May 27, 2023

"Flight attendants shouted for help from male passengers and people all around clung to him and pulled him in."

Said a passenger quoted in "Video Shows Inside of Aircraft After Passenger Opened Emergency Exit Door" (Newsweek).

When you really need help in an emergency, you don't add extra words to your statements, so any specificity is highly meaningful.

Here, with the plane door blown open, the flight attendants are said to have specified that they wanted help from male passengers. If you're female and feel called to give whatever help you can, it's a reminder, perhaps bitter, that your well-meaning effort would only get in the way.

ADDED: Here's a WaPo article from February 2022 that got updated yesterday: "No, unruly passenger: You can’t physically open a plane door midflight/Passengers have tried and failed." The reassuring headline is isn't so reassuring anymore.

120 comments:

Kate said...

Bitter? God, no. I'm blessed to know I can rely on my man and other men to tackle problems and, if necessary, people.

tommyesq said...

Men asked to risk their lives to ccome to the aid of a roral stranger, women hit hardest. Come on,man...

Ice Nine said...

Toxic masculinity, straight up.

(As for me - let him jump. With an open door on a plane at altitude, I ain't leaving my seat belt for him.)

Dave Begley said...

Men are generally stronger than women. That's why it is unfair to permit men to compete against women in athletic contests despite the opinions of the author of an article in the Nebraska Law Review.

Kevin said...

"Flight attendants shouted for help from male passengers and people all around clung to him and pulled him in."

Even male passengers in shorts.

Spiros said...

Risking your life to save others is the last male bastion. So, of course, feminists, who have managed to convince half the nation that all men are potential sexual predators, must attack.

JAORE said...

A twist on the old, even though inaccurate, "There are no atheists in foxholes".

When there is an emergency requiring strength and courage, you do not debate whether a certain percentage of women MAY be physically up to the task.

RideSpaceMountain said...

In my experience, under serious life-threatening circumstances, women are more fragile than a Dorito. So are men, but not in the same proportion, or in terms of ‘time preference’ (the length of time between initial trauma-causing stimuli, realization, recovery, and action – see the economic definition or look up “Decision Theory”). Not saying there aren’t some women that will kill you 5 times before you hit the ground, but they are exceedingly rare.

Time preference is very key: you cannot reduce reaction time to zero, and all trauma-causing stimuli produces a delay, even in the Ramboest of Rambo types. What you can do is reduce the reaction chain as much as possible, and generally men are more adaptable to both instinctual reactions as well as trained responses. Men are definitely easier to train on these responses. By a huge margin.

gilbar said...

this is Transphobic, and SEXIST!
they should have insisted, that ONLY trans-males, or cis-females volunteer
Sure, NONE would have.. and If they had, they wouldn't have been able to do much; but STILL!
Would you rather have a dead passenger? or be true to wokism? WOKISM!! WOKISM!!!! WOKISM!!!!!

gspencer said...

Melissa Click, University of Missouri "professor," knew what to do when (2015) she wanted some "muscle over here" in doing what Democrats do, i.e., using force to get their way. Force, not persuasion.

Tom T. said...

It may not be a matter of extra words. I know nothing about Korean, but it may have word endings that automatically denote male vs female. Think of steward vs stewardess, or masseur vs masseuse, just expanded into the language more generally.

Query: Did the flight attendants want male passengers because they thought males would be stronger on average, or because they didn't want to expose female passengers to added risk of harm?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

There is NO video that works at the link. After sitting thru BS ads -

Newsweek(D) goes dutifully to Biden yammering on.

Iman said...

F.F.S.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

oh... the short video is there- lower ... down.

Bob Boyd said...

A shocking report. We have a responsibility. America must occupy South Korea and secure it so the State Dept can send in women from non-profits to teach Koreans modern thinking.

n.n said...

Men are, on average, stronger than women. Also, the traditional truth of Her choice that garners priorities for women and children, first. Men, move forward, restrain the lunatic, retrieve the pussy[cat], save my baby, retain the passenger, etc. Most men accept their role in step, and most women complement their effort without considered sex slights.

Paul said...

Well being male I can understand.

See one of the things the 'transgender' (male cross dressers) that compete in female sports has shown is.... MEN ARE ON THE AVERAGE BIGGER AND STRONGER than women. It is just a fact folks. All these female 'wonder women' stuff is well... stuff.

So they wanted MEN to grab the nutjob (personally I'd have just kicked him out the door and then closed it... but that is just me.)

Men are more inclined to learn out to fight... you see more men on the gun range... you see more men at boxing matches... Yea there are some men pussies but... on the average men are more likely to be able to handle themselves and more aggressive.

Just facts folks, not woke ideology.

Tom T. said...

I see from further reporting that the man who opened the door said that he was "uncomfortable" and "wanted to get off the plane quickly."

By the way, even at lower altitude where the inside and outside air pressure are equal, the airstream pushing the door closed would still be something like 200 mph, right? How did he manage to get it open?

n.n said...

It's not a competition between the sexes, and the fairer sex is no worse for this organic evolution, nor are the men who do not reach the brass ring first, but rather we all strive, and life is not so short that our effort is not well considered, by our friends, our spouse, our children, our family, our community, etc.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Men are just designated hitters now. They pull runners in with their brute strength. And for a brief moment they get to enjoy the notoriety of the old days, when life was not staged for the benefit of creating viral videos.

Jamie said...

The article says something like "exists insist that flying is still safer than driving a car."

No, ya maroons. Statistics show beyond any shadow of a doubt that flying is safer.

Doesn't stop my heart from going pitter-pat sometimes, though.

Ice Nine said...

It is near-axiomatic - men will react and try to solve the urgent problem; women will "feel" the problem and, well, scream a lot. The huge exception, of course: a woman's child in peril. When the SHTF, call the man. (I've always marveled at women standing around, screaming in such situations; wondered what the point of it was.)

Ann Althouse said...

"Bitter? God, no. I'm blessed to know I can rely on my man and other men to tackle problems and, if necessary, people."

The sentence begins "If you're female and feel called to give whatever help you can...."

The "if" matters. You're not in the relevant category. You don't "feel called." You were already standing down and viewing the work as something for the men. Knowing your place, you don't risk bitterness.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Risking your life to save others is the last male bastion."

Yeah that's long over. Just ask Daniel Penny. Welcome to our low-trust society.

Jupiter said...

"If you're female and feel called to give whatever help you can, it's a reminder, perhaps bitter, that your well-meaning effort would only get in the way."

Something to do with upper-body strength, I'm guessing.

BTW, why do we have separate men's and women's chess rankings? No upper-body strength in chess. Could there be something else that women just aren't as good at? Oh, well. Men can't make babies.

BobD said...

I’m a retired airline captain. Article says they were less than 820 ft. above theground, so less than 2 minutes from touchdown. That’s why the perp was able to open the door at all, because the aircraft was depressurized at that point. Scary, but not a threat to the safe landing of the aircraft.

Christopher said...

The overwhelming majority of men are significantly stronger than most women.

Even most older men are significantly stronger than most younger women.

But in a crisis where strength and rapid response is crucial, the split-second decision to rally men to hold the line is sexist. Yes, that's the takeaway.

Jupiter said...

What I am having a hard time understanding is why it is possible to open a passenger plane's door in flight. Must have been designed by men.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

If someone opens the door like that - they should be required to jump out.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"It is near-axiomatic - men will react and try to solve the urgent problem; women will "feel" the problem and, well, scream a lot."

Anyone who has ever seen a 'jumper' will tell you that the most memorable audible recollection is the sound of women screaming...if there were any women who were nearby to witness. As someone who has witnessed a jumper, I can tell you that I could practically estimate the number of women within 500ft of the incident by their screaming.

That is almost universally the single-most defining feature of a traumatic experience...the sound of women (and a few men) screaming. Bomb blasts and IEDs caus this too, but nowhere near as much as someone leaping from something elevated.

MayBee said...

When you really need help in an emergency, you don't add extra words to your statements, so any specificity is highly meaningful.

Do we even know what language this was said in?

Kate said...

Hahaha, it's true. I know my place.

Why do you assume that giving "whatever help you can" implies an intervening response? Checking that others, perhaps children or the elderly, are safely buckled in would require a physical response. Protecting the flight attendant from the men's struggle might require a physical response.

We are complementary, not competitive. Everyone in the ship's little wooden world has a purpose.

wild chicken said...

The only ones embittered by this are the little girls trying to be men. It's as if they'd never been around real men before. e

I was a tomboy but had no illusions.

Inga said...

Women can and do react to emergencies and the notion that most women will just stand there and scream helplessly is just nonsense, however as far as muscular strength goes, men do have more of it. I doubt most women would feel bitter even if they had wanted to help, knowing that muscular strength was needed at that moment.

Original Mike said...

"it's a reminder, perhaps bitter, that your well-meaning effort would only get in the way.". (emphasis added)

Some people just can't cope with reality.

Original Mike said...

"(As for me - let him jump. With an open door on a plane at altitude, I ain't leaving my seat belt for him.)"

Yeah, the door is already open. I don't see how you're aiding anybody by grabbing him. Let the fucker jump.

Ice Nine said...

>Anyone who has ever seen a 'jumper' will tell you that the most memorable audible recollection is the sound of women screaming...<

I didn't really wonder what the point of women's screaming was. I presume the screaming of women in such situations is primal, stemming from cavewomen screaming for cavemen to come put their bodies between her & kids and that sabre tooth tiger. All the way up to screaming for men to come pull a guy out of an airplane door...

cassandra lite said...

"And no trans men either. Just men men. Okay?"

gilbar said...

this ties in Directly, to (yesterdays?) post about living forever vs. dying for a cause
All things being equal..
there is a general tendency for MEN to be far more willing to risk their life for a stranger

You talk All Day Long, about what biological reasons there are for this
You talk All Day Long, about how WRONG this is; and how it SHOWS that MEN are pigs
You talk All Day Long, about outlaying exceptions to this
BUT..
All things being equal..
there is a general tendency for MEN to be far more willing to risk their life for a stranger.
This is Just a Fact.. GET USED TO IT

Big Mike said...

What I am having a hard time understanding is why it is possible to open a passenger plane's door in flight.

@Jupiter, I was wondering about that myself. I had read that it takes tons of pressure to open an airplane’s door in flight. Someone may want to redo those calculations.

Folks upthread need to stop telling Althouse that men are generally stronger than women. She held an endowed chair back in the day — they do not give that honor to dummies. Even in Wisconsin. Some of her beliefs and attitudes are irritating, but dummy she is not. And speaking of irritating, teeth grinding, attitudes, the episode could have been tragic, and not just for the fool who opened the door. Kudos yo the flight crew for getting the plane the rest of the way down safely. Yet Althouse seems to identify a feminist point to whine about.

@Althouse, if I grind my teeth down to where I need implants, I’m sending the bill to you.

Temujin said...

Same thing with wars.
Civilization and society at large need women and the impact they have on all of us. We don't have civilization without women.
Wars require men. Always have. Always will. No matter how many Netflix movies I see with females showering hell on all. The reality is that we are not genetically the same and the differences come out more in certain situations.

Of course there are always exceptions. My comments are toward the mass population at large, before us and after us.

If the emergency door of my aircraft is being pulled open by some raging lunatic guy, I want other raging sane guys (with me) on him asap.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

I hope that JAORE (0858) will accept this modification:
There are no feminists in foxholes.

Blastfax Kudos said...

Inga said, "Women can and do react to emergencies and the notion that most women will just stand there and scream helplessly is just nonsense,"

Absolutely, it usually takes this form. You can't scream if your face is in your phone all the time.

Tina Trent said...

It's a good thing the plane wasn't landing in California.

The stewardess might face consequences from some obscure state board or another for "bullying" male-to-female transgenders by making them feel excluded from her request for help.

Students in California are already subject to discipline or expulsion from participating in high school athletics if they OR their families are found to have made any public statements objecting to the forced inclusion of males claiming to be female in female teams and competitions.

According to the California Interscholastic Federation, such statements are considered "gender bias bullying." Student athletes and their parents are actually required to sign a pledge to not oppose CIF gender rules publicly in order to be eligible to compete in sports.

Spiros Pappas said...

We also need male teachers:

https://www.thepublica.com/exclusive-12-year-old-strangled-unconscious-in-texas-school-while-teacher-watched-family-not-notified/

Narayanan said...

does FJB fly AF1 anymore? wonder if he has tried this one weird trick to get into history books?

traditionalguy said...

At our local Fitness Center many women lift free weights these days … but they use the bar without plates. Meanwhile the men do 250+lbs bench presses compared to the Bar only which is 25 lbs. In case of a physical need find a man. He has worked out all his life just for that moment.

And when you become elderly you still need your muscle strength to lift and push wheelchairs for other elderly companions.

n.n said...

Civilized societies do not place women in harms way until there is an existential crisis. That said, prepare anyway, to shoot, to swim, to climb, to wrest control, to defend, to hunt, etc.

n.n said...

"And no trans men either. Just men men. Okay?"

Koreans can discern the difference between the male and female sex, between the masculine and feminine gender.

Rusty said...

Dave Begley said...
"Men are generally stronger than women. That's why it is unfair to permit men to compete against women in athletic contests despite the opinions of the author of an article in the Nebraska Law Review."
Joe Rogan said it best. "Your average freshman college mens soccer team can beat the top ranked world womens soccer team."

Rusty said...

Turns out. Fish do need a bicycle.

n.n said...

If someone opens the door like that - they should be required to jump out.

Don't jump! Ha, ha, ha, ha... is a grade school taunt.

gilbar said...

Resident dullard Igna said...

Women can and do react to emergencies and the notion that most women will just stand there and scream helplessly is just nonsense,
..even if they had wanted to help..

Yep! SOMEwomen can and do react to SOME emergencies. But, to quote YOU..
..even if they had wanted to help..
You, yourself, are STATING that ..even if they had wanted to help..,
which is to say, that DIDN'T want to help. I'm not dissing you Igna, i'm QUOTING you

Inga said...

Gilbar,

I’m sorry that you are unable to understand what I wrote. Brain injuries are devastating, but you may know that.

n.n said...

Okay, I'll play devil's advocate. But what if a woman wants to help, what if a woman is qualified to help, what if a woman is willing to sacrifice herself for a cause, what if a woman wants to be recorded in public scripture as a hero, what if a woman is simply bored and looking for action, what if a woman resents men taking the pole position (pun intended), what if a woman is barren or otherwise without "burden" and doesn't feel compelled by Her choice.

Leland said...

It didn't take Tons necessarily, but it is the difference in internal cabin pressure (typically higher from pressurization) than outside pressure. At psi, a 5' x 2.5' door would have 1,800 lbs pushing it shut with just a 1 psi differential. I think the key here is it happened at 800ft altitude.

Lexington Green said...

There is nothing “bitter” about facing the reality that on average men have lower risk aversion and greater physical strength particularly upper body strength. sometimes that’s what you need, nothing else will do. Pretending these universal and well known differences aren’t true when they are unambiguously and obviously true, and always have been and always will be, is silly. When feminists say women should have opportunities and should be treated fairly, no one disagrees. When feminists say we have to pretend that men and women are literally materially the same, which is absurd, everyone with a brain in their head dismisses it. It’s particularly important that people disregard that sort of foolishness when there are life-and-death issues at stake, such as a life-threatening equipment failure.

n.n said...

There may be individual competition, there is competition between the sexes, but, where context matters, you're doing it wrong.

If your theory doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. It doesn't matter how beautiful it is.
- Prof. Feynman

Ice Nine said...

>Big Mike said...
Folks upthread need to stop telling Althouse that men are generally stronger than women. She held an endowed chair back in the day — they do not give that honor to dummies.<

Uh, what? Was that non-sequitur - within two sentences of yours - what it took for you to, for some strange reason, gratuitously spring to the defense of Althouse's intellect when no one had attacked it? No one upthread mentioned the idea that women (and certainly not Althouse) were *dumb*. And neither did you, in the first sentence...until you did in the second one. The thread is about men being stronger than women and reacting more quickly, and nothing about brainpower.

n.n said...

male: one syllable
female: two syllables... semantic sexism

devil's advocate: polysyllable

statistical expectation, conventional truism: priceless.

Now (no pun intended), if there was a call for a doctor, then the frame of reference changes with the context.

n.n said...

greater physical strength particularly upper body strength

Also, greater lung capacity, and other physiological sexisms.

Pianoman said...

Stop pretending that you don't know WHY.

Males are larger on average than females. I'm sorry, that's basic biology. In an emergency where strength counts and you have equal numbers of males and females, the males will be asked to carry things, and the females will be asked to help people.

This didn't used to be a problem.

ALP said...

Consider this: if it was a child at risk, all bets are off. Haven't you heard of women lifting a car off a baby?

Earnest Prole said...

Proof of how much work remains to be done before we can free ourselves from the shackles of the oppressive gender binary.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Of course! That's why the physical requirements of Rangers and Seals have FLUNKED the female applicants.
Democrats have proven the physical superiority of men. Lots of stories recently.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Even swimming, males are taking over! Effectively erasing wimmin.

walter said...

They really need to improve airline seating.

Blastfax Kudos said...

Rusty said, "Turns out. Fish do need a bicycle."

Women always needed men like fish need a bicycle until men did such a good job with building a bicycle that women could pretend fish didnt need them. They demand that you acknowledge that they don't even though they really really do and will write articles daily to that effect. Women need you to pretend that fish don't need a bicycle. Women also need you to pretend that they deserve all the credit for men teaching fish to ride bicycles. If you're a man and you're upset that women get to pretend they don't need you while simultaneously taking credit for every awesome thing that has ever occurred, congratulations you are now a misogynist. Maybe it was wrong for men to teach fish to ride bicycles. Maybe men should've just left women in mud huts to braid each other's hair and take credit for everything while they found another tribe with women who are more appreciative.

Drago said...

gilbar: "I'm not dissing you Igna, i'm QUOTING you"

To quote Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary/FBI Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga IS to dis her. For obvious reasons.

Drago said...

gilbar: "I'm not dissing you Igna, i'm QUOTING you"

To quote Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary/FBI Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga IS to dis her. For obvious reasons.

n.n said...

If a woman -- women, under critical diversity theory -- didn't invent the bicycle, it may be because she lacked motive, it may be because she lacked ambition, it may be that she lacked the creative spark, or it may be that men and women are complementary in Nature, and, in a moral society, equal in rights, and men and women negotiate priorities, preferences, and compromises as adults do.

Jamie said...

Haven't you heard of women lifting a car off a baby?

... along with more, many more, stories of women's not being able to lift the car off a baby?

If it were my baby (which seems to help with the adrenalin thing), I would hope there was a gang of men around to elbow me out of the way when my effort almost certainly proved fruitless.

Run back into a burning building to save a child? Yes, all day long. I would hope with a man or men running in the with me since there would be no way to know whether it would be necessary to lift fallen walls and such. Catch a child jumping out a window? I would sure as hell try, mumbling "Bendyourknees, bendyourknees, getreadytodropflat" to myself the whole time. But where physical strength is the most necessary component to a heroic act, send in the men, and thank God for them.

Jamie said...

Geez, I just reread the headline of Althouse's post. "People all around him clung to him and pulled him in." So there we go!

Krumhorn said...

Everyone in the ship's little wooden world has a purpose.

Everyone in the ship's little wooden world has a purpose…and their place, apparently, according to our hostess. So I fixed it for you, Kate.

In the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, two outs, and Mariano Rivera on the mound, I often feel called to give whatever help I can, but I edit myself to remain seated, knowing I’d just get in the way of his filthy cutter inside to a lefty batter.

- Krumhorn

Rocco said...

From the article...
"Flight attendants shouted for help from male passengers and people all around clung to him and pulled him in."

Kevin responded...
"Even male passengers in shorts."

Clearly this post needs a "Heroic Men in Shorts" tag.

rehajm said...

What I am having a hard time understanding is why it is possible to open a passenger plane's door in flight.

This is what I’d like to know. I’ve been under the impression the doors on a commercial sized plane have to be pulled in before they can be opened. Perhaps if you break the pressure seal and allow the pressure to equalize it’s possible. Also, why didn’t the oxygen masks deploy? So many unanswered questions ‘news’week…

gilbar said...

ALP said...
Consider this: if it was a child at risk, all bets are off. Haven't you heard of women lifting a car off a baby?

you mean.. HER baby? sure..
Her SISTER'S baby? sure..
Some Stranger's baby.. Nope NEVER heard of it

Another old lawyer said...

In response to an article about some man claiming the female gender competing against women in an athletic competition, a fellow retired attorney sent me a picture of this year's finish order with times in the 200 meter sprint in a State's HS track and field championship meet for mid-sized HSs, and reminded me that the winner's time was better than the women's world record for the event.

RAS743 said...

Why would one be bitter about that which biology confers?
Is it wrong for me to ask?
I’m all for the empowerment of women. Anything they are intellectually or physically capable of doing I’m all for. (As our daughter, who is our only child, knows.)
But physical strength is a fact of life. Women are perfectly capable of flying warplanes and crewing or commanding warships, but those who could fight and survive the intense physical combat in the infantry are in the tiniest minority, even acknowledging the women in the IDF who are in that role.

madAsHell said...

Opening the aircraft door mid-flight is a very bad decision.

I’m sure as hell not getting up to help. Why interrupt a suicide? Let the guy fly!

Slow Joe says “Don’t jump”.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"If a woman -- women, under critical diversity theory -- didn't invent the bicycle, it may be because she lacked motive, it may be because she lacked ambition, it may be that she lacked the creative spark, or it may be that men and women are complementary in Nature, and, in a moral society, equal in rights, and men and women negotiate priorities, preferences, and compromises as adults do."

E. JEAN CARROLL HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.

PerthJim said...

The "quote" in the headline of this post is an English translation of a second hand account of what the flight attendants shouted, presumably in Korean. We really don't know if they actually requested only men. Maybe they didn't mention sex at all, maybe it was just a term of art in Korean that translates to masculine in English. We don't know.

This thread is a good example of modern man :)) taking any opportunity to have a culture war argument. Ms Althouse started it by suggesting misogyny in the supposed call for only men to help. The pushback has included references to trans issues, the willingness of women to help save someone, whether women have a creative spark, and personal attacks based on others' opinions on other topics.

I'd like to see less of this, please. It makes this blog's comment section less interesting and informative than it used to be.

walter said...

This is where you give Dylan Mulvaney a pass.
Sorry in advance for triggering lonejustice's strange imagery reflex.

Don B. said...

The flight attendants "are said to have" specified. Color me skeptical.

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inga said...

Women will save children, even if they aren’t her children or a family members’ children. Also, there was a story a few days ago about a female cop with all her gear on who jumped in a pond to save a child. If one searches it’s not hard to find accounts of women risking their lives to rescue others, not just children. Traditionally it’s been women in nursing, these women save plenty of people’s lives. Are men so fearful of being replaced that they are unwilling to credit women with bravery? While women may not have the muscular strength that men do, women are capable of as much selflessness and bravery as a man. Women with children are brave enough to have more than one, knowing the agony of labor and giving birth. The majority of women don’t abort their babies, so don’t try even go there.

Ugh, the misogyny displayed on these threads by some, the last few years is emblematic of scared, resentful and pathetic men. How many of the big mouthed misogynists would be brave enough to give birth naturally multiple times?

3 children fell into a frozen pond in Colorado. A woman went out and saved all of them.

Bob Boyd said...

RideSpaceMountain said...Anyone who has ever seen a 'jumper' will tell you that the most memorable audible recollection is the sound of women screaming.

Not only have I seen a jumper, I've worn a jumper and I can confirm that the most memorable audible recollection is the sound of women screaming.

Robt C said...

@ ice nine 11:44
You misconstrued Big Mike's comment. His point was since Althouse is a law professor, she is smart enough to know that men are stronger than women, so commenters should stop pointing that out to her. It's not a non-sequitur at all.

Blastfax Kudos said...

PerthJim said, "Ms Althouse started it by suggesting misogyny in the supposed call for only men to help."

Wouldn't that make this thread a good example of modern woman then? :))

Bob Boyd said...

"If a woman -- women, under critical diversity theory -- didn't invent the bicycle..."

"Some of us were meant to invent the bicycle and some of were meant to make the seat smell good." - One of the lesser existentialists whose name escapes me just now. Pierre something probably.

Blastfax Kudos said...


RAS743 said, "Why would one be bitter about that which biology confers? Is it wrong for me to ask?"

Lots of women are bitter that the universe made them women. My ex-wife is just such an example. They even have a concept for it - penis envy.

And yes, it's wrong to ask. Questioning is masculine. You should be genuflecting to the feminine interpretation of culture and events, and make sure if you ever have to save someone from jumping out of an airplane you shout for help from women, transsexuals, and two-spirit furries that might be on the plane.

Anymore questions and a sensitivity counselor will be dispatched to your location, citizen.

The Godfather said...

So, I'm a male, 80 years old, in reasonably good condition for my age, except for my heart condition. What do I do when I hear a call for help from the flight crew (I have to assume that the cry for help is in English or there's an English translation -- otherwise I wouldn't have anything to respond to). Logic tells me: Stay in your seat buckled up. Morality tells me: Don't risk your life to save a nut case: Stay in your seat buckled up. My cojones say: grab that sucker, save the plane, save the passengers.

My cojones contain hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution from Africa to the rest of the world. Whatever you say about what you would do, what (if male) did your cojones say?

madAsHell said...

I’m not certain.......but pronouns in Korean aren’t the same sense as western pronouns.

I’m sure there are Korean fluent people here in the comments.

Jamie said...

you mean.. HER baby? sure..
Her SISTER'S baby? sure..
Some Stranger's baby.. Nope NEVER heard of it


I was a preschool director in the next county over when the Lancaster County man shot up the Amish school, around 2010-ish. My school, though near developed things, was out of sight of any road and appeared just about as isolated as that Amish schoolhouse. When it happened, I had to think long and hard about our lockdown procedures - put in place to guard against an estranged-parent kidnapping, frankly - and what I would do if my school were threatened by an armed assailant.

We all know that mental and physical rehearsal can help you prepare for a high-stress situation. I rehearsed a LOT - getting to my panic button, using the codes we set up, ensuring that the key to the locked preschool wing was never in sight or in an obvious place, and above all being ready to throw myself at a guy with a gun, at least to buy the rest of the church staff some time. (Of course I rehearsed the preschool staff on what to do with the children too.)

Basically I tried to prepare myself to step between everyone else's children and someone who wanted to harm them. Thankfully I was never tested in that way, but I still mentally prepare for it all the time in the event of neighbor kids running into the street, toddlers escaping parents in parking lots, apparently unaccompanied small children in stores and airports (my own son was briefly one of these when, at 3, he and his dad were traveling together and he finished peeing before my husband and took off)... The shooter scenario is of course vanishingly unlikely, the kidnapper only a little less so, but I figure I owe it to the One who gave me my children to do what I can for other people's.

Who knows what I'd actually do? But I have "embarrassed" myself more than once doing things like getting between a belligerent and impaired customer and a small cashier, for instance (while, to my chagrin, my husband and his big beefy buddy were rounding up our kids in the convenience store aisles and getting them out the door). So I like to believe that I wouldn't stand idly by just because the endangered child wasn't mine.

Mason G said...

"The reassuring headline is isn't so reassuring anymore."

It helps to read the articles, not just the headlines.

Newsweek: "The door was fully opened while the aircraft was still 820 feet above the ground."

WaPo: "In fact, in every scenario when a plane is at cruising altitude, it’s simply not possible."

Does anybody with any sense think that 820 feet above the ground is cruising altitude?

Big Mike said...

Does anybody with any sense think that 820 feet above the ground is cruising altitude?

Also, I understand that the emergency exits on an Airbus 321 are power-assisted, which may have helped a bit.

Friendo said...

Really, Althouse "Knowing your place". Condescending, judgemental, and incorrect - a trifecta.Do you want to take on a homicidal/suicidal male on your own?

MikeD said...

I'm sorry, if the male passengers didn't immediately leap to help without being asked, Flight 93 heroes died in vain! My daily wear T-shirt's logo "Dogs, Cause People Suck" is ever more accurate!

MikeD said...

I'm sorry, if the male passengers didn't immediately leap to help without being asked, Flight 93 heroes died in vain! My daily wear T-shirt's logo "Dogs, Cause People Suck" is ever more accurate!

Inga said...

Regarding the incredibly stupid comment by Gilbar that women won’t jump in to rescue children that are not theirs.

Selfless Texas teachers died shielding their students

“Garcia, a married mother of four who taught at Robb Elementary for 23 years, was a "sweet, kind, loving" teacher who considered her students to be family, her relatives aid.

"She passed away with children in her arms trying to protect them," her nephew John Martinez wrote on Twitter. "Those weren’t just her students they were her kids as well."

The daughter of the other teacher, Eva Mireles, penned a tribute to her mother on Wednesday, which was to have been nearly the last day of the school year.

"I don’t know how to do this life without you, but I will take care of dad. I will take care of our dogs and I will forever say your name so you are always remembered, Eva Mireles, 4th grade teacher at Robb Elementary who selflessly jumped in front of her students to save their lives," Adalynn Ruiz wrote on Facebook.“

Anna Keppa said...

Blogger Robt C said...
@ ice nine 11:44
You misconstrued Big Mike's comment. His point was since Althouse is a law professor, she is smart enough to know that men are stronger than women, so commenters should stop pointing that out to her. It's not a non-sequitur at all.
*****************

If that was Big Mike's point, he should have stated it.

But it's obvious Althouse isn't the least mollified by the logical conclusion---that men are generally better able to respond to such situations requiring strength, violence, AND the instinctive male response to preventing an idiot from killing all the passengers.

Question: how many female passengers rushed to kill and subdue the terrorists on Light 93?

The males on that flight didn't need anyone to tell them what they needed to do.

Eva Marie said...

“the flight attendants are said to have specified that they wanted help from male passengers.”
Maybe the flight attendants asked for the men to help because the women didn’t have to be asked.

gadfly said...

Eva Marie said...
Maybe the flight attendants asked for the men to help because the women didn’t have to be asked.


More likely the space available for passengers to help was extremely limited near the hole where the door had been, and more muscle would be more important to save the idiot and protect passengers. If the task was threading a needle, the delicate hand skills of a woman would have been more important.

chickelit said...

Althouse and her echo Inga are fond of pointing out examples of misogyny. Have each ever once acknowledged examples of countervailing misandry? Ever? Or does is not exist in their minds. Cruel neuter-allies.

gilbar said...

Inga shows that she has Problems with language, when she said...
Selfless Texas teachers died shielding their students
THEIR Students.. THEIR students.. Ones that belonged to THEM

Keep digging Igna, you'll get out of your hole yet!!

Bunkypotatohead said...

"Blogger Jupiter said...
What I am having a hard time understanding is why it is possible to open a passenger plane's door in flight"


The tailgate of my pickup truck can't be opened unless the engine is shutoff and the key removed. Sometimes it's a nuisance to me, but you would think a plane would have some minimal safety feature to prevent what happened here. Some lock which could be deactivated by a crew member if necessary, or one which automatically unlocks if there's a power failure or other catastrophic event.

Big Mike said...

If that was Big Mike's point, he should have stated it.

I had been under the impression that it was thoroughly obvious.

Hey Skipper said...

“ This is what I’d like to know. I’ve been under the impression the doors on a commercial sized plane have to be pulled in before they can be opened. Perhaps if you break the pressure seal and allow the pressure to equalize it’s possible. Also, why didn’t the oxygen masks deploy? So many unanswered questions ‘news’week…”

Another retired airline captain here.

Some doors need to be pulled in — they are “plug” doors. The inner edge of the opening is larger than the outer. From the pictures I saw, the Scarebus uses an outward swinging door for the emergency exits. If memory serves, Boeing uses plug doors for emergency exits — they have to be pulled in, then tossed overboard.

Before takeoff, destination airfield elevation is entered into the flight management system. On arrival, the current local altimeter setting (so that the altimeter will read field elevation on the ground) is also entered. This allows the pressurization system to gradually depressurize the fuselage so that it will decrease from about 8psi differential at altitude to zero on the deck.

So there is a brief period before landing where the differential is small enough to open a door.

Oxygen masks will not deploy at a cabin altitude less than 11,500 feet. There are some airfields above that — aircraft going to them need alterations to their emergency oxygen system.

On departure, the fuselage will pressurize to 0.5 psid as the throttles are advanced to takeoff power. Assume a door 30” on a side — that’s a 450 pound load on the latching mechanism.

Pace Inga:

Once upon many years ago, I was the lone Dad at a weekday little league game. After the game, and the customary distribution of refreshments, I felt a tug on my sleeve. One of the boys was choking on a fudgsical. All — and I do mean all — the moms started screaming.

I did the Heimlich. (Having never done one, it took a second try to apply enough force. Boy did that damn ice cream treat fly.)

Now it’s entirely possible that if I wasn’t around, one of the women would have taken action. But I was, so they collectively looked to Mr Man. Human nature is a hell of a thing, isn’t it?

Anna Keppa said...

Eva Marie said...
“the flight attendants are said to have specified that they wanted help from male passengers.”
Maybe the flight attendants asked for the men to help because the women didn’t have to be asked.
^^

Sure. Throughout history men have sent their women into battle. Women routinely "specify" they only want women to deal with deadly threats.

It was that way at Thermopylae, Agincourt, the Alamo, the Battle of the Bulge, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Pickett's Charge, Normandy, Bull Run, Busan, the Bridges at Toko-Ri.........

At best the "men who fought and died in those battles were trans-men. Everyone knows that!

In South Korea, ALL MEN all have to serve in the armed forces. Women......not at all. Why would an FA think Korean women would be BETTER protectors?

In any case, how many Koean women went after this idiot? Why would they be effective, since they lack combat fighting skills and the strength needed to subdue a MAN?


I don't think Eva Marie has. She's just another example of latent vagina dentata.





Quaestor said...

What about the gremlin? Somebody's gotta save us from the gremlins, and sometimes that requires extraordinary measures.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ms Althouse started it by suggesting misogyny in the supposed call for only men to help."

Huh???

You're misreading. The suggestion is in your own head. But thanks for demonstrating how people lose their bearings when the topic is sex.

Balfegor said...

I was thinking that sounds a bit odd but (1) it's a domestic South Korean flight, so the request was probably in Korean, (2) South Korean culture is quite macho/chauvinistic in general so a call for "men" doesn't sound odd at all, and (3) to a first approximation, every single adult man on that flight has had military training, while none of the women have -- again, because it's a domestic Korean flight and male citizens of the Republic are all required to perform military service with very limited exemptions. Yes, maybe there's a femals judo champion or an experienced policewoman on board who would be more effective than a 45 year old who aged out of the reserves and doesn't have to keep up his training. But as a heuristic in an emergency, looking for the men to help subdue an unruly passenger is the simplest, most direct approach in a gender-segregated and heavily militarised society like South Korea.

boatbuilder said...

You would be astonished at the number of home and garden tasks which can only be accomplished by males who would prefer to be playing golf.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Balfegor

Jamie said...

You would be astonished at the number of home and garden tasks which can only be accomplished by males who would prefer to be playing golf.

I'm similarly astonished by the number of home and garden tasks that can only be accomplished by me! Notably the removal of clean dishes from the dishwasher and clean laundry from the dryer. (I don't mind, in truth, if the dirty dishes are left to me to load, because I do it right and everyone else does it wrong.)

And also, the ones that can only be accomplished by my tallest son on a stepstool because it's hot outside and I don't want to have to move the car out of the garage so I can get to the real ladder. For instance - the living room curtains, which fit a bit too tightly on the rod, have been closed for a week because the housesitter pulled them for better tv watching, and said tallest son returned to college straight from our vacation. I suppose I'd better face the fact that he won't be home until Thanksgiving...

Mason G said...

"I don't mind, in truth, if the dirty dishes are left to me to load, because I do it right and everyone else does it wrong."

This is why nobody else does it.

Eva Marie said...

Anna Keppa: Why are you hiding behind a woman’s skirt? You’re giving toxic masculinity a bad name.

JAORE said...

Evolution, the basis for the left claiming (dear Lord they be fools) that THEY are the party of science is important.

Fact, if some tragedy like decimation by war occurs there is a biological reason to send men into harms way.

If a civilization is left with many men but a huge deficit of women.... they are on the road to doom.

Few men, but many women? They can repopulate.

JAORE said...

(I don't mind, in truth, if the dirty dishes are left to me to load, because I do it right and everyone else does it wrong.)

Oldest trick in the book.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Here, with the plane door blown open, the flight attendants are said to have specified that they wanted help from male passengers. If you're female and feel called to give whatever help you can, it's a reminder, perhaps bitter, that your well-meaning effort would only get in the way.

Small, weak, and lacking in aggression, when is why the men who cosplay as "trans women" are walking all over the real ones.

So no, in any real emergency, women need to stay out of the way and let them men take care of it.

Welcome to reality