Bully--Not a Hero!

"Hero JetBlue Passenger Put Unruly Pilot in Chokehold" is one of the headlines in today's press regarding the man who put a chokehold on the captain of a JetBlue flight after he had a breakdown.  I am so very tired of reading the term "hero" in the American press, almost always for something ridiculous and often for its opposite. The man was no hero but a consummate bully, and what he said when interviewed shows just that: 

The hero passenger who helped restrain a disruptive JetBlue captain that caused the jetliner to be diverted to Texas said today that he knew controlling the man could be the difference between life and death for a lot of people.

"I knew there were about 130 people on the plane...families, kids...and I thought, this is not going to happen on my plane," passenger David Gonzalez told ABCNews.com.

Oh, please!  Your plane, the difference between life and death!  Give us a break.

This is the world we now live in, bullies as heroes.  Apparently, the poor captain, flying for over 12 years, had a mental breakdown on the plane and started screaming about Iraq, Israel, bombs, etc. (there have been lots of breakdowns of flight crew since 9/11 with most of those who have had breakdowns screaming about terrorists). The co-pilot, with some intelligence and guts (he was an underling after all), had locked the door after persuading the pilot to leave the cockpit having observed his strange behavior, so no one was in danger of going down, or from anything else for that matter, other than witnessing the sadness of another human being in a breakdown.

"Chokehold."  I hope the captain sues Gonzalez when he recovers.  But this is America, where we love violence of any and all kinds.  Fortunately for the captain, guns are not permitted on planes or I imagine he'd be dead with a least six bullet holes in his body, from the six guns carried by the six men who jumped the captain and forced him to the floor and held him there, all current or former security personnel, on their way to a security conference. This is the America that created George Zimmerman and killed Trayvon Martin.  And perhaps one of the imagined six shots would have damaged the plane and brought it down, killing everyone on board.  Then no doubt they all would have been hailed as heroes--all dead, of course.

Not too long ago I was on a subway that was stopped for track trouble when a young, very slight hispanic man, began talking strangely and had trouble standing, with his pants starting to fall down.  He kept trying to stand and kept falling. It was obvious that he was a danger to himself.  We notified the conductor who called for help.  The man had a medical band around his wrist, so may have just been released from a hospital.  Two policeman arrived, and when the older one went to seek medical help, the younger one stayed.  At one point, the hispanic who couldn't walk or stand responded with a snarl when the cop, standing at least three feet away from him, said something aggressive.  The officer then told us to get off the train because he was going to spray the man with mace.  I responded that if he sprayed the man with mace he'd see me in court testifying against him for police brutality. He didn't spray, and an ambulance finally arrived, took the young man to the hospital, and we were again on our way.  This is a testament to what the police in this country are about: aggression first, peacemaking and concern last.

My idea of a hero--the man who jumped on the subway tracks when a train could be seen coming through the tunnel to help another man, a stranger, back to the platform.  And this hero disappeared without giving anyone his name.  Heroes are few and far between. Let's keep our praise for those who merit it.