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08/04/2002 "Why not arm the flight attendants?"

Some good thoughts from Asparagirl!

. (scroll down to the entry FULL UPRIGHT AND LOCKED POSITION because I am unable to link directly to the entry )

Y'know, this makes perfect sense I think almost everyone (me included) just had this kind of mental block about who were the most logical people to protect us, Clint Eastwood style, from any hijacker-wannabes onboard a plane.

The discussion seemed to spontaneously settle on whether to trust pilots with guns--or maybe just have several armed air marshals fly on every flight, just to add another layer of complexity to the whole airline security mess.

Why were the flight attendants unconsciously (or perhaps not) passed over? I hate to think that maybe the reason that no one thought of this before is...sexism and homophobia. [cue the ominous music, as a pall falls across computer screens, with perhaps a few rolled eyes]

Well, slapping those labels on the phenomenon is probably way too facile, but I don't think it's wholly without merit. I don't think it's coincidental that members of the groups everyone right away considered arming--that is, pilots and air marshals, as opposed to the flight attendants--are far more likely to be men.

And they're especially likely to be men with military (ex-Air Force pilots) or law enforcement backgrounds. Y'know, strong and butch and so therefore the perfect people onboard to be armed--as opposed to the mainly female and disproportionately gay male flight attendants.

The trouble is that this assumption, while understandable, is absolutely backwards and potentially.....

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