Saturday, January 31, 2009
Victimology
Is it just me (and, well, Cassandra) who thinks that there is something wrong with wanting monetary "compensation" for having one's life saved?
Many US Airways (LCC) passengers who endured a crash landing in the Hudson River 12 days ago say they appreciate the $5,000 that the airline has offered — but some say it's not enough.
Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte who suffered a bloody nose and bruises, says he "would like to be made whole for the incident."
It's too soon after the accident to determine what emotional distress he has suffered, he says.
Of course, Joe Hart will then need to make me "whole" for the as yet undetermined "emotional distress" that I will suffer if he gets one goddamned red cent more than the other passengers because he "determines" that he cannot manage his own farookin' neurotransmitters. Talk to your priest, cry on your wife's shoulder, confer with a shrink, pop some SSRIs, get a massage, or live on the stories you will be able to tell for the rest of your life. Any or all of that is preferable to wanting money to make you "whole" for your imagined pain. You lived, fer Chrissakes, through the skill of US Airways' pilot, which is a pretty damned good deal under the circumstances. You are obviously so ungrateful to man and God that no amount of money can make you "whole" in any respect that matters.
What are we coming to when the "Joe Harts" of this world are not only looking to cash in from a near miss, but are not even ashamed to say so for attribution by a national newspaper? How humiliating, yet he does not even see it. The whole thing makes me sad and angry.
MORE: Rachel Lucas sees it my way, only she's more pissed off about it.
9 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Jan 31, 05:11:00 PM:
It makes me think about the news from England about the 83 year old man tried to stop an armed robber while 9 "blokes" stood by and did nothing. Joe Hart is obviously a "bloke" in a world that needs more cowboys, or former members of the Royal Artillary Regiment.
By 
Mrs. Davis, at
Sat Jan 31, 05:19:00 PM:
By Larry Sheldon, at
Sat Jan 31, 07:12:00 PM:
We have had, in these long years, several incidents where reasonable people said "You should sue the ...."
But we didn't. And we are proud of that.
And now we may starve when the rest of our savings are sucked out by the bailout folks needing to fund parties and fancy airplanes and so for the lawyer folk running things now.
Some times I think maybe we fucked up.
By Cassandra, at
Sat Jan 31, 07:56:00 PM:
Something tells me this guy wasn't "whole" before that plane went down.
Giving him money isn't going to fill that empty place where his soul ought to be.
By , at
Sat Jan 31, 08:50:00 PM:
But wait..... Where's my $5000? I, as a helpless tv observer, was forced to watch hour after hour of this dreadful saga, first in real time, and then in numberless replays.
My psyche is well and truly damaged over this incident, so I am a VICTIM too. And what about those poor innocent GEESE who perished only because of greedy selfish capitalists flying around trying to make some money, and polluting the planet? Uggggh.
btw, bama: you've been president now for almost a WEEK AND A HALF and still haven't received any money from you yet. What's up with that?
By , at
Sun Feb 01, 03:26:00 AM:
I was aghast when I first read this. Get compensated for what you lost, and your ticket refunded -- sounds like enough to me. Maybe payment for some counseling to treat/prevent post-traumatic stress, that's reasonable. But to make a profit?? I don't think so!
By , at
Sun Feb 01, 09:11:00 AM:
Yes, agreed, except that this kind of thing isn’t all that new. My favorite story of this type is
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDE163DF932A2575AC0A963958260
Princeton people might remember this. What the fellow who got hurt did was really hard to do. Climbing up to the power lines for those NJ transit trains requires some acrobatic skill and the signs warning you not to do this are big and plentiful; you can’t miss them. And climbing up there is, without any signs, self-evidently stupid. Nevertheless, although NJ transit did nothing wrong, it paid out $3.6 million, which, of course, I, other NJ transit passengers, and the taxpayers of New Jersey eventually coughed up.
Inside Princeton stuff: I didn’t know the University owned Princeton Junction. But if the Times says so, I guess it must be. Actually, I think the “accident” happened at the Dinky station, which is next to the University campus. So maybe PU owns it; they own a lot.
By JPMcT, at
Sun Feb 01, 10:44:00 AM:
You know, the company could have made a nice gesture like an "open ticket" for free air travel for life for those who had t otake the walk on the airplane wing at five below zero.
Hell, I'd love to be a passenger for life on an airline that hires guys like Capt. Sullenberger!
BUT....instead...they have a meeting in a boardroom with a bunch of marketing and legal weenies and conclude that it was wise to assign a dollar amount on the value of one's survival.
REALLY bad move!!
Stand back now and watch the feeding frenzy. It reminds me of the sad scenario of the families of the Virginia Tech Massacre Victims haggling with lawyers to determine the prize value of a child's life.
Repulsive, indeed.
By , at
Sun Feb 01, 04:01:00 PM:
I heard Joe Hart on the radio in Detroit. He was born in Detroit and went to Brother Rice. He stated the comment was taken out of context. The $5,000 wasn't enough to cover all his suits and electronics. He also stated that he didn't want anybody suing the airline.
