The Flying Nazis

Kevin 'Silent Bob' Smith was thrown off a Southwest flight the other day for being "too fat to fly". Thanks to the ubiquity of Twitter, one fat guy's struggle against the man became public via his stream of pissed-off tweets such as:

"So, @SouthwestAir, go f*ck yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no "safety risk" (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)."

Seems reasonable enough. Smith is a fat guy. But he sure ain't Jerry-Springer-takes-the-side-off-your-trailer-and-forklifts-you-to-fat-camp fat. So it would seem Southwest just wanted to pick on Smith and hide behind rules and regulations as a justification for their d*ckishness.

Are there any other service industries aside from airlines where people can get away with being giant Nazi douches on a routine basis? No.

Airlines are unique in that they get to be as obnoxious as they want to customers and we all accept it. Why? Do we have a subconscious fear that they'll crash the plane to teach us a lesson if we don't bow down to the flying Nazis?