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Remember 9/11? A few weeks ago I was off to get my kicks on Route 66, airborne from Newark en route to Albuquerque. As with so many flights these days, the ground staff were bored and slow, meaning the plane boarded late. As with so many flights, the plane actually took off well more than one hour late due to Continental scheduling too many evening departures from Newark. As with so many flights, this 757 was old, stuffy, cramped, and lacked those cool features you find on JetBlue. But at least there was a movie—for which I didn't feel like paying, since I'd already reviewed it on this website, Casino Royale.
Sitting there reading my book during this four-hour flight that featured no meal service, I was wondering: How would the airline handle that scene where a terrorist at Miami airport steals a fuel truck and attempts to ram it into a huge prototype aircraft parked outside a hangar? Would they cut it? Indeed they did not, and I whipped out the video camera:
After getting my kicks on Route 66 and returning home via red eye on Continental — the stewardesses at rear of aircraft were busy discussing date rape before my Ambien kicked in — I wrote a short email to Continental, excerpted below:
I thought it in very poor taste not to cut the scene from the movie "Casino Royale" that depicts a terrorist who steals a fuel truck, which he drives down the Miami airport runway in an attempt to blow up the prototype Skyfleet airliner on display. Have we become so inured to violence that a scene such as this can be shown on board an aircraft? For New Yorkers who have not forgotten 9/11, this was truly shocking, especially considering the flight originated in Newark.
The reply—three sentences—was rather charming: "We are concerned that you felt the in-flight entertainment selection was inappropriate. The music and video selections chosen for our aircraft are previewed and edited to ensure the material meets acceptable industry standards for an audience. Your comments are appreciated, and will be used within our Marketing division as we continue to improve our service."
I then asked my senior adviser (i.e. mom) what she thought about it. Was I stupid to complain? Did it even matter? Would anyone care? This adviser thought we are so inured to violence that no one would even bat an eyelash. We are clearly so far in the future now that United flight 93 and incompetent TSA screeners—who last October missed guns and bombs in 20 out of 22 tests at Newark airport—remain a distant memory.
UPDATE: Several of you alert readers have written today, mentioning how we as a nation have not become utterly inured to violence; most underscored the outpouring of grief over the innocent slaughtered at Virginia Tech, lives lost due to the easy availability of handguns in Virginia. One mentioned that more than six times the number of those killed in Virginia were slaughtered today in Baghdad by car bombs. Many thanks to all those who have emailed.
Tags:
casino royale, continental airlines, newark airport, tsa, united flight 11
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Posted on 4/17/2007
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