What's Getting Bigger

Some Americans are getting more and more obese.  I say some because I think there is a counter effort where other people are getting more in shape.  Anyway, there are those who don't mind being large and push their size onto others like the right to be obese was lined out in the constitution.  Kevin Smith (director of Clerks, Mallrats, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) is one of those guys.  He got kicked off a Southwest plane for being so fat that he couldn't put down the armrest.  You can read about that here:  Director Kevin Smith Kicked Off Southwest Flight for 'Being Fat'

I'm trying to be fair here, because I know that some people have no control over their size.  Whether or not they do, they should understand that sometimes their own body mass causes problems for other people.  Such as in this situation, where Southwest claimed that Smith's inability to put down the armrest may cause an untimely exit should an emergency arise, not to mention making the guy in the seat next to him uncomfortable.  The truth is that Smith usually purchases two seats when he flies, which is fair, and shows that he has accepted that his needs are different.  In this particular situation, however, his flight was delayed and he had to take another one in which there was only one seat available.  It wasn't his fault he had only one seat.  Southwest offered him a $100 voucher, but he was upset that they made him get off after he had already been seated, claiming that it was embarrassing.  I can totally see his point.

Southwest should have never seated him on another flight with just one seat knowing that he purchased 2 seats for himself.  Maybe they didn't know that.  Maybe it's just one big understanding.

Anyway, this kind of reminds me of Wall•e and makes me imagine Americans tumbling through time getting larger and larger.  If airlines start creating a special section with larger seating for obese individuals, is that part of the beginning?  Should we just go with the flow or is there anything we can do to fight it?

Gross.  And scary.