I’m a high maintenance woman but not an overly considerate one. Currently I’m flying over some state I’m unlikely to ever visit perhaps Nebraska or Iowa. It was only because of Facebook that I discovered there is no Bloomingdales in Alabama. Alabama is not a state where a woman like myself would flourish though I think I went through there once in 1991 with a drag queen named Jimmy. Maybe that was Arkansas?
In any event after reading the whole Elan the misogynist v Diane in 7D twitter stream I was sad for the mysterious Diane. She was anxious about missing her flight and was wearing a facemask. This is all the information we have about her. Oh, also she was presumably sitting in first or business class with Elan the provocative misogynist. You see, the only things I know about Elan is that he’s provocative, hates women and has a tacky mother.
When I envision a demanding facemasked woman in a premium seat I make one of three assumptions: Diane has a compromised immune system (perhaps she’s just finished chemo or radiation), Diane is Asian and in her country this is a considerate move, and/or that Diane has some kind of an anxiety disorder (perhaps related to OCD) and that every part of traveling is stressful for her.
I can’t pretend to understand Elan because I’ve never been a producer for a reality show that focuses on good looking people who are willing to humiliate themselves on TV. Elan is expert in exploiting the weak and perhaps the puppeteering that he does for a living has leaked over into his social life? I really wouldn’t know. I don’t know Elan.
I am uniquely qualified to speak for the Dianes of the world. You see I’m a high maintenance occasional business class flyer. Currently I’m in seat 31G and I’ve already napped, watched half of a dreadful movie and played Candy Crush. So I was sitting and poking around the internet when I was interrupted by a kid wailing. I hate traveling with kids. My own kids are up in seats 26 H and J. I’m demanding, I’m not sharing my armrest and I was in danger of listening to a kid scream for an hour or more. Unacceptable.
Much like Elan I’m cranky, but that’s where things diverge. Every time I go to the bank I stock up on lollipops and if you’re ever needing a shot of sugar and chemicals the inside zipper pocket of every bag I own has at least three lollipops in it. This is not because I love your children, this is not because I’m trying to make friends with you, the parent, this is because I enjoy quiet and because screaming children jangle my nerves. I also travel with Xanax and would likely share that with a hysterical adult next to me. It’s not the right thing to do but I’d likely do it because much like Elan & his mother I can be an asshole.
What I’ve never done, and what no one I know has ever done, is offer an unhappy passenger a cock to suck on. Perhaps it’s because I’m cockless. Perhaps it’s because I’m not entertained by men who think that their penises are something to offer to unhappy strangers. Perhaps it’s because I wasn’t raised by a woman who does this to the faceless woman on an airplane that her son harangued for hours.
Diane and I do have something in common, our hands both hurt today from hitting men who deserved it. Yes, last night while walking in Times Square with my 15 year old daughter a 30-something man started pulling on her scarf and twirling her hair. I slapped him so hard my hand swelled up. I hope Diane’s hand doesn’t hurt and I don’t advocate violence unprovoked but this?
My response to “Diane” in 7A pic.twitter.com/cRN2togLdq
— elan gale (@theyearofelan) November 28, 2013
This is violence and had I been on Elan’s flight my hands would have been wrapped around his vile throat.
Update December 1 11.30PT: A spokesperson from US Airlines told me that they have asked for crew and gate reports around the alleged incident. As of this time he has seen no security reports from gate agents [he is not willing to state that this is odd but I am]. US Airlines is “unclear as to what happened” and “if it happened it’s serious.” Teams have requested reports from the flight crew as well as from the gate crews and as they have more information they will call me.
This is perfect!
Well written as always… When I first read it, I laughed. When I thought about it, I was ashamed of my laughter and horrified over the whole thing.
I drug the crap out of myself when I travel. If I didn’t, I would be Diane x100. And I also carry lollipops at all times. Dum dums or See’s.
I had the same reaction(s) as you, AJ.
Relieved it wasn’t just me…!
I’m not particularly high maintenance, have lollipops in my purse at all times, spent lots of time in Alabama with my converted Torah-banger grandma’s family as a kid, live in a flyover state and hate people acting as if airplane travel problems only affect them and that the hapless flight crew or gate agents really have the power to make everything better. In spite of that, I stopped chuckling when Elan whipped his dick out. Editing is an important skill for everyone.
The high horse lesson here to “always be nice to service industry workers” is completely lost when he tells an aged, anxious woman to eat his dick. No winners here. I don’t agree with the internet lauding him.
I agree. I actually liked his first move very much (sending a drink over), but didn’t like where he took it.
I’m also not entirely sure it’s real, is it? He has a bit of a pattern of hoaxes, so I wondered if this was one too.
I Just Had About 650 Children.
46 Years Gone By.
Well You Know.
and I DIDNT
“JUST.”
LAY DOWN
and DIE ABOUT IT YOU KNOW.
Social Security
For Ten Years Now = Really Sucks.
Nice Website “Sarah.”
Elan more than crossed the line. When I was reading his description of Diane’s behavior the first thing that came to my mind was that she sounded really anxious to me. I have a kid with autism, and the more anxious he gets the louder he gets, the more he needs reassurance that somehow, someway the world is going to magically meet up with his expectation. What Elan did to Diane was simply to make an already difficult experience horrific. If he actually did what he said he did, and she has physical evidence, there should at the very least be a civil suit pending if not one in the criminal justice system. My inclination would not have been to slap him — it would have been to kick him so hard in the nuts he’d have no equipment left with which to threaten any woman in the future.