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It’s amazing what can
occur without us realising. The exposé of airline seating policies this week
has triggered a full-scale backlash. Normally it takes a new proposal to
trigger such a reaction. However this controversy is a classic example of the
world catching up with a decades-old scandal. The Star’s sister newspaper,
the NZ Herald, deserves huge praise for exposing this furtive and
discriminatory slur on all male travellers. As an avid air traveller, I am
sincerely disgusted that the aviation world has surreptitiously elected to
segregate men from unaccompanied minors. This policy reeks of
moral panic and clearly pre-supposes that men cannot be trusted in the
prescence of unsupervised kids. If I was ever asked to
swap seats in-flight, I would refuse. I would make a fuss, as a point of
principle. I appeal to all men to follow suit. Since Tuesday, it’s
been extraordinary to track how ingrained this policy has become. To date, I
have received emails indicating that Air New Zealand and Qantas are not lone
ponies. Every man has every
right to feel alienated. This thoughtless policy casts a broadbrush slur over
all men. I am delighted that Celia Lashlie has hit out against this madness.
She is a lone voice of hope and commonsense amid the ocean currents of
political correctness. To use a dreadfully
politically correct term, men have every right to feel marginalised. It is
mass-victimisation. This policy is yet another
example of how our society treats men in the prescence of a children as a
threat. The conspicuous absence of male primary teachers speaks volumes. The
sense of suspicion and prejudice cast over all priests, youth workers and
scout leaders is outrageous. What about bus travel?
Train travel? What about taxi drivers? Should a male taxi driver be allowed
to escort an unaccompanied minor? Where an earth does
this moral panic-driven policy end? It starts and ends with commonsense.
Don’t demonise men. # Radio host Mike
Yardley can be heard on weekday mornings in Christchurch on NewsTalk ZB |
