United Airlines controversy isn’t about overbooking at all

The lawyer for Dr. David Dao, now the world’s most famous de-planed passenger, wants his client to be a symbol, not just of the dehumanization of air travel, but of all corporate bullying.

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“I think corporate America needs to understand that we all want to be treated with the same respect and the same dignity that they would treat their own family members,” he said.

But what is Corporate America? It’s made up of employees who, in this case, could have done the right thing if they’d wanted to.

Even soldiers have a duty to refuse an unlawful order.

Someone could have said, “Stop! This is stupid! The guy paid for his seat. We’re not gonna call the cops to drag him off the plane!”

But instead, the airline employees and the cops decided we’re going to do this no matter what.

And I think a lot us behave that way once we get a little power.

The driver who cuts you off on your way home, for example, has decided he’s so much more important than you, he’s actually willing to risk killing you to get home a little earlier. You can’t blame the company that made his car, or even the commercial that always shows it going way too fast. It’s the driver who is to blame.

Well, corporations may be faceless, but the people in them are free to be human beings at any time. And those people are us.

The United Airlines controversy isn’t really about overbooking. There are plenty of ways to fix the overbooking problem. This is about not being a jerk when you go to work.

The way to fight back against the faceless dehumanizing corporation is to behave like a human being, even if you work for one.

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