David Sirota: Flying Coach on a Planetary Scale

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from Truthdig:




Flying Coach on a Planetary Scale


Posted on Dec 6, 2007
By David Sirota

A recent flight I took was, like most these days, completely packed. About 100 fellow travelers and I were crammed into a way-too-small coach cabin. But when I stood up for a moment, I discovered we were all making our situation worse.

Looking out over the rows, I saw that almost all aboard had pushed their seats back, invading the space of those behind them. This was bad for everyone. As any flier knows, the benefit of reclining is more than offset by the inconvenience of having a stranger in your lap. And yet, most passengers—including me—had contributed to the problem.

The seat recliner uses the public domain—in this case, space—and we have gotten used to using as much of that domain as we can, not just on planes but everywhere. This is our destructive me culture: Anything we want in the public sphere, we take or use, with little regard for the overall ramifications.

A stranger reclines into your lap. Someone in a theater talks through the movie. The guy at the next table yammers so loudly on his cell phone that you can’t hear your lunch companion. A passerby litters in the park. In each example, the public domain is trampled and usurped by the me culture.

But what happens when this culture affects the really big stuff—like, say, planetary survival? It is a critical question because, according to the new book “Apollo’s Fire,” that’s precisely what’s going on. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071206_flying_coach_on_a_planetary_scale/