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Where does this woman getting off saying her freedom has been violated?
She's not being imprisoned, fined, exiled or beheaded for wearing an offensive t-shirt. She's not even being forced to remove it. She's being subjected to an airline's policy and having common sense forced upon her, since she is so clearly lacking it herself. Your own freedom does not come at the expense of another's and just as she was free to wear a t-shirt intended to offend, the airline is free to remove her from the flight for doing so, regardless of whether the plane's in LA, Reno or Buttfuck, Alabama.
The way I see it, the flight crew did their job admirably. They approached her about a potentially bad situation regarding an offensive piece of apparel and gave her a valid alternative. She agreed (likely with a great deal of theatrics and argument; I remember the type from my own days in the customer service field), then failed to comply with the agreement. The flight crew then proceeded to offer her a new compromise, as the prior one had not achieved the desired effect. They informed her in advance of her making a decision that she would either have to comply with the new agreement or disembark. She knowingly chose the latter. Somehow that gives her the right to bitch? I don't follow.
pigglet - What does the first amendment have to do with any of this? Aside from the fact that the vast majority of the world survives without it, the first amendment was absolutely upheld here. This is a point that often gets lost when discussing constitutional rights - while the first amendment gives American citizens the right to express themselves freely, it does not absolve them from any potential consequences of that free expression. It protects you from the state or the union, but not from private companies.
lindalove - Look at it from a different perspective. the job of the flight crew is customer service. The job by it's very nature involves striking a balance, as it's impossible to please everyone all the time. In this case they took the appropriate action in that they had a woman who was clearly violating airline policy and in so doing was offending other passengers. Naturally it makes more sense to deal with her than to tell any other passengers who may see the shirt and complain to deal with it. And even if not a single passenger complains, it's a truism in customer service that for every complaint you receive there are 10 you don't. In other words, if you offer poor customer service, what many customers will do is rather than complain to you, they'll stay quiet when it comes to you and then complain to their friends. This ultimately results in lost revenue and the only solution is to try to spot and deal with any situations that may cause offense or lower the quality of service for customers.
Bottom line is, she was being blatantly offensive and violating airline policy. She was given alternatives. She had plenty of chances and she made her own decision that wearing an offensive t-shirt was more important to her than staying on the flight to her destination. The only thing wrong with this is that she's stupid enough to think that she has any right to complain.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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