Another contagion currently infecting the country is the scourge of bad behavior, from yelling at restaurant staff and librarians to becoming violent on airplanes. Here, too, remote Hawaii has not been spared.
While we’re focused on Covid-19 and the damage it is doing, a secondary or tertiary effect of the pandemic has been the rise of ugly, sometimes abusive behavior related to measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
Public health experts are debating how and when the Covid-19 pandemic will end, but will there ever be an end to displays of loud grievances that escalate to physical assault? Once social norms fall, they rarely, if ever, are reestablished.
When the coronavirus threat subsides, will the threat of a fight breaking out on an airplane or in a line outside a restaurant subside, too? Or is that now a chronic condition we will live with for the rest of our days?
You’d think that the prevalence of surveillance cameras and eyewitness cell phone video documenting each altercation would serve to curtail these incidents, but no. The potential of greater visibility of such outbursts seems like fuel on the fire, like a ticket to internet notoriety, as though there is glory to be had in going viral as a rage-filled, self-important jerk.
Moreover, videos of incidents of air rage seem to be instructive, inspiring others who may not have previously considered the possibility of acting wild on an airplane to take up the sport, and providing almost a tutorial on how such a display of depravity is conducted.
Is acting crazy contagious? In some ways, maybe it is. If enough evidence is floated around social media that getting angry and throwing punches on an plane is a trendy thing to do, that “emotional contagion” could implant in people’s consciousness as a way to be cool. In 2021, if you’re not aggrieved, you’re just not anybody.
There was a time when acting up on an airplane was extremely rare. Now it seems almost likely on any given flight.
You can sit there in your seat as the plane is being boarded and try to pick out who it’s going to be. “Oh, that one, for sure. Oh, that other one looks drunk already. Yikes, that one over there is already punching the overhead compartment to try to stash her overstuffed luggage. Abunai.”
When friends come back from dropping their kid off at college in another state, one of the first questions is, “How were the flights?” That’s understood to mean “did anybody act stupid?” and not “any delays?” or “much turbulence?”
Flight attendants across the industry are being trained in management of assaultive behavior. They’re learning how to handcuff passengers to their seats. The famous United Airlines slogan “fly the friendly skies” seems like an artifact from a hopelessly outdated era.
Air travel used to be a luxury. The flight to a destination was part of the experience, not an uncomfortable but mandatory step to be endured. The idea of air travel was different. Your trip began at the airport and ended when you stepped off the return flight. The hours in the air were part of the excitement of embarking on a journey, not a feat of endurance to be tolerated (or not tolerated) until the real adventure began.
Up through the ’70s and ’80s, people dressed up to get on an airplane like they were going to an event. A complimentary bag of pretzels seemed like a gift. The guava juice was a treat. When passengers were reminded to buckle their seat belts, they did so without getting huffy about their individual rights to do whatever the hell they please with their bodies, including banging their fool heads on the overhead compartments if the plane hits a pocket of turbulence.
Who would have thought that the marvel of air travel, the elegance of being able to fly anywhere in the world, and the absolute privilege of getting on a plane to or from Hawaii would ever be sullied by bad behavior?
For that matter, who would have ever imagined someone yelling at a librarian or the house manager of a live theater reminding audience members that they have to wear their masks during the show? This may be the most disheartening long-term effect of the pandemic and the current political era.
As we may have to live with Covid-19 in our midst, protected by immunity from vaccines or boosters, we also may have to learn to live with people’s unbridled outbursts of temper and hostility in places that used to seem low-risk. But then again, little children in school practice what to do in an “active shooter” situation, so dealing with the possibility of a brawl on a flight probably shouldn’t be so shocking.
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Lee Cataluna: Is Acting Crazy Contagious? Bad Behavior Is Growing - Honolulu Civil Beat
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