicide pilot letting us know he's taking us to our death. Or something.
That said...."How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people... It's such a failure of judgement." Maybe. But not hardly on the scale of running out of Afghanistan and leaving your countrymen and women and those that helped you behind to the Taliban. Scheduled for beheadings. Or encouraging the entire third world to come into our country via the southern border, inviting terrorists, criminals, drugs by the ton, and people expecting to be taken care of in a country so far in debt we cannot even look at the numbers any longer. Oh, and..here's judgement. Let's offer the world $450,000 a pop to come in while we fire our own citizens for not taking a mandatory and questionable vaccination. Judgement.
And on and on. I know one is not the same as the other. But 'Brandon' was borne out of citizens frustrations with what is going on. This is the most civil way most of us have to announce our displeasure. At least we're not parading in front of peoples houses with bullhorns or burning down city blocks. Yet.
The FBI agent/CNN Reporter called the pilot a "bioterrorist" because he refuses to be vaxxed.
Another reason to abolish both the FBI and CNN. How does she know that he is unvaccinated? Or that any other crew is unvaccinated? (Or vaccinated, either)
In any event, she is unlikely to come into contact with the pilot so what difference would it make?
If she feels a need to worry, she should worry about her seatmate. There's a 50% chance he/she is unvaccinated. I wonder if she is the kind of person who asks total strangers whether they are vaccinated.
My answer, when asked, is "I have a vaccination card leaving unspecified whether I have a vaccination and trying to say card in the most ambiguous way I can.
For those here wondering, I really do have a vaccination card. But it is NOBODY'S FUCKING BUSINESS whether I have gotten the vaccine.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
JetBlue paints sports team logos on some of their planes. Wonder if I can get them to paint Let’s go Brandon…
There was some credentialed Lady twit calling for and investigation as the words of the pilot showed proof of possible substance abuse.
This outrage is a close second intellectually speaking.
It doesn't surprise me that something like this would happen. Some years ago I flew home from Orlando to Milwaukee. As we were preparing to land, the pilot disparaged Milwaukee and the people who lived there. (One comparison was to a prison.) I assume he was trying to be funny or just didn't like his route that day. No one laughed.
When a pilot has no idea who is in the "audience"...keep mouth shut. Then again, it hasn't been three days yet. I always wait three days before I pay attention to a news story and maybe believe it. It's been taking longer lately.
Let's Go Brandon!
The pilot was stupid, but I would have more sympathy if not for all of the leftist propaganda I am forced to sit through in connection with my employment, not necessarily because my employer believes it, but because they are scared. Leftists today, including Biden assuming he is sentient enough to know what he is doing, are evil. They are trying to impose a creeping dictatorship over the country.
Southwest has a very loose and informal culture. No surprise.
"audible gasps"
I think those are illegal if you dare to question your government.
Interesting example from 2016:
https://qz.com/836690/a-united-ual-pilot-told-his-passengers-to-stop-arguing-about-donald-trump-or-take-another-flight/
“Let’s keep our opinions to ourselves on this particular matter at this particular time,” the pilot of the flight, from San Francisco to the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, is heard saying on a video recorded by a passenger that was posted to YouTube. He asked passengers to not to bring up politics because “we’re going to be in a metal tube at 35,000 feet.”
--
Perhaps the current SWA pilot is taking Joementia's vax mandate tentacles more personally than "political".
Perhaps it was unprofessional - - -
That the left want him crucified tells us something much more sinister.
Your little political protest is so "cute." Now sit down before we have to call the IRS and FBI and take you off the kidney transplant waitlist.
C'mon man, it is a lighthearted joke, all you snowflakes should settle down.
The latest NBC poll says that 71% of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track. Far from being controversial, the pilot was simply expressing the national consensus.
...and yes, if the lesson that we get out of this is politicizing every aspect of our lives should stop, I'm all in. But if the lesson is that criticizing Joe Biden is especially dangerous, I'm not interested.
Sorry, this is just civility bullshit, and I no longer will abide by rules that are selectively enforced. I think the pilot probably feels the same way. Who do you think most of the management of these corporations supported in the last election openly and financially?
Fuck Southwest's management, and fuck the people complaining about how the comment hurt their feelings. Go tell someone who gives a flying fuck.
It seems a perfectly reasonable response to having your job threatened. Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.
There's more than one genre running in all of this stuff that doesn't measure up today. It might be a framing issue.
people are calling into the PA paging systems at airports and paging "Lets go brandon"
Gasps! oh the horror! You shall not mock your Potemkin Crook. You might make the Kristol cry.
Don Surber uses the phrase /Hamas-Shielding AP reported/, as reminder to stress to avoid the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect for anything reported by AP
Southwest used to enjoy the attitudes as expressed by pilots -- a more light-hearted or even jaunty tone after identifying himself as Captain. It set the airline apart from the standard drone, and somehow reinforced the capability of the pilots themselves. But as the pandemic has shown, corporate lost its sense of humor, respect for its employees, and worst of all its great flexibility and confidence somewhere back along Totalitarian Road.
Just wait, things are really going to get bad in the years to come.
"If this analysis of the situation is correct, and I think it probably is, then it’s difficult to dispute Fonte’s view that Biden’s immigration policy represents an existential conflict for America."
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/10/the-migration-crisis-americanists-vs-transformationalists.php
It's okay. He was wearing his airline approved Black Lives Matter pin. Anyone who criticizes him is automatically a white supremacist and can be ignored and publicly hounded to suicide.
It’s almost as bad as members of the military being forced to listen to CRT propaganda.
True, it was a bit intrusive, but does it matter that much? Lighten up.
You presume facts not yet in evidence.
Neither the reporter's account nor the audio have been verified or corroborated and the investigation has yet to be completed.
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
Biden tried to get these guys fired. Fuck Joe Biden.
There's a lot of hurtin' cowboys out there.
I think this observation about the Southwest pilot is more apt.
"Of course it isn’t just this pilot: liberals are hysterical about “Let’s go Brandon,” not to mention the actual “F**k Joe Biden” chants that have broken out at college football games and elsewhere. You see this everywhere on Twitter, among other places.
Apparently these people have forgotten the last five years. If they thought it was unacceptably crude to say “F**k the president,” they should have thought of it in 2016. A simple Google search–“fuck Donald Trump”–turns up 17,900,000 results. One could cite endless examples of such vulgarity. Here is one, from the Facebook feed of a Lutheran minister who is engaged in campus ministry:"
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/10/lets-go-brandon-in-the-skies.php
Conservatives are supposed to put up with this garbage constantly, and now suddenly the news cares when it goes the other way. Yawn.
I don't like it from either side, but I dislike the modern state of journalism even more.
"It's such a failure of judgment! It's one thing for ordinary citizens to think they're smart or cute or gutsy or whatever to say "Let's go Brandon," but do it on your own time, not to captive listeners who are dependent on you. What jackasses people have come to be!"
Doesn't this happen all the time in college classes?
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
The Southwest management is imposing a political statement, their "Covid vaccine mandate", on every single Southwest employee.
Given a what a shit job the shots are doing at stopping the spread of Covid, and the recent research that people who've had the "Covid shots" spread Delta just as much as do the non-shot-receivers (it's not a vaccine. Vaccine's block you form getting or passing on the disease, and none of the Covid "vaccines" do that), every single corporate executive, including those at hospitals, who's issuing a "vaccine mandate" is engaging in a partisan taunt against all the workers.
What goes around, comes around.
Twix recently released a "halloween commercial" celebrating the murder of people who don't buy the trans agenda. you don't want politics and political taunts at work?
Then start attacking every single leftist who brings their politics to work.
You can start with any "teachers" who are pro CRT, or pro anything that divides people up by their skin color.
"Let's go Brandon". If your'e offended by that, you've got a stick up your ass.
See: Federal funding of "Piss Christ"
You don't have the right not to be offended
You're rather curmodgeonly today, between this post and the tomahawk chop post.
Not that I don't agree with you - -
but do it on your own time, not to captive listeners
Captive listeners like people who spend thousands of dollars on season tickets so they can watch a bunch of preening jackasses - at their place of employment - piss all over the National Anthem? That kind of captive listener?
Spewing politics on your own time went out the window when the left invaded every aspect of our lives with it.
We said you wouldn't like the new rules. But here they are, and they're here to stay until those who started it decide they've had enough.
Personally speaking, My default assumptions about pilots, law enforcement officers, firefighters, etc., is that they are almost all intelligent and well-adjusted people. I expect the extremely rare and isolated cases of drunken or disorderly behavior. And I do think they are rare and isolated.
What I never, ever would have expected was that 20% or 30% or more of those professionals would refuse COVID vaccinations. And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?
Maybe he was talking to his copilot named Brandon. Or maybe he was just asking Saint Brandon to watch over the flight.
"How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt? "
Golly! I know the feeling. There was place I used to go for coffee every morning. Then the servers began wanting to start a conversation about some racing event.
Sometimes they got very upset when I said "No, I just want the coffee."
I quit going there because I was afraid they might do something like spit in my coffee or worse - maybe even ricin powder instead of confectioner's sugar on top. I was afraid for my life.
Fella cant be too careful these days, Ann.
where are we, on the vaccine mandates? Are those still going into affect, Nov 1?
Tomorrow?
Let's say, Hypothetically,
that you're a pilot facing "voluntary termination" if you don't Get Vaccinated?
Think you'd be happy on your last day? (or, at all?)
"Audio of the pilot’s greeting, which The Washington Post could not independently verify, was separately circulating widely on social media." Who records the pilot's greeting?
Worse still, the pilot made the OK sign.
@Althouse, if Dietrich Bonhoeffer were still alive, he would certainly class you among the "stupids." Would you feel the same way about the airplane's captain if he had said something along the lines of "Three cheers for President Biden." Of course not!
Pilot should have said: Fuck JOe Biden.
The Resistance lives.
When you make war on people, they fight back. In this case it starts at the top: Biden. War is seldom kind.
On the one hand, I don't disagree with you. On the other hand, the left hates it and goes nuts when the right occasionally does what the left routinely does. It is civil disobedience. Resist. #PoopyPantsBiden. Let's go Brandon. People are fighting back. The left is afraid. Very afraid.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/31/devastating-nbc-polling-highlights-collapse-of-support-for-biden-and-democrat-party-overall-also-majority-of-public-do-not-support-vaccine-mandate/
There is no reasonableness to any fear that a person, even pilot, is any danger to anyone. Not like say "Allah Akbar" or "socialism for all"
Poor Brandon, the co-pilot.
Althouse said:
>How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?<
That's a non sequitur. His qualification to be trusted with lives is irrelevant to the rest of that, and vice versa.
That said, he was indeed out of line. It used to irk me when Democrats would gratuitously drop Trump hate in my presence on the assumption that surely I hated him too. This shoe on the other foot is just as obnoxious.
I don't see how this is different than athletes taking a knee. I could do without it from both sides, but if one is acceptable, then the other should be too.
Your trolling is a bit too obvious, Althouse.
Hmmmm….
You don’t like air travel, notwithstanding that commercial air travel is one of the safest things you can do inside or outside of your home (see the statistics on ladders, stairs, and rugs and accidents in the home).
You haven’t been part of a job-action related to a forced vaccination that you may not want or need, unlike the Southwest pilots. On the other hand, you haven’t led the cheers for various media and entertainment clowns who have truly used vulgarities against the then president, as the corporate media have. So I guess you are neutral, sorta.
The Southwest pilot may have been having some non-vulgar fun at the expense of the feeble Joe Biden and those who propped him up and dropped him into the White House. (Yawn). Maybe there was a sick kid named Brandon on the plane.
As to the contempt and disrespect for the Biden regime, it is going to get worse. You can’t have the last five years—or indeed the last 13 years—without some payback from those who have been insulted by the elites. And I am leaving out the attacks on Chimpy McBushitler.
Clinton led to Bush43 led to Obama led to Trump led to Biden. Don’t expect the cycle to end anytime soon, particularly with the empty, vicious, and increasingly senile Dopey Joe in the Oval Office.
What goes around, comes around. Boo-hoo, Biden.
Does that apply to actors and singers on stage? With a crowd full of people who came to see them act or sing?
Or football players?
Or volleyball teams?
The left has long harangued the right with actual vulgarity. Turnabout is absolutely fair play.
I wonder if any of the passengers said anything to the pilots as they were deplaning (since they're usually standing there at the front as you get off) or if they just chose to complain on social media. (Considering how little attention passengers pay to crew announcements, I'm surprised anyone heard it in the first place. Maybe it was another crew member who complained at first.)
According to a post on Powerline, pilots (not just Southwest ones) have been saying this to each other over their radios. I can imagine it starting as something political and then becoming just a meme phrase that becomes a habit to say, without any meaning behind it, and then gets said accidentally to passengers instead of the tower or another plane.
I don't remember this kind of social media and news uproar when United began selling BLM pins for its crew members to wear.
I feel like I have been captive and forced to listen to leftist ideology my entire life. Through the media, through my teachers in high school and college, and in 100 different venues that I’d prefer politics not to be even mentioned. The list could go on and on. The idea of getting angry because I am in an airplane and the captain says something political I don’t agree with is just absurd to me.
What a smelling salts moment for the professor.
LET'S GO BRANDON!!
There. I am a jackass. And you are what?
LET'S GO BRANDON!!
There. I am a jackass. And you are what?
This was in poor taste but when the “other side” makes kids sing hymns to Obama and makes you genuflect to gays and men in dresses or lose your job this is what you can expect.
If you tear down accepted social norms people will start behaving in ways you don’t want. That you are upset about this should trigger your own Civility Bullshit monitor. You think school boards hiding the crimes of boys taking advantage of lefty policies has nothing to do with trannies because “there wasn’t a policy already in place” but pilots shouldn’t say LGB? Seriously?
I think a doctor during a consultation, should not tell you that Trump sucks, but mine did a few years ago. I think a college professor should not tell her class that Trump sucks, but many do claiming free speech. I think a pilot on a commercial flight should not say let’s go Brandon, because of business reasons, why make your customers mad, but alas they do. To quote the greatest man civilization has yet produced, don’t get wee weed up about it.
It's surprising how voter fraud affects people's judgment.
Does this come under the Civility Bullshit category? Many of those people wearing shocked expressions were no doubt nodding along with "Fuck Trump" declarations in the past.
Ann, maybe you should link to the post you did in September 2020, during the riots, similarly criticizing American Airlines when it allowed its fought attendants to wear BLM pins on duty. Otherwise people reading today's post might think you were reacting impulsively and one-sidedly.
You did do such a post back then, didn't you?
Agreed. Politics on your own time, please.
On the other hand, it has nothing to do with being “qualified to be trusted with the lives of people” etc. It’s just poor professional manners.
I'm guessing that the real problem wasn't that people gasped, but that most of the other passengers agreed with him.
The establishment burned through all of its remaining social, political, and cultural capital to get rid of Trump, and this was the best that they could do: Biden. A dementia-addled old man surrounded by grifters and incompetents. And now the establishment is discovering that the old institutions and the old norms which they relied on as a measure of protection are gone. People are pissed, and are willing to say so publicly.
The people who have created the simulation call that a "Baader-Meinhof Tight-Cycle Error."
"Rest assured our techs are on it right now.
Go on about your business," they say.
Bear in mind that Southwest is one of the airlines that was ready to fire pilots for not obeying Biden's vaccine mandate. Pilots are not without pride and dignity, and being treated like this by an employer sticks in the craw, I would think.
This might be the origin of F Joe Biden chant, that later turned into 'Let's go Brandon' chant.
link to way back time machine video h/t Matt Taibbi
Some people never forget.
Meh. After years of having the left's political rants shoved down my captive-audience throat, I find it difficult to generate any sympathy for the poor liberals who were "subjected" to an unpleasant utterance. And I find silly the notion that the pilot demonstrated a lack of judgement relevant to his ability to fly a plane.
Having said that, I wouldn't have done it.
I agree that political commentary from the cockpit is a bad thing, but I fall in line with the “shut up and sing” view. People saying their fearful do need to lighten up at least a bit. I fly Southwest a couple of times a year, and they have always a little lighthearted (not to say unprofessional). I’m willing to have a viewpoint neutral approach, but I think if the script were flipped a lot of the angry folks would be ok with it and those saying let it go would be up in arms.
I agree that political commentary from the cockpit is a bad thing, but I fall in line with the “shut up and sing” view. People saying their fearful do need to lighten up at least a bit. I fly Southwest a couple of times a year, and they have always a little lighthearted (not to say unprofessional). I’m willing to have a viewpoint neutral approach, but I think if the script were flipped a lot of the angry folks would be ok with it and those saying let it go would be up in arms.
It was unprofessional and he shouldn't have said it, but I wonder if the phrase really packs the political punch we think it does. For some people it may just be the latest catchphrase.
In contrast to this phobic, visceral reaction; Matt Taibbi has a witty, thoughtful take on this incident and the ensuing liberal outrage.
Imagine how outraged everyone would be if a flight attendant said “Black Lives Matter”!
Though the media is being ridiculous about this, I agree the pilot is the main bad actor here. It is possible, and correct, to believe both that the media is absurd in how the get the vapors over any criticism of the president and their inconsistent concerns about civility, and that a commercial jet pilot should not be making political statements - even as an indirect but clear joke - over the PA.
Southwest is known for the humor of it's flight crews. From Democrats who remained silent while the worst possible aspersions were cast at President Trump, they can just go pleasure themselves.
'And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?'
Ha!
The first thing I want to do when the government (or anyone for that matter) tells me that I MUST do something is...OK, gladly!
Must be weird being a modern-day slave...I thought a republican president freed you.
I would't recommend that a pilot say this, but I suppose like many other commenters I am doubled over in laughter at the outrage among lefties who seemingly for the first time have encountered part of a major corporation confronting them with an undesired political message. I mean, dangerously doubled over with guffaws, may need to be hospitalized.
Practially the entire corporate sphere is covered in rainbow crepe, I've probably gotten emails from freakin' power adapter distributors expressing their solidarity with something or other, and my beloved Red Sox draped Black Lives Matter messaging in fifty-foot-font on the side of Fenway.... I do not have the time, patience, or enough electrons in storage to name every company behind the BLM/HateTrump/LBTQXYZ/CRT propaganda that has been forced upon me and other Americans. That includes both as corporate entities and know-they're-supported freelancers.
But one pilot cracks a single righty joke and the left goes beserk, including the Chief Beserker trying to enter the cockpit.
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
Jackass he may be--I'm undecided in this dawn of American soft totalitarianism. But these are entirely different realms of expertise. I am surprised you would compare, as an anathema, two unlike things.
I think a doctor during a consultation, should not tell you that Trump sucks, but mine did a few years ago.
I don't believe a doctor should ask if I have guns in the house moments before he checks my prostate, either. But that happened, too.
How about a little outrage help, Ann? No?
Didn't think so...
Freeman Hunt said...
Conservatives are supposed to put up with this garbage constantly, and now suddenly the news cares when it goes the other way. Yawn.
When you've lost Freeman, Ann...
Heh Heh.
https://beckernews.com/new-southwest-pilot-triggers-outrage-with-lets-go-brandon-sign-off-then-the-hidden-meaning-behind-it-comes-out-42835/
It’s not “civility bullshit” from me, because I take the same position looking to both sides. I have a 17 year record, but if you don’t what to check it or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
tim maguire said...
That said, I don't believe there were audible gasps. Few noticed it. Fewer understood it.
Agree. I think that's what a great deal of the hoopla is all about, I bet it was a huge knock to certain people's egos to find out that this was a thing and that they hadn't picked up on it until now.
Some 20 years ago, as a process engineer working on semiconductor tools, I had to travel from our HQ in DC to Burlington, VT. The flight from DC to Boston went as planned, but bad weather and some kind of pilot shortage held up the puddle jumper flight to Burlington from Boston. So from about 3pm until 11pm the flight was "delayed" for 30 minutes more, 30 minutes more, incrementally. Finally the flight was called, about two dozen weary travelers filled up the tiny plane, and the pilots boarded to get the flight underway.
No flight attendant. No "welcome aboard" broadcast. No safety lecture. The only announcement from the front of the plane was, "I don't know which of you SOBs couldn't drive to Burlington this afternoon, or fly there tomorrow, but I got called out here to fly you there by midnight. Buckle up and hang on." The takeoff was nearly vertical, the landing a near dive from altitude, and the pilots stayed seated up front while we shuffled off the plane.
A large percentage of pilots and the police are former active duty military, so naturally that predisposes pro-marxist pro-CRT Biden voter LLR Chuck to disliking them and disapproving of them even though as a class they are much, much smarter than LLR Chuck. And needless to say, more courageous and honorable as well.
'Meh. After years of having the left's political rants shoved down my captive-audience throat...'
Speaking of captive audiences...
We've had season tickets to a series of musicals in San Francisco for years now.
We are always ready to sprint out the door after the curtain comes down, because I am sick of the actors (whose salaries we help pay) seeming to think it's a good idea to lecture me/beg for money for some left-wing cause or another.
And that's on top of the plays being tweaked to include a snarky cheap applause line about Trump (lately) and Bush before him.
Inappropriate for sure. I think you are way over reacting though. Perhaps the pilot will be forced out because they will not get vacced?
It’s not “civility bullshit” from me, because I take the same position looking to both sides
Your admirable record is mainly a criticism of people who call for civility, no? The bullshit is they don't actually want civility.
You do call out a lot of bad actors, such as the people who have to make everything about Trump in the NYT.
For me, I would just like the take home lesson to be "Do you see how it feels? Do you see how it doesn't really sit all that well when someone just out of the blue foists their political opinion on you? Well, that's how it feels when MLB pulls its All Star Game out of Atlanta (how glorious the World Series is in Georgia and Texas!!), or you go to an NBA game and they've got "Jacob Blake" on their uniforms. Or you watch the Oscars. Or you get the 3,000th email from every stationery and makeup mailing list you are on telling you to "go vote!"'. Like, just stop it, because this is how it feels. It feels like it sucks a little of the joy out of your day, and a little kindness out of human interaction.
Remember when Ravelry, the knitting website, kicked off people who voiced support for Trump or made Trump-supporting patterns? That was a livelihood for some people. And they were just kicked out. Then in defense, all the lefties said "Knitting has always been political!"
So maybe the pilot can say flying airplanes has always been political.
but if you don’t what to check it or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
I checked. You’re no better than every other Twitter jerk.
Go back and see what you wrote. More importantly- go back and read what you didn’t write when you would/should/could have wrote.
You’re asymmetric…just another one…
Aircrews kick families off planes because asthmatic two years olds are unmasked for 17 seconds, the left cheers.
A pilot says “Let’s Go Brandon,” an
@AP
reporter tries to force her way into the locked armored cockpit and the entire left completely melts down in sync.
- from the Twitterverse
Asymmetrical Outrage would be a good title for a movie. The reaction against this pilot only reminds me of the terrible things the Left gets away with on a regular basis.
Let's not forget the AP propagandist on the flight who tried to get into the locked cockpit to cross-examine the pilot for his wrong think. And, does nobody care about the 1000's of people trapped in airports subjected to the lies, mis-information & propaganda emanating from all the TV's showing the clown news network?
"It is possible, and correct, to believe both that the media is absurd in how the get the vapors over any criticism of the president and their inconsistent concerns about civility, and that a commercial jet pilot should not be making political statements - even as an indirect but clear joke - over the PA."
^^this^^^ The pilot was wrong, but the president is not a god/king. We just spent 5 years witnessing the constant (and often deserved) mocking of Donald Trump. Before that, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, and Bush 2 got roasted throughout their tenure in office. It's a time honored American tradition. Grampa Simpson doesn't get a pass because it's politically inconvenient to point out how shitty a job he's doing.
And those who are unqualified to fly the aircraft are somehow qualified to judge the capacity of the pilot to fly it. Perhaps all those years of CNN excreting political lies about President Trump in the airport lounges and waiting areas have set a some pilots in a Chapelle mood concerning the Brandon Chant. A president so loved that his name is chanted at every sporting event across the country.
Ann, you have a point. But I feel you are missing the larger point. It is not "What jackasses people have come to be". Things didn't just happen to get to this point. What we are seeing, and have been seeing since DJT started his mean tweets, is pushback. People will not continue to be civil if they are being bombarded with incivility. And you can look at the record and see where the bombardment started. If the left is free to accuse me of racism with no proof and no consequence, then they can expect that my civility is at an end, and it did not just"come to be".
Perhaps this is what non-racist people are coerced into hearing Black Lives Matter but cannot respond that all lives matter.
So, if BLM is perfectly fine to impose on people, so is let’s go Brandon.
Gotta say, it’s fun to play by the Alinsky rules and it’s especially fun to watch leftists claim it’s unfair.
I hope ever southwest pilot says it in protest.
Grow up Ann! Are you really scared of words?
American canceled 1600 flights. Pilots may be insinuating FJB.
It could have been worse. They could have had to listen to it for an entire semester.
Have to agree to disagree on this one. "Let's go Brandon" is a harmless inside joke that many people don't even understand. It's not like he was delivering the kind of rant we get from the left all the time. As someone else noted, we've been inundated by left wing CNN in airports for years, this minor comment should go into the "equal time" column.
The larger story is the hysteria of the left over this, the attempt to get the guy fired for no good reason, and the weaselly Southwest management that is failing to support its pilot.
It’s not “civility bullshit” from me, because I take the same position looking to both sides.
So you'll be fine if someone starts carrying around the severed head of Biden... right?
Ann Althouse said...
It’s not “civility bullshit” from me, because I take the same position looking to both sides. I have a 17 year record, but if you don’t what to check it or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
*****************
OK, Althouse: it's time to Come to Jesus.
Do you think the feds mandating covid vaccines for all Americans, no matter what their age, or whether they've had covid or not, and no matter what their religious convictions are, is LEGAL, or not???
If you say it's LEGAL, tell us why. Please don't cough up Jacobson v. Mass., as that 1905 case is not on-point. (State, not federal, case...backed by legislation and not executive branch decrees...deadly disease...$5 fine, not firing and/or losing pensions for non-compliance...)
If you say it's ILLEGAL, where do you stand on people complaining about being forced against their will to engage in what they think is an illegal imposition on their bodies?
Conservatives didn't make the rules. The left and the GOPe made them. Conservatives are being mild compared to the left over the past 5 years. Conservatives were physically attacked in restaurants, at the theater, or in their own yard. A "Let's Go Brandon" is something the left shouldn't complain about. They should be happy that the chant seems to be sufficient at the moment as a vent of conservatives frustrations. Our President was spied upon and framed for something he didn't do by the political left and our own government. Let the right vent. The left might not want to know what comes next!
I don't think it is at all possible to disagree with Althouse that the pilot's remark was grossly inappropriate.
And the "whataboutism" in the comments thus far is kind of unfortunate. There are many occasions where politics and other strong opinions need to be aside. And ignored if another party won't respect this.
Let's hope Southwest enforces its rules consistently and evenhandedly. We're free to beat them up if they don't.
And let's make sure the copilot's name wasn't "Brandon".
Everyone just needs to chill and check their office calendar as to when their company's BLM, CRT, LGBTQ diversity and inclusion required seminar is scheduled. Can't miss that or HR will be calling. Checking that calendar would probably be a better use of your time than complaining about an airline pilot's political joke. Because missing that seminar might mean YOUR employment is on the line. Forget about the pilot!
I remember several years ago when a Southwest flight attendant said “eeny, meeny, miney, mo, take a seat it’s time to go”. She was viciously and publicly attacked by some black woman passenger who said she was triggered and appalled by that iteration of the children’s nursery rhyme. The flight attendant was fired by Southwest. An early example of cancel culture. The left will soon suck the individuality and personality from all.
I remember several years ago when a Southwest flight attendant said “eeny, meeny, miney, mo, take a seat it’s time to go”. She was viciously and publicly attacked by some black woman passenger who said she was triggered and appalled by that iteration of the children’s nursery rhyme. The flight attendant was fired by Southwest. An early example of cancel culture. The left will soon suck the individuality and personality from all.
"a stand-in for swearing at President Biden"
Fuck Biden is not swearing at President Biden even in the original. It's saying you're not going along with him. Fuck the consequences, roughly.
I wonder if the phrase really packs the political punch we think it does.
--------
!?need to remember Let's go Brandon is from Nascar interview clip?! - why do people think it is euphemism or something? can media explain?
>>"It's such a failure of judgment!"
Somebody quoted this above as "It's such a failure of judgement!" And I was, no, no, it can't be! Surely Althouse did *NOT* write "judgement"! And, sure enough, she didn't.
--gpm
"What I never, ever would have expected was that 20% or 30% or more of those professionals would refuse COVID vaccinations. And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?"
Well, of course you don't understand it, Chuck- you are a gutless and cretinous coward who can't understand when people stand on principle on any matter. Why don't you tell us something we don't already know about you.
I agree. Not the time or place or person. And I'm not a Biden voter.
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the education of people who willingly put themselves into seats inside a classroom in a school or university or law school imagine that she can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
The professor blogger in a huff doth protest too much.
BUMBLE BEE said...
And those who are unqualified to fly the aircraft are somehow qualified to judge the capacity of the pilot to fly it.
****************
THIS!! To the nth power!
y
How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?
If professional athletes can impose a political statement on the public while on the field as members of a professional sports team and not as private citizens, then why not a professional pilot? By all accounts, the pilot did not impose any political conditions on the passengers, he just expressed an opinion.
Some may argue that airline passengers are uniquely imposed upon because they cannot leave the aircraft. However, sports fans, who often pay much more for a stadium sear than an airline ticket, are also confined to the stadium in that leaving the stadium in protest to knee-taking involves forfeiture of the vacated seat without recompense. Season ticket holders have demanded refunds for "knee-taking" on the grounds that athletic events should be free of political demonstrations, especially demonstrations undertaken by team members, and have been rebuffed. So far no court has sided with those season ticket holders. Some courts have dismissed the cases without comment, a few have held that "taking the knee" is protected speech. So you buy the ticket and you take the chances.
So what are legitimate expectations of an airline pilot? Getting the passengers safely to their destinations on time with certain leeway given for weather and technical conditions are certainly legitimate expectations. What about passenger prejudices? Are pilots obliged to not offend? Surely not. What constitutes offense? There are some truly fucked up people flying hither and yon these days. Suppose a rather put-upon captain tells a morbidly obese woman that her miniature horse "emotional support animal" stinks like the Augean stables?
Althouse, I'd like to agree with you (reflexively, I still kinda do), but that ship has sailed. As some have stated above, I am constantly assulted by the unsolicited political opinions of others in too many non-political situations. I can't be stirred to outrage anymore by such venting.
I would be happier if most everyone shut the hell up, but that's a fool's errand now.
"I think a doctor during a consultation, should not tell you that Trump sucks, but mine did a few years ago."
My previous primary foisted his lefty ideas on health insurance every visit. I kept my mouth shut (who wants to piss off their doctor?). Thankfully, he retired awhile back.
I have a 17 year record, but if you don’t what to check it or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
I respect you for your honesty, although I often disagree. However, you seem to be trolling.
Maybe I do not understand people who live in the liberal bubble and their highly selective memories. I used to live in the bubble that still infects your mind. Take the red pill. It won't hurt you.
she heard the pilot use the phrase 'let’s go Brandon,'
I believe this.
'audible gasps from some passengers.'
I don't believe this.
Chuck said...
What I never, ever would have expected was that 20% or 30% or more of those professionals would refuse COVID vaccinations. And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?
Hmm, I don't know. how about "my body, my choice"?
Or, maybe they're thinking "we've still got mask mandates and social distancing mandates (not that Democrat politicians follow them) despite the widespread adoption of this crap 'vaccine'. I guess it's totally worthless then, and so I'm not going to inject it"
At least, that's what people think when they don't have their heads up their asses
Tim. Point of vocabulary. You say IF the left is free.... Nope. No if about it. No doubt. Should be "SINCE" and "SINCE FOREVER"
I know the two are conflated and "if" is supposed to mean "since", but "Since" is more forthright and leaves less room for argument.
“Let’s Go Brandon” has the innocent air of “c’mon man!” yet carries the subversive undertone akin to “Fuck Trump,” which was widely accepted within the national culture, at awards shows etc. Brandon is a healthy way to express general disgust with the ineptitude of our leaders beyond Biden. I think it has legs because of that broader meaning and G rating. The chick from NBC did us all a favor by uniting us against them. Them are stupid.
Tim is correct. Not when he writes that you have a point, but that this is a reasonable response to the racist accusations.
Oh Marybeth "Let's Go Brandon" has a meaning--just as the phrase "Tuck Frump" had a meaning when it was uttered in 2016 or 2017. Americans have a long and--at least in my opinion--glorious tradition of "sticking it to the man" verbally or otherwise.
And while I thought Robert DeNiro (or was it Al Pacino) rose from his irrelevance to have a sort of "Tuck Frump" rant at the Oscars, I didn't get my knickers in a knot over it.
According to a post on Powerline, pilots (not just Southwest ones) have been saying this to each other over their radios. I can imagine it starting as something political and then becoming just a meme phrase that becomes a habit to say, without any meaning behind it, and then gets said accidentally to passengers instead of the tower or another plane.
So similar to (but much less offensive than) the "Filipino monkey" night time radio calls on maritime VHF Ch 16 out in the Persian gulf. Those have been going on since at least the late 80's.
Jokes are funny. When you boil it down, that's what it was, a joke.
Our Professor Confusingly said...
or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
Seriously? We're supposed to "check" when you Did NOT say something?
You're asking us to prove a negative? Are we supposed to believe that you're That F*cking dumb?
Because, Sorry; i don't think that you're So Stupid that you think that we can prove a negative
I just think you're full of Crap
Some of you say, we've been putting up with this for years, so TFB. I understand the sentiment, and share it up to a point. But I'm so fed up with liberals foisting their politics on me - whether in the lazy assumption that we're all liberals here, or in the spirit of, If this bothers anyone, good: You deserve to be bothered - I'm just not going to cheer it when it comes from my side.
Previously I'd be inclined to agree with you but recently someone managed to persuade me that appeals to civility are always bullshit so now I have no opinion on the matter.
Narayanan said...
what if SouthWest adopts it as their slogan?
You are now free to "Let's Go Brandon" around the country.
Greg The Class Traitor said...
Chuck said...
What I never, ever would have expected was that 20% or 30% or more of those professionals would refuse COVID vaccinations. And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?
Hmm, I don't know. how about "my body, my choice"?
Or, maybe they're thinking "we've still got mask mandates and social distancing mandates (not that Democrat politicians follow them) despite the widespread adoption of this crap 'vaccine'. I guess it's totally worthless then, and so I'm not going to inject it"
At least, that's what people think when they don't have their heads up their asses
It's a vaccine that is free, and even if it doesn't make you happy, it makes your employer happy.
There are practically no serious side effects.
And, getting the vaccine as scheduled, and with a booster, will nearly assure you (if you are normally healthy) that you will never become one of those pilots who have been hospitalized or died as a result of COVID.
Here's a serious question, for which I don't already have the answer. I usually don't like asking such questions here. I don't trust most of you and don't care what most of you think. But perhaps I can get some of you good for nothings to do something useful. Let's figure out how many U.S. airline pilots have been hospitalized and/or have died as a result of COVID. It's a whole lot more than any aircraft-related deaths, for sure. Have 100 U.S. pilots died? 200? 500? More? How many worldwide pilots have died of COVID? Is COVID the leading cause of deaths for pilots worldwide over the last two years? I think that COVID is the leading cause of death for police officers in that time frame.
So with all of that -- a free, safe vaccine is available to prevent the leading cause of death among pilots -- it is still "a choice" as to whether one gets that vaccine. Choose that safe and effective vaccine, and keep your job. Or make the choice that will cost you your job. Like, driving drunk is a choice. Not paying your taxes is a choice. Experimenting with heroin mixed with Fentanyl is a choice. Hey, putting a loaded .45 in your mouth is a choice!
Chuck said..."What I never, ever would have expected was that 20% or 30% or more of those professionals would refuse COVID vaccinations. And that some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?"
Maybe they're thinking the vaccines have been a big dud. As an immune compromised (and vaccinated) person who yearns to travel again it pains me, but it is becoming apparent as more data becomes available that the vaccines have been greatly oversold. The latest was the Lancet study which found that vaccinated people are just as likely to pass on the virus as the unvaccinated. That blows the justification for mandates out of the water. Maybe the vaccine reduces how sick you get after you get infected(and we'll see if that claim falls too), but if it doesn't reduce your propensity to infect other people how can the mandate be justified?
Maybe that's what they're thinking.
Tell me Althouse. Did you push back on Robert De Niro’s “Fuck Trump” speech at the Tony awards? Did you push back on the audience of glitterati giving him a standing ovation? I honestly don’t remember, which I suspect means the pushback never happened. But if you can prove me wrong, then maybe you aren’t playing the civility bill shot game, despite the way it appears.
Like those NASCAR fans, he was clearly cheering on that race car driver. Either that or the disabled guy that Biden met with recently.
"How can anyone qualified to be trusted with the lives of people who willingly strap themselves into seats inside an inescapable tube in the sky imagine that he can impose any sort of political statement on them, let alone a partisan taunt?"
Ok.
Now do "CNN on all the boarding gate monitors".
Chuck said: "..some might still object even when mandated. Insane. What are they thinking?"
Maybe they know someone who suffered adverse event(s) and/or already had Covid, increasing AE risks for themselves...or they're "hesitance" allowed them to see the shots morph from curative to subscription model with likely increased risk from each successive shot.
Then there are the potential long term effects of the shots.
It is indeed hard to know which one of these factors were the tipping point.
Perhaps all of the above.
If I was on that plane you would have heard an audible guffaw.
I agree with you, Ann. But I'm also amused and happy that the pilot said it. The cognitive dissonance is real.
Ann's trolling produced 159 comments. Is that a record?
I like to think of the USA as a large aircraft. Washington DC is the cockpit. And Joe Biden is the pilot.
LA_Bob said...
I don't think it is at all possible to disagree with Althouse that the pilot's remark was grossly inappropriate.
Colin Kaepernick taking a knee at the start of a football game was grossly inappropriate
Saying "Let's Go Brandon" is an awesome thing to do, that should be done everywhere.
So you're wrong
And the "whataboutism" in the comments thus far is kind of unfortunate. There are many occasions where politics and other strong opinions need to be aside. And ignored if another party won't respect this.
No, what's unfortunate is that left wing assholes have been shoving the morning bullshit political views on the rest of us for years now.
Pushing back against that by making them suck it up and listen while we push our politics on them is not "unfortunate". it's justice.
"There are many occasions where politics and other strong opinions need to be aside"
Yeah, starting with asshole management pushing Covid mandates on employees for purely political reasons.
Get rid of that, then we'll talk about other inappropriate politics.
I'm getting in late on this. I had sudden onset nasal infection- I don't get sick slowly. Sunday, so I ended up at an urgent care center instead of at my doctors office. So of course I was tested for covid- with a quick combo flu-covid test. And for strep throat. Was a female NP- who expressed hearty disapproval of my not having been vaccinated, and was sure I had covid. I didn't. Just starting here at 0140 my time to feel a little bit better.
But anyway- us vaccine resisters- come in more than one variety. But it's the professions with degrees and training not getting the shots that upsets the sheeple. And I will note that pilots, engineers, boiler operators (me), and in general, people who needed to understand numbers to get their degree, and people who work with things that if they design or build something wrong, or operate things improperly- the failure has consequences. Buildings and bridges fall down, boiler's explode, etc. And by and large if you understand numbers, and you're reasonably healthy- you're not going to get an experimental vaccine with no history for a disease that isn't going to kill you. And it looks like a lot of the initial skepticism was right on target. There had never before been a successful coronavirus vaccine for humans or animals developed, and several attempts backfired. As the numbers come in, it seems so did this one.
What are some of the things coming out? But not in the mainstream media and not on Facebook where posting would get the "misinformation" banhammer? Well, turns out the "vaccine" while seemingly providing a limited window of protection against ONE type of spike protein, trains the body's immune system to ignore any other aspect of coronavirus fighting. It degrades, permanently, the immune system disease response. This is NOT a good thing.
The vaccinated- despite media hype- the vaccinated have been the primary driver behind the rapid development of covid variants. Now viruses aren't intelligent, but describing what happens we can refer to them as such. The viruses see that the attackers destroying their compatriots focus only on this one spike protein. Well viruses don't reproduce perfectly, so ones with a shorter spike or a spike in a different location, run in to attack. And are successful. And the body was trained to fight only the spike so the rest of the virus - and the clearly manufactured virus has a lot of rest- the rest of the virus sets to doing it's dirty work. And the body focuses on the new spike. And develops new spike antibodies, and the cycle repeats. Eventually it's time to resurrect the initial spike! But, hey, you've been vaccinated against it! Except that, as we've learned, that vax is only good for a max of 6 moths, and a year has passed. Well, that's Okay, the immune system has memory cells, they see the old spike reappearing and pump out the already stored in memory antibodies. Except- we've discovered, the vaccine for reasons unknown, doesn't allow the memory cells to work. So the antibodies need to be developed anew! Which takes longer. And did I mention that no attempt in the past to develop a coronavirus vaccine has been successful?
Professionals who work with numbers and concrete things have been vaccine skeptics since the beginning. You would think nurses and doctors- dealing with the dreaded covid would be unabashed supporters. Turns out there's a large cohort of them who say "No Way!". They're seeing what I just said is happening. They're not speaking out, because the nomenklatura has threatened their livelihoods if they speak negatively about the vaccine or even dare to suggest there may be successful ways to treat it or prevent it.
The censorship of dreaded covid discussion is unprecedented in America. And unhealthy.
Let's suppose a majority of the Southwest passengers applauded the comment.
What then, Althouse?
And what if he had simply announced "Go Braves!" ?
I know I'm just making the rubble bounce, but: PLEASE tell us why you think an airline pilot should be disqualified from flying a multi-engine jet, JUST BECAUSE he pissed off your prissy sensibilities.
You've just revealed that you are down with "cancel culture". Deep down, you must truly think the sun shines from your ass.
It's a bad night for you, Ann: you opened your kimono, and it wasn't pretty.
Ick.
Chuck said above that he never would have expected 20-30% of pilots to refuse vaccination.
I don't think his premise is accurate.
I suspect (with as much proof as Chuck has, which is zero) that the majority of that 20-30% is already vaccinated or immune through previous WuFlu illness. The ones who are already vaccinated object to the "Ihre Papieren bitte" aspect of the vaccine mandate.
I am in both camps (got sick pre-vaccine, then 2 Pfizers. Holding off on the booster).
Those are the only camps I want to be a part of.
Maybe Brandon we the co-pilot? 😄
Maybe Brandon was the co-pilot? 😄
Tom said...
Gotta say, it’s fun to play by the Alinsky rules and it’s especially fun to watch leftists claim it’s unfair.
Hear, Hear!!!!
The last couple of days, between the comments I've read here and the ones posted in response to the trans case in Virginia, I've begun to think Ms. Althouse was right in having us e mail comments and then combing through them before posting. In fact, she'd be right to just shut the comments section down. I'm just amazed at how thin skinned and hair trigger people are, and how they insist on having their political opinions reinforced without giving any thought to them. And it's not enough to say your opponents do the same thing and you're reacting to media bias or some such.
I don't want my pilot to share his politics with me, in the same way you don't want Bruce Springsteen to. I don't really want singers to share their politics onstage, I don't to hear about politics in a setting that isn't specifically political, I don't want to have a political opinion injected into an article that isn't about politics, I don't want to hear it from the pulpit. I don't care if it's conservative or liberal. It's so irritating that everything, EVERYTHING these days, is political. It's all people think about, it's all they talk about. 24 hour news, social media, comments sections in newspapers and web-sites--those are the things that will kill this country, because they make everything moment to moment and reactive. Everyone's a goddamned pundit.
If you are a conservative and Ms. Althouse has angered you because she thinks a little civility is in order and that maybe getting safely to your destination is the pilot's job, then you're exactly like those weepy Netflix employees who felt "threatened" by Dave Chappelle's TV special. And my advice to you is the same: "Grow a f***ing pair." If you're pissed off because of something someone said, sang, wrote, or filmed, then the Constitution is doing it's job and someone from your side can fire back and anger your opponents.
It is basic manners. One should not impose one's own political cheerleading upon a captive audience unless it is grade school.
Let's apply the same standard to "educators" expressing their politics while teaching our children
Ann Althouse said...
It’s not “civility bullshit” from me, because I take the same position looking to both sides. I have a 17 year record, but if you don’t what to check it or you can’t remember when I criticized the side you enjoy seeing criticized, you should do some checking before you attack me.
Self awareness is such an interesting topic. It is interesting watching people deal with what other people think of themselves with how they think of themselves.
Your issue is you have always looked down on the hoi polloi. Your class consciousness bleeds through in everything you write.
Your criticisms of "both sides" are not the same and you clearly have always wanted to be accepted by the people you view as intellectually superior. No matter how corrupt and venal the aristocracy proves itself you are always tilted in their favor.
We have been inundated with shit like this for decades. We have been criticized in endless ways by smug intellectuals that can't fix a flat tire much less an HVAC system. And when we get tired of people like you punching down we punch back up.
And you people can't take a punch. You are so tied to your tribe and your feelings of superiority over those little people and you all get angry when we don't know our place.
This is why you do not handle criticism of this type particularly well. In many ways you move outside the tribal structure. But it isn't natural to you and you still operate on a lifetime of prejudices against the deplorables that make your coddled life possible.
Mike Petrik said...
It is basic manners. One should not impose one's own political cheerleading upon a captive audience unless it is grade school.
Was this a clever jab at CRT or banal civility bullshit?
If you were making a joke it was quite good.
Chuck said...
It's a vaccine that is free, and even if it doesn't make you happy, it makes your employer happy.
This is how stupid you have to be to be a National Socialist.
People always claim they would have fought the Nazi Regime in Germany.
Here is your chance.
So a pilot who said "Let's Go Brandon" is crazier than an army of whiny lefties going DEFCON 1 on social media? Outstanding....
Carefully ignored by Chuck is that myocarditis is a known side effect of the mRNA vaccines. The FAA mandates physical examinations by FAA-certified physicians every six months to a year, depending on the pilot’s age, and if the pilot has myocarditis then that individual is grounded for at least six months and could wind up being grounded permanently, depending on the severity and duration of the heart inflammation. While if’s good that the FAA makes sure that pilots do not fly with heart conditions — I am aware of at least two crashes, both foreign airlines, due to the captain suffering a heart attack during takeoff and climb out — no pilot wants to lose his job over vaccination for a disease that has a low probability of fatality.
Joe T. said...
If you are a conservative and Ms. Althouse has angered you because she thinks a little civility is in order and that maybe getting safely to your destination is the pilot's job, then you're exactly like those weepy Netflix employees who felt "threatened" by Dave Chappelle's TV special. And my advice to you is the same: "Grow a f***ing pair." If you're pissed off because of something someone said, sang, wrote, or filmed, then the Constitution is doing it's job and someone from your side can fire back and anger your opponents.
Basic premise is good. Most of us just want to be left alone and want everything to be less political.
But the problem is people like you and Ann are more interested in appearing superior to everyone else than actually getting to a world where this kind of thing doesn't happen.
You are not inherently superior to us and you are not smarter than us. Deal with it.
If we are going to actually get to that world where things are less political the democrats and the people that own them will have to be defeated. Right now that means standing and speaking up.
In the future it most likely means defeating them in a military sense because they will not peacefully relinquish power.
I would definitely trust a pilot like this that was confident enough to make such a comment
We can't defeat the evolution of language and word play. Get over it.
Congratulations Brandon!
Brandon is the best!
Go Brandon Go!
Remember Brandon!
Long live the Brandon!
Everything with context can be twisted. Get over it or move to a country where speach is policed and controlled.
Get a sense of humor with more mobility and strength.
I realize I am really late to this comment thread, but I hope the comment review policy means this comment is read by at least Althouse. Other than the assertion of the reporter do we have any other evidence that the pilot said this? Surely there are some other passengers willing to confirm these facts.
Is the copilot name Brandon? Did the pilot say "we have landed"?
Given the deceptive reporting common in the Trump years is there ANY reason to take the reporter at their word?
Seems like what he might actually have said is "Let's Go, Braves."
Joe T doth protest too much.
We all got BLM'd ad nauseam last year by almost every large every commercial entity in the country.
A lone pilot, in the process of safely guiding his tube of folks up to 30K feet and down, launched a single LGB.
Lighten up, Joe.
"Self awareness is such an interesting topic. It is interesting watching people deal with what other people think of themselves with how they think of themselves.
"Your issue is you have always looked down on the hoi polloi. Your class consciousness bleeds through in everything you write.
"Your criticisms of "both sides" are not the same and you clearly have always wanted to be accepted by the people you view as intellectually superior. No matter how corrupt and venal the aristocracy proves itself you are always tilted in their favor."
A perfect example of the decline of liberal arts education in high school and college. No well reasoned argument against the points made. Instead, ad hominem attack.
"We all got BLM'd ad nauseam last year by almost every large every commercial entity in the country."
What a load of horseshit. You can go to Fox, talk radio, or a number of other sources for blowback against that. The idea, at this point, that you have nowhere else to go for refuge is just not plausible.
From the Beckernews link above:
“If @SouthwestAir doesn’t do anything, every passenger on that flight has standing to file a complaint with the@FAANews and they should do so,” CNN contributor Juliette Kayyem complained. “Southwest will then be compelled to investigate or defend him. Have fun with that. No messing around in the air. Bright line rule.”
She wasn’t done there. When Kayyem was asked about why she wanted complaints filed, she even accused the Southwest pilot of substance abuse.
“Yes pilot conduct,” she replied. “His words reflect possibility of anger management or substance abuse. It is worth asking.”
Asha Rangappa, another CNN contributor, also unloaded on the reported incident.
“As an experiment, I’d love for an @SouthwestAir pilot to say ‘Long live ISIS’ before taking off,” she said, directly comparing a ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ phrase to a threat of terrorism. “1) the plane would be immediately ground; 2) the pilot fired; and 3) a statement issued by the airline within a matter of hours.”
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The most humiliating thing about CNN and Politico’s reaction to the Southwest Airline story is that they got it completely wrong. There was a hidden reason why the Southwest pilot uttered the phrase, and it had to do with a sick boy.
In a response to Brian Taylor Cohen, journalist Stephen L. Miller disclosed that he had actually been on the flight. Miller shared firsthand knowledge of the meaning behind the pilot’s use of the phrase.
“Hello @SouthwestAir – I’d like to clear this up. I was a passenger on the flight in question,” Miller said. “There was a young kid on the flight next to me with his mother who told me he was on his way for a bone marrow transplant. His name was Brandon and the flight attendant was aware of this.”
@Joe T., not hardly. The AP employee who rushed the cockpit and pounded on its door is analogous to the snowflakes who work for Netflix and tried — with limited success — to get Dave Chappelle cancelled. And as an aside, had there been an air marshall aboard the AP employee could’ve, and should’ve been arrested at least, and possibly shot to death, depending on the degree to which she resisted arrest. That there is a huge overlap in the Venn diagram for the set of all people who support the anonymous Southwest captain and the set of all people who support Dave Chappelle should have been a clue.
Good stuff! https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/featured/armstrong-and-getty/content/2021-11-01-watch-listen-lgb-the-lets-go-brandon-song/
I'm glad that practically none corporations and governmental entities who are mandating vaccines are falling for the stupid excuse "I already had COVID." It's not a valid excuse; it's never been a valid excuse. Who says you had COVID? How are you going to prove it? Even if you had medical records showing it, it doesn't matter. What sort of immunity you might have in your own individual case as a result of previous exposure is not solid data for purposes of public health measure. You should get vaccinated. We will not -- should not -- start doing blood testing costing thousands of dollars on people who had previous COVID exposure just for the sake of their political fetishes. They can get vaccinated for about $23 in cost.
And show me ONE FREAKING AIRLINE PILOT WHO HAS BEEN DISABLED DUE TO ANY COMPLICATION(S) FROM A COVID VACCINE. FORE EVERY ONE, I'LL SHOW YOU TEN WHO HAVE DIED AS A RESULT OF COVID.
let alone a partisan taunt?
I've been watching this LGB response with this pilot over the weekend, and I don't understand the outrage. Tactically, there's a Streisand effect to trying to be outraged at it. But there's almost a psychosis underlying this phenomenon.
There's a real cognitive dissonance going on with the population. It's a true definition of 2 movies on one screen. One side see's a funny (and political) meme, the other side see's a disgusting attack on a sitting President.
Why is that? Why the outrage? Especially after 5 years of "Fuck Trump", etc?
Fuck Joe Biden as a chant was a challenge to the establishment power that forced Joe Biden, first in the Democrat primaries, then finally in the election campaign, over the finish line. I believe it was with the hope that once he was in power, everything would fall in line and everything would work out. That he could be directed to do the right thing from behind the scenes. That the progressive wing of the Democratic party could get their agenda through without having to campaign on it.
But as a President, Biden has proved to be the most ineffectual and unpersuasive president in the last century. He can't get his own party to even go along with his agenda. And everybody in the country is feeling like everything is moving in the wrong direction. I lived through the 70's and it has the same feel now. The emperor has no clothes. Fuck Joe Biden is a statement to that.
But "Fuck Joe Biden" is a chant that is vulgar by its very nature. It's easier to say it in a chant at a sporting event than say on a bumper sticker, or even a PA announcement. When the media tried to whitewash "Fuck Joe Biden" into "Lets go Brandon" it just highlighted how the media protected a candidate who wouldn't leave his basement to campaign. LGB has the added benefit of being 3 benign words. It doesn't mention Joe Biden, and there is no expletive. It's like Black Lives Matter. Who can be against 3 basic words, as they are written?
But like BLM, LGB is a replacement for a much larger sentiment. The sentiment that the emperor has no clothes, and likely was placed on the throne fraudulently. Those thoughts cannot be repeated as they will lead to a underlying question about the nature of our political process. So it morphs from a funny saying directed against the media into a challenge of reality as perceived. And that leads to rampant pushback.
A lesson learned for me today.
When I heard this story, I assumed it to be true as related. Knowing about the vaccine mandate and the pilots' union response, it did not surprise me to hear it. (For the record, to me "Let's go Brandon" should get a rap on the knuckles but "F... Joe Biden" would warrant a more official response.)
I never checked to see if it actually happened. We certainly have heard enough stories over the past few years that have turned into the listener heard it wrong to outright planned hoaxes that we should first question if it is even true. I did not. He may just be a Braves fan.
I'm guessing that the only person on the plane who was actually incensed was the AP reporter who heard the comment. The audible gasp was hers. She was lucky to not be arrested for banging on the cockpit door demanding a statement. Everybody else was just want to collect their stuff and get off the plane. All inveterate travelers ever listen for is the loud "bing" that signals it's OK to get up.
I am interested in the possibility that the SWA pilot was in fact referring to a boy on the flight named Brandon. If true, it makes it a different story. If false, every one of the weird little third-tier outlets who are purveying it should be outed. I, for one, will remember to do it.
Now; let's presume that in fact the pilot was fully aware of a boy passenger named Brandon who was on a bone marrow flight. (What a terrible risk for an immuno-compromised patient! Going through an airport and getting on an airliner! Seems to me everyone around him should be mandated to be vaccinated.) Assuming that explanation to be true, it would certainly justify a pilot expressing a warm welcome to Brandon, a passenger. But there are 1000 ways to do that, and choosing "Let's go Brandon" is the one choice that would be questionable. To everyone in on the joke, "Let's go Brandon" is code. It is code for something that has nothing to do with bone marrow transplants. It is code for an ugly political sentiment, and using a boy's illness as an excuse to trot it out is a really dubious choice.
I don't see how the SWA pilot gets out of this without at least an apology for a really bad choice on his part.
If it turns out to be true that the pilot actually said "Let's Go Braves!" (as some are now saying) then the reporter who attempted to enter the cockpit should be put on the "no fly list". Heck, even if he said "let's Go Brandon!" she needs to be put on the "no fly list". She is obviously unhinged!
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