Peter Duniho wrote:
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
ups.com...
This person at the FBO displayed an overt intolerance towards a comment
he did not agree with.

Actually, the person at the FBO displayed an overt intolerance towards an
ignorant comment that he KNEW TO BE FALSE.

[...] what it boils down to is
intolerance towards different choices, and looking at everyone as 'with
us' or 'against us'.

This isn't about a "different choice". If I "choose", in a way different
from other people, to call you an asshole, or I tell you that every person
named "Andrew" that I've ever met was an idiot, and you react negatively
toward that, is it because you are "displaying an overt intolerance"? No,
it wouldn't be. It would be because *I* would be displaying an overt
prejudice. But you seem to think that I have every right to not only
believe something like that, but to tell it to your face, and expect you to
NOT react negatively.

Absurd.

I am amazed at the number of people defending Jay's insulting behavior. I
realize it's popular today to call any sort of consideration for other
people's feelings "politically correct", but really...you guys seem to be
making a sport out of the practice. It doesn't matter how polite or
"genteel" a person is, being ignorant and prejudiced is still a bad thing.
I've known plenty of well-mannered people who nevertheless didn't have a
clue when it came to avoiding insulting stereotypes.

Jay is one of them (and this isn't the first time we've seen him proving
it).

Pete

What I am saying is that people should be able to express their
opinions freely without fearing negative reactions or reprimand from
others. Some of these opinions could be wrong (and all of us are wrong
one time or another), but if the other person reacts violently, then
the person offering his opinion is only going to widthraw and harden
his beliefs. Dialog and respect to other's opinion is the only way to
overcome misinformation and improve understanding. If we start throwing
people out or getting upset at the first sign of disagreement, we will
never find a solution to our problems.

Based on Jay's description, he made a comment which he thought was
funny. He may have been insensitive, but I don't think he walked up to
that guy with the intention of insulting him. The right thing for the
FBO guy to do would be respond to Jay with common courtersy and
straighten his misconceptions about corporate pilots. 'Throwing him
out' only serves to harden the negative view Jay may have about
corporate pilots. It does nothing to improve relations.