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I am sitting on an airplane. I have the aisle seat. Seated across from me and one row up is a man watching a movie that contains a few brief sex scenes. I don’t know the movie’s name nor do I recognize any of the actors.
I write this because it touches an interesting area of political thought for which I have no answer: Where does this man’s right to free speech –watching this movie –cross the rights of the other passengers and crew not to be offended — on an airplane where others have to see the movie as we look up?
There are a couple of passengers plus flight attendants that can not avoid seeing the movie. While a sex scene played out on his screen one of the flight attendants turned to him and asked him what he wanted to drink. She had to see his screen – that prompted me to write this. The only children on this flight are too small to watch a movie of any kind so there is no concern there. Further, the sex does not appear to be the point of the movie, however the scenes occur often enough where I have seen 3-4 in the last hour, all while reading a lot of my book.
I doubt anyone on this flight cares about the movie this one passenger is watching. But what if they did? It is hard to exercise any freedom of movement without seeing his screen. Would he watch this movie if there were children around? Should he? Would he hide the screen better? How would he react if someone complained? Would a complaint be justified? When would a complaint be justified and when would it not? Finally, what if someone is offended by the movie but afraid or just not forceful enough to complain?
In a MYODB world, where are the lines demarcating the opposing rights? What are your thoughts??
