Comments on: Free Steven Slater? Or Send Him to Jail?

By: Cate from Oz

Cate from Oz — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:28:58 +0000

We saw this story over and over in Australia. I think it’s deplorable that we, as a society, make celebrities of people for their bad behaviour. Two words…. IMPULSE CONTROL. We need to stop turning people who lose it into heroes. The people who are the real heroes are those that deal with stuff day in and day out and still remain in control. Let’s make celebrities out of THEM for a change.

No! Not “good for him”. He put a lot of innocent people at risk and, no doubt, caused them fear and discomfort. These antics might have appeared very camp and very comical, especially the way it has been portrayed in the media. But things could have turned out very differently. It only takes one act of stupidity to ruin a bunch of lives forever.

And, if you think it’s hard being a flight attendant these days, what about doctors or nurses or police or child safety officers? They face abuse every day. Would we applaud them if they did a “Slater”?

No. There’s acceptable standards of behaviour. And that ain’t it! We shouldn’t be hero-worshipping clowns like this. It just encourages the next idiot to cross that line in the search of his own 15 minutes of fame.

(Having said that, what of the woman that swore at Slater and hit him with her suitcase? That behaviour is also unacceptable. She should have faced consequences too.)

By: Beverly Barnhart

Beverly Barnhart — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:21:36 +0000

He stayed to long at the fair, so to speak. Some of us do – once I realized I felt like harming someone I was training. I needed to get out of my occupation and I did!

By: vince

vince — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:48:01 +0000

i got to agree what this clown did was stupid, he aint a hero to me dr phil,he acts like a spoiled brat as far as im concerned,i use to cook at a local waffle house, i was never trained to deal with drunks who came in every week end to eat after a night at the local night clubs, let me tell you i had to put up with a lot of stupidity, but i also knew the good folks were drunk and would not even remember coming to the waffle house for a sobering up meal before making there way home, at first i was so mad with what they would say, but i just reminded my self they were just drunk and let it go at that, doc by me displaying understanding to the situation, i was able to laugh with there snarl remarks, and as a result i often receved a bigger tip then the girls wating on them rofl, you just have to learn how to roll with the punches as i learned, hell people are only human and we all do stupid things at one point in our life.

By: Nichole

Nichole — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:31:17 +0000

When I saw the story on my local news here in the San Francisco Bay area, I at first was shocked thinking,”that guy is a nutcase!” But later as more about the story was being told by the news reporter, I thought,”Good for him! What an awesome guy!” And I bet that he became a hero of sorts to those who are tired and fed up with their jobs.

By: Leila

Leila — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:17:35 +0000

I think jail is a serious overkill of a response. Way too severe a punishment. The passenger was obviously rude and verging on violent in her behavior, so was the flight attendant in his response. However meeting rude and violent behavior with more rude and violent behavior will just leave rude and violent behavior in the world! Someone has to step back and say”Hey, this person is really trying to irate me today but you know what,I’m just not going to let it get to me,I’m just going to walk away.” And that would put a stop to it. The most both parties need is some anger management classes, and a bit more respect and consideration got their fellow human being. Spread the love!

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:33:24 +0000

Why would anyone even consider sending this guy to jail. Ok he lost his Job, he was embarrassed completely in the media what more would you want? I dont think the guy should be drawing this much attention. It’s time to get over it. Jail is for a place for criminals. Is this guy a criminal?

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:40:15 +0000

Wow! Some of you people need to really lighten up! This guy may not have done things the way you think he should have, but so what..your not perfect either. This guy was dis-respected and physically hit by a woman suitcase..this wasn’t about right or wrong…this was about self respect. I say good for him. You know as well as I do most of you, if not all, would have done the same thing if you had
been treated that same way for years. Its all about self-respect people..GET SOME!

By: JAV

JAV — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:08:19 +0000

While I agree that Mr. Slater needs to take responsibility for his actions, there should be a punishment for the female passenger as well. Perhaps if we begin to show people that it is unacceptable to behave that way, it will happen less often. I know that flight attendants, like many other “customer service” positions, have been taught to deal with rude and often mean customers but this is too much. Whether she meant to hit Mr. Slater on the head or not the fact is she did. She didn’t listen to his instructions and by hitting him committed a battery. She should be prosecuted just as he should be prosecuted and we could hope that these actions would not repeat themselves and that people, especially customers, would stop these despicable actions.

By: C. K.

C. K. — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:10:45 +0000

I think we should cut this guy some slack. Let’s face it, we have all lost our cool on some poor cashier clerk, hotel receptionist or solicitor that has shown up on our door step. We have all dealt with ignorant people while at work. We have all thought at some point in time about how nice it would be to tell a rude customer off and quit. The difference is…this guy did it! No harm was done, he said his peace and he walked…or slid off the job. I say good for him!

At what point do we start holding people responsible for their inappropriate actions in public. To say that putting up with rude, ignorant people is part of this man’s job is a prime example of what our society has become. That we think it is our right to put down, belittle and demean those we come in contact with because they should expect rudeness, that they get paid to put up with it just disgusts me.

I am a Casino dealer. I get this treatment from people 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Do I get paid to put up with it? Absolutely not. In fact there are Canadian Laws governing my rights as an employee to not put up with the abuse. Unfortunately management chooses to side with money over their employees. So I find myself in a place where I have to suck it up to continue supporting my 4 children. I can only wish I had it within myself to drop an “F-bomb” or 2 at the next player at my table that pisses me off, grab a beer off the waitesss’s tray and walk out of the building. Until then, I will live vicariously through Mr. Slater and hope this bold move brings bigger and better his way.

By: Evelise

Evelise — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:30:39 +0000

Last week, 2 days before 9/11, I flew from Austin, TX to L.A. CA, changing planes in Houston. In both Austin & Houston, we were notified that the boarding lines may take a little longer because there were going to be “random patdowns”. I didn’t think much of this, thinking that it was because of the fear around 9/11.

And then I noticed in both places, that only darker skinned people were being patted down. I’m a white female and remember having a feeling of compasion for the people that appeared to me, to be profiled. I noticed how they seemed to just accept it and wondered how it would feel to grow up having to accept such behaviour because of the color of my skin. Your show today, brought back those same feelings when hearing how sensitive some of the people were and hearing how insensitive others were.
I personally think it is the dumbing down of America, brought on by reality tv. If those people on those shows really act like that and people really give a hoot about it, Lord help us all.
And on the Slater issue – pull the media plug & prosecute. He is no hero. He broke the law and should be prosecuted.