I would sue.

I love it. PC hosted on its own petard.

"And I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!"

Both my 3 year old daughters are adopted. I guess I'm lucky they haven't passed a law against me dressing them or taking them to the bathroom.

"But he's our father."

As if that makes a difference in a politically correct, progressive feminist context.

Of course it matters Ken. The state has to know who to send the child support bill to.

On a flight from about 3 or 4 years ago, I had a mom and dad with baby in the two seats in front of me. Their daughter, probably about 8, was in the seat next to me (a transcon on a triple 7). As per my usual flight routine, took out my laptop and was typing away. The young girl had drifted off sleeping -- eventually to turn to my side, slouch over and pin my arm with her head & shoulder. I needed to get my work done...but did the typing 1 armed....allowing her to sleep. Just didn't have it in me to wake her up (she was in comfortable slumber) and ask her to lean into her own space. Eventually (after about 20 or 30 mins) mom looked back and said "oh god, sorry" and woke her up. I said to mom "it's fine. I envy her being able to get some sleep". It was no big deal.

Reading these stories now (no surprise one of these carriers would be a British based), I'm left a bit astonished of how unaware I was.....how unaware that I was putting myself in harms way for such an inconsequential act. Lesson learned......better safe than extremely sorry.

Sometimes I would swear I have entered the twilight zone. Things are beyond stupid anymore..

Well,

The flip-side to all this societal paranoia about men being around children will be ever increasing male paranoia about being around children; this all will not end well.

""The flip-side to all this societal paranoia about men being around children will be ever increasing male paranoia about being around children; this all will not end well.""

The risk is simply too real to disregard it as 'that kind of thing only happens to others'. A healthy dose of paranoia is best practice for a man. There exists too much guilty until proven innocent thinking on this subject to just disregard the reality.

The flip side is there are a number of creeps like Sandusky. Even a relative handful of those guys can make it seem like there is one around every corner (even though we are a society of 300+ million). As a parent, we did have a certain amount of paranoia about where we allowed him to go/stay. With that said, on the subject of flying, the three of us would fly a lot (I'm a frequent flyer with a lot of award miles). We never had concern about who/where he sat next to on the plane (when not sitting with us). We viewed it as a good thing, allowing him to gain a sense of independence. It was pleasing to hear him relay conversations he would have with strangers he was sitting next to.

So when I hear about airlines (at least some of them) taking this tact, it's obvious that right thinking is no longer part of the equation.....which just reinforces the unfortunate but real need for that prudent paranoia.

My daughter just started 4th grade, and has her first male teacher (the only male elementary teacher at the school currently). I am thrilled. She loved her male after-school caregiveer last year, and wanted to give him a present when she saw him again for the first time this year. I worry about the distance we put between men and children, and the effect it has, on both sides. Agree with Bobby, "this all will not end well."

a further thought,

As has been noted half-jokingly in the article and in the comments, many child-free men and even many of the same women see benefits( peace and tranquility to name just one) to the segregation. So what we are likely to experience in the future is not just the one side( child-blessed) seeking out segregation but eventually the men and even women of the other side( childless-blessed) pushing for the segregation for a whole other set of reasons that will assuredly include being free from the above paranoia.

"So what we are likely to experience in the future is not just the one side(child-blessed) seeking out segregation but eventually the men and even women of the other side(childless-blessed) pushing for the segregation for a whole other set of reasons that will assuredly include being free from the above paranoia."

And delicious irony will rear its lovely head, as the child-molesters stay right there by their family members.

And delicious irony will rear its lovely head, as the child-molesters stay right there by their family members.

Posted by: Radwaste at August 21, 2012 10:38 AM
____________________________

I'm not sure that RELATIVES, per se, are more likely to be the molesters than teachers, coaches, or family friends, all of whom are known to the parents.

While Americans on average know perfectly well that most molesters are familiar people, that only makes them all the more leery of strangers - especially those who act overly friendly. After all, what reason IS there for a stranger to act like an old friend - especially with a child who is not lost AND who is not standing right next to an adult guardian?

Trouble is, you can't segregate little kids without having a babysitter, and pretty soon, babysitters will insist on being hired in pairs for their own protection, if you see what I mean.

BTW, I found this at Bratfree, in the "Yet more airline dumbassery":

LoveToLurk:
It's sexist to assume that a man is a pedo, and it's sexist to assume that a woman would be willing to watch over the unaccompanied minor.

As I said on the other thread, if they're so worried about pedophiles everywhere they should just pair unaccompanied minors up with families. Because everyone knows that people that have bred are the best people and the world and would NEVER harm a child. Plus, with how much breeders are always going on and on about the importance of "the village," I'll bet they would never mind having to watch someone else's spawn.

satansbitch:
I have seen that in action and it almost never works. I stood in the mall and watched while a little girl did what she was taught and found another mother. "Find another mother" is something Dear Abby came up with in the late 90's. If you get lost in a crowded place find a woman with kids. The moo didn't even look at the little girl, said to no one in particular, "I don't have time for this" and walks away. The kid just stands there in shock. She looks around, I catch her attention and hand her my cell phone. She calls moomy, I direct moomy to the food court, we weren't very far from it, and we meet up at the escalator. This entire thing took less than ten minutes. Whoever thinks moos are saints just because the spawn is in serious need of a reality check. Whoever says it needs for their head to meet up with a sledge hammer.

I think this is the first time I've ever been referred to as a "breeder." Nice to know that I'm, "going on and on about the importance of 'the village,'" when I believe the village is largely BS.

Us vs. them. It always comes to that it seems.

Just so you know, there's a complimentary term that exists - PNB. It means "parent, not breeder."

In other words, even people at Bratfree don't see ALL parents as irresponsible breeders.

And what bothers Bratfree members about "the village" is that the one that USED to exist, before the 1960s or so, is no longer socially acceptable, since in those days, strangers were allowed to scold misbehaving kids and even complain to the parents without fear of being attacked in one way or another. As John Rosemond would say, the village has been replaced by "the fortress" - that is, parents act like their kids' lawyers whenever the kids are accused of wrongdoing, but in the meantime, many parents think that the modern "village" should mean a society that only gives and gives, smilingly, and never demands anything in return, such as good behavior.

More on that here, if you like:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1996/nov/18/village-does-have-a-role-in-childrearing/

BTW, this paranoia isn't all that new - see this 1996 FBOFW comic strip:

http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexkeywords2.php?q=vanessa