United Airlines enforced its "no-tolerance" mask policy on a family with a 2-year-old girl who would not wear a mask. And it seems like the whole world has lost its sanity and decency.
Eliz Orban posted a video on Instagram and Twitter explaining that she, her husband, and daughter were all KICKED OFF the United Airlines flight and then BANNED FOR LIFE from the airline because their 2-year-old wouldn't keep her mask on. You can watch the longer video on Instagram but there's a shorter version that Eliz also posted to Twitter.
Kicked off and banned for life. That seems like a totally reasonable response.
NO! IT ISN'T! THAT'S INSANE!
Somebody, anybody, please, show me the science behind mandating that a child that's 2 must comply with a mask guideline on an airplane. Come on, "Listen to the science" people! We are all waiting!
By the way, the CDC does recommend that anyone over 2 should wear the mask, but even the CDC is clear on when there should be exceptions, "Wearing masks may be difficult for some people with sensory, cognitive, or behavioral issues. If they are unable to wear a mask properly or cannot tolerate a mask, they should not wear one." This is according to the CDC. If there are behavioral issues or other issues then the person, or in this case child, in question SHOULD NOT WEAR A MASK.
Even if all of this wasn't true, this is clearly a heartless and soulless action taken to remove this family from their airplane. The people enforcing this rule are simply robots with no human empathy or sympathy or compassion. And the other people on the plane are COWARDS for not speaking up and defending this family. If I'm on that plane, or if this is my family, you know what side of me would have shown up.
I am open to the idea that we don't have the full story. But, the video we do have shows a child who is unwilling to keep the mask on, a parent doing everything they reasonably can to comply with the airline's rules, including holding the mask onto the child's face, and the airline saying "not good enough" and making them leave the plane. With all their luggage and the child's car seat STILL ON THE PLANE and flying to New York without them, by the way.
From what we see in the video, the family did not yell, they did not make a huge scene, they spoke calmly to the person escorting them out. In the Instagram video, you see the husband is INCREDIBLY gracious and doesn't even get mad at the man who threw them off. He says he's not mad at the employee but at United.
I know, I am going to get the normal response, "it's a private company, they can make any rules they want." And I am not saying they CANNOT make and enforce these insane rules. But I AM saying that they SHOULD NOT make and enforce this heartless, soulless, anti-humanity policy. I AM saying that it is wrong for an airline to publicly act like they take the virus SUPER seriously, but then also make flight attendants exposed to Covid still come to work.
I'm not an anti-masker. Wear a mask when it makes sense. I just think that we, as a society, should look at a family with a moody two-year-old and have a little compassion. That's all I'm asking for.
But we are now a people who are so controlled by fear of this virus that we no longer value things like compassion and sympathy. Not only is there fear of the virus, but there's also the fear of being exposed as someone who doesn't follow the program. People are being cowed into silence and compliance.
I hope that we see things like this and wake up. I hope that if I'm on a plane and this is happening that I would risk public ridicule and speak up for this family. How long are we going to give in to this tyranny?
