Why do I do this to myself? Why do I read these articles knowing what my reaction will be and then burden you all with my reaction? I wish I had an answer. I have so much to do--books to read, a class to plan, a paper to type, but instead I'm on msn reading silly comments by silly people. Canada is going to instate a "one person, one fare" rule next year that, along with only requiring obese air-plane passengers to purchase one ticket, also states that someone with a severe disability, even one resulting from obesity, that must fly with an aide need only pay one fare. America's reactions are found here: http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?boardid=512&ThreadID=537907&BoardsParam=HIPDelay%3d1

The disability associations are ecstatic; after all, now if you have a disability you don't have to pay double for it. However, all of skinny America is horrendously appalled because fat people crowd others on airplanes and now fat people who need help will be getting two seats for the price of one. It's un-American I tell you, which is probably why Canada is the country that passed the law.

I know fat people are annoying on airplanes, I'm one of them. Part of the reason I always request an aisle seat is so that I can sprawl into the aisle away from whomever is sitting next to me. I don't spill over on an airplane, but I certainly fill my seat to capacity. What bothers me, though, is that a person's size has become an issue of manners. It's a personal affront when you are too fat for the seats that, everyone by the way agrees, are too small. This doesn't surprise me. Much in the same way no one wants to sit next to a crying child or a loud, out of control retarded person, anything that increases discomfort in an uncomfortable situation is frustrating.

I would say, however, that no one suggests (at least out loud) that a child or a retarded person be muffled so as to improve the comfort of those around them.

It's all part and parcel of my ongoing disillusionment with the American dream. It is consistently the consumer's fault and never the businesses. If airplanes are uncomfortable then we need to do whatever we can to improve the situation ourselves, we shouldn't demand larger seats or more leg room. We accept this because the air line is out to make money and we shouldn't impede them. Does that logic make no one else a little sick to their stomach? I'm not talking specifically about obesity here or bigotry towards fat people, but rather a shift in our beliefs that the customer is never right, at least not when the customer inconveniences us. When we, as a culture, accepted that all problems with the services provided were caused by customers instead of companies abilities to deal with customers and meet their needs, our "dream" made a very disturbing shift. If my problems with your services are my fault then the service is no longer at fault and the public must change to fit the demands of the business instead of the other way around. That's not so much a free society at that point.

And yes, I know fat people don't have to fly. We all, supposedly, have freedom of choice. But another issue that bothers me is that we still think of fat as something that can be quit cold-turkey, like smoking, drugs, or some other morally depraved behavior. What if the fat person is on a diet? What if they're just fat? Nobody cares what the reasons for the fatness are or even if the fat person is in the process of losing weight, the holiest of activities in American society at the moment. All anyone actually cares about is that they are sitting next to a "Walrus". The derogatory terms applied to people that classify them wholly on their appearance bother me. Because we all believe that fat is a choice (or at least something that can be changed in the privacy of one's own home before it affects the rest of us) we feel entitled to call people names like "walrus" and whatever else is on that message board.

There was a time when white people didn't want to sit next to black people because black people were dirty. Is the difference really so great?

Our sense of personal entitlement outweighs everything else. I'm entitled to my space. I'm entitled to my comfort. I'm entitled to not have to share my space or comfort with an unattractive person. Stinky is annoying, fat is annoying, sick is annoying, nasal wheeze is annoying. All of these things are annoying, but no one makes a stinky person buy two seats because they smell do they? Maybe they do, it wouldn't surprise me. When our comfort is brought up against someone else's comfort there is rarely a situation where compromise seems acceptable. If you weren't so fat we wouldn't be in this situation people might say. And, perhaps, they are right. But I am fat and this situation is where we are. So what makes a better person, to accept it and make do, or to roll his eyes and smirk at his friend then write the airline and demand that I and others like me pay for two seats?

I'm not saying that others should be inconvenienced unduly for fat people, though, it might bear some thought that being fat is generally uncomfortable on a plane all the time, not just when we sit next to ourselves. What I am saying is that, for better or worse, America is getting bigger. Not just fatter, but bigger. But we hate each other instead of demanding that our economy react appropriately. We call each other derogatory names instead of attempting to understand that the one making us uncomfortable is just as uncomfortable, if not more so. We judge based on appearance because ugly things carry no worth any more. And yes, I think we think of each other, more often than not, in terms of "things."

So nobody wants to sit next to the fat kid on the airplane, but why shouldn't the airplane have to make bigger seats?