gracechua
gracechua
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

Ha, thought I’d write my own response.

Here are some more arguments I’ve heard a lot from the more logical and rational segment of my friends and acquaintances. All of these actually have some merit, but let’s go through them one by one.

“Both sides have a responsibility to take precautions.”

Lawyers have something called the reasonable person: would a reasonable consumer confuse this brand logo with that other one? Would a reasonable person have done this or that? Let’s apply a rudimentary version of the reasonable person test. As a person with a potentially severe food allergy, are you going to live your whole life in a state of heightened anxiety, hiding from other people, work, school, social events, or travel? No, you go and live your life and take reasonable precautions. Bring your own food. Bring medication. That’s about all you can reasonably do without…

…“I don’t want to make waves or make a scene.”

Ah, the old collectivist argument! Wait: was the family rocking the boat too much, or not enough?

Also, I learned a long time ago that if you don’t stand up for yourself and what you need, no one else will. Sorry. I won’t presume to speak for you though, but you should also be willing to accept the consequences. I am not willing to.

“They shouldn’t have flown SIA because everyone knows SIA serves peanuts.”

Who is this ‘everyone’ you speak of? I didn’t. I also don’t have the money to go flying SIA everywhere, so does that make it fine?

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

Needs have weight, too. It’s not just about the number of people affected. The absolute risk of someone having an anaphylactic reaction on an airplane is small, but the potential downside is enormous. On the other hand, no nuts on a plane may inconvenience 200 people for 5 hours, but the downside is…what is the downside? The downside is 200 people are slightly inconvenienced for a few hours. And on the scale of minor to major inconvenience, it’s not as though the only airplane toilet is broken and you have to tahan for five hours.

Is that worth a life? You tell me.

)

    gracechua

    Written by

    gracechua

    curmudgeon. asker of inconvenient questions. recovering journalist. I brook no BS - deal with it.