Moral Dilemma #2

[Angela Harlem]

You are a nervous flyer and have taken a couple of valium to get you through a flight. The person sitting next to you is acting strangely and you suspect they are intending to sabotage the plane. You know if you tell the attendant they will be approached. What would you do? Do you trust your judgement and tell the attendant, or ignore it?

The twist:
You've decided to alert the attendant, but here's the twist. Before you do, they tell a joke about recent events on planes, and how nervous they now are about flying. What would you do... now? Still alert them, or ignore your initial fears?

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

I think my answer goes against all my usual principles, but..

Tell the attendant. If the person sitting next to you is doing nothing wrong then the attendant speaking to them won't do any harm. If they were planning something wrong then your actions could have saved people's lives. Besides, their comment about being a nervous flyer could be designed to calm your suspicions about them. Obviously you'd also have to take into account the fact that you're a nervous flyer and so you might well be suspecting a person for no good reason.

Egh. Well this is pretty much the opposite of what I believe politically.

 

[martha]

I have no answer this time. There isn't enough set-up for me in the problem, and if I took two valium, they'd be landing plane anyway because I'd die.

 

[AvsGirl41]

Well, since this scenario says I actually am suspicious of sabotage--then I must have a good reason to think this way.

I sit next to alot of weirdos on the train and that's not an idea that would randomly pop into my head.

So, I'd tell the attendant. Better safe than sorry. And if I turn out to be wrong and they realize I reported them, I'll apologize, blame it on my prescription drugs and buy them a drink....

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

. And if I turn out to be wrong and they realize I reported them, I'll apologize, blame it on my prescription drugs and buy them a drink....

Ditto.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

i'd slap the person around and tell them to snap out of it a la Airplane the movie style.



on a serious note. i would tell the attendent because i would not want to sit next to a nervous nelly during a flight.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

if i took two valium i'd be really out of it! the only time i had valium was in an iv drip. i would tell a flight attendent when i got up to "go to the bathroom." then i'd hope they wouldn't essentially follow me back to talk to them. it'd be so obvious then. you know, like when you go up to the teacher's desk to ask a question, and as you walk away, they announce what you said, making it obvious that you were the person who asked. like they couldn't wait a minute or so!

 

[Salome]

I wouldn't trust my judgement and chose to ignore it

 

[Schmeg]

I'd keep my mouth shut so I wouldn't look like a dope. Plus, if I was on two Valium, I probably wouldn't be able to move enough to tell the attendant.

 

[martha]

like when you go up to the teacher's desk to ask a question, and as you walk away, they announce what you said, making it obvious that you were the person who asked. like they couldn't wait a minute or so!

 

[zonelistener]

NOTIFY a flight crew member. You can say something descretly, that won't in turn OVER-ALARM the flight attendant.

Working for the airlines, we deal with odd stuff like this ALL the time. Everything helps.

You could say something like "I don't want to alarm anyone, but the gentleman I am sitting next to in (insert seat number here) has been acting suspiciously. It may NOT be anything serious, but if you can just keep your eyes and ears open!?"

Flight Attendants and the cockpit crew have gone through training that determines "suspicious" behavior, and will be better at determining if the gentleman is truly a threat.

 

[Klaus]

I imagine i'm on Valium (for the first time) and i'm still able to talk and move.

I guess i'd walk to the flight attendant tell him about the Valium and about my fears and mention again that because of the Valium my judgement might be wrong.

Klaus