Friday 17 December 2021
Thong on the face instead of a mask
Crew throws potential civil rights activists out of pilots
FFP2 masks effectively prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, and the protective effect of tight women’s underwear is likely to be minimal. In Florida, a man has to get off a plane because he’d rather wear a thong over his face than a mask. By protesting, he sees himself in the tradition of the African American civil rights movement.
Because he pulled a red thong over his face in place of a protective mask, a passenger in the United States was thrown off the plane before takeoff. The 38-year-old mask opponent wanted to travel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the US capital, Washington, US media reported Thursday. A mobile phone video showed him sitting in his seat with red underwear on his face, then United Airlines staff asked him to leave the plane.
With an unusual face covering, the man protested the mask requirements on planes. “The best way to show absurdity is absurdity,” the 38-year-old told NBC2. The requirement for a mask is “bullshit,” “stupid,” and “theater” — after all, the coronavirus doesn’t know “we are at a flying height.” Mask requirements on planes in the US have nothing to do with altitude – but with the fact that many people sit together for hours in a confined space.
The man even compared himself to American civil rights icon Rosa Parks on NBC 2. The African American protested segregation in the Southern state in 1955 by refusing to get up from a seat in the area of a bus reserved for white passengers. The passenger said the change in the US has always been to assume “ordinary people”. “Rosa Parks was not famous. She changed the course of history.”
The mask of opponents often causes problems
After the man was thrown off the plane, several passengers left the plane, he said. The cell phone video shows a man doing this. United Airlines praised the behavior of the crew. “It is clear that the customer did not comply with the muzzle requirements imposed by the federal authorities,” the airline said. It was welcome that the crew addressed the problem prior to takeoff and thus prevented potential problems during the flight.
In the USA, there are always discussions about mask requirements on airplanes. Many people refuse to commit to wearing a mouth and nose guard. Like vaccination, the issue is politically charged in the United States. For example, former President Donald Trump rarely wore a protective mask and publicly mocked himself about the wearers of masks. On the other hand, his successor Joe Biden regularly appeals to residents to follow the recommendations of health authorities on wearing masks.
The threshold of 800,000 coronavirus deaths has been crossed in the United States this week. This is the highest recorded number in the world.
