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January 23, 2007

Free speech, flights and idiots.

Allen Jasson, 55, an Australian, was stopped from boarding a Qantas flight from Melbourne to London.

Airline staff argued the T-shirt, which bears an image of the US president with the slogan 'World's number 1 terrorist', was a security risk or an item likely to upset passengers.

The airline earlier had prevented him from flying to Melbourne for Christmas with relatives on December 2 until he removed the shirt.

Domestic carrier Virgin Blue took the same action when Mr Jasson tried to catch a connecting flight to Adelaide...

But the Adelaide-born former Melbourne resident said he was seeking legal advice to challenge the airline's policy and recover costs.

"To be fair to Qantas, they have said I can take another flight if I don't wear the t-shirt but I am not prepared to go without the t-shirt," he said.

"I might forfeit the ($2,500) fare but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech."

Source

So, we have someone making a bold stand for free speech in Australia, a notoriously totalitarian country. In an international airport.

I have several issues with this:

You're in an airport. People are touchy about terrorism in places like that.

The plane would have been delayed for this asshat gentleman, whilst his checked luggage was removed from the hold.

A shirt change is not difficult.

All they need to refuse to allow him to board is a suspicion that he's going to cause trouble in a confined space with a captive audience

I have a suspicion that "Bush is an Idiot" on a shirt would have been fine, but he wanted to grandstand on his fourth attempt to board a plane wearing the shirt.

But the most droll aspect is:

He's not an American. He's not in America. The Australian Constitution does not contain provisions for the freedom of speech - even though Australia is a signatory to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which does include the right to freedom of speech.

So why doesn't Australia have it? Because for treaties and conventions to be accepted as law, they must pass a special act of Parliament. Article 19 of the UDHR has never been ratified in such a way, though there have been several attempts. There has been a series of very interesting discussions about how such a bill would actually limit rights in Australia rather than provide protections.

And even if he were in America, the first amendment is rather specific about Governments. Not private entities.

Even if it were in America, Qantas is a private corporation and as such is not subject to such laws.

Certainly, the man has every right to wear the shirt. And Qantas (or the Captain of the flight) has the right to deny service to anyone who seems likely to cause a disturbance which might interfere with a safe flight.

Personally, I would have handed him to security for a cavity search.

Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at January 23, 2007 09:38 AM

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