Jewish Man With Full Beard And Black Hat Yanked Off Flight:
NEW YORK - A passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, ignoring flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by an airport security guard, a witness and the airline said.
The Orthodox Jewish man, who wore a full beard, a black hat and a long black coat, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.
When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends, who were seated, tried to tell the attendants that the man couldn't stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.
I can't differentiate between incidents like this and the infamous 'flying Imams' case. I'm sorry, but if I'm on an airplane, I don't want disturbances like this to occur. If the airline industry kowtows to every bizarre religions or spiritual pre-flight ritual, we'd all be frightened and annoyed. It's completely natural to be put off or frightened by someone off in their own world praying and looking, to say the least, out of the norm. What do you think? Should people be allowed to pray openly on airplanes?
10 comments:
I agree Shawn. I don't want to see someone- whether it be a muslim or jewish guy praying on the airplane. The most important thing here was the fact that he didn't listen when the employees told him to stop.
Yeah I agree John! It's not so much about the religion as it is about the man not listening to the rules on the plane. You just can't do that!
Agreed. Above and beyond anything, the man did not listen to the airline personnel requiring him to cease what he was doing. That alone, is cause for concern.
Shawn- Im suprise you would even pick this up. The guy isn't a Muslim and it doesn't go with your point of view. I guess thats good.
I'm not a Jew, but here is what I have heard regarding this situation on other sites:
1. Once the prayer is started, it must be completed. That being the case it's not like he just blew off the flight attendants for fun. He was bound to complete the prayer.
2. Certain prayers must be said at certain times. He could not wait for a more opportune time to say the prayer.
Now, with those in mind, he certainly should have done things differently knowing that his prayer might have interfered with the flight.
Thing is, I don't care about his prayer ritual and neither should the airline staff. He has plenty of time to pray before and after the flight.
Hence my "done things differently" comment.
The MSNBC article does not say, but did this guy actually delay the flight by praying (not counting the time it took to remove him from the flight)? Could they really not just let him do his thing for 2 minutes?
I am with you on this, newsjunkie. Peeved sounds like he would be calling for executions if the guy had been a Muslim, but he has all kinds of "understanding" because he's a Jew. give me a break. I am surpised hie didn't call you and the airline anit-semitic.
This praying guy was a selfish arrogant jerk and he absolutely should not be imposing his religion on the rest of us.
hank you to the airline workers who stood up to him, and to the airline for backing them up.
I don't want that kind of behavior on any plane I'm on, from Muslim, or Jews. Or Christians either.
Wow Hammer, I'm impressed. Do you have like a 28th grade reading comprehension level or something? How do you get that I would have said anything differently if the word "Jew" were replaced by the word "Muslim" in the story? That's a big supposition to be tossing around there, chief.
And I really like how a person who is praying in public is "imposing" his religion on you. WTF is up with that? If you see someone quietly praying in a park, do you feel like they are proselytizing to you? Are you that easily offended?
And, because I too have a 28th grade reading comprehension, you sound like the type of person who is offended when the local mall decides to put up a "Christmas Tree" instead of a "Holiday Tree", or that there is a cross on the official town seal.
Finally, since I'm sure you are wondering, I thought the flying Imams deserved to get booted. That was their goal after all, was it not? Make a fuss with the loud praying before the flight, the questionable discussions and the suspicious activities on the plane, get booted and raise a stink and sue. All in the name of "raising awareness of how unfairly Muslims are being treated in a post-911 world". Hogwash. If they had been quietly doing their thing out of the way and not made a scene and they got tossed, I'd be incensed by that too. It seems like the only thing this guy did wrong (based on the very little information in the story) is not ask "How high?" when the flight attendant said "Jump!".
Peeved, I agree with you on the Imams, and I don't care if they call it a Christmas tree or not, and it doesn't take a 28th grade education to note that you seemed to be making excuses for this guy, and I guessed on the rest.
I say he was imposing his religion on others because his resistance to the command oc the flight crew caused others to be inconvenienced. Your example of someone praying a park is not really relavant, is it.
Again, I thank the flight crew for standing up to this person's lack of respect for the rest of the passengers, and I thank the airline for backing them up.
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