Was that doctor dragged off the United Airlines flight because he was Asian? Many in China think so.

[DonViejo]

By Simon Denyer April 11 at 2:34 AM

BEIJING — News that a passenger was forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane has gone viral all over the world, but in China the outrage has been fueled by one uncomfortable fact: The doctor who was pulled off the plane, first screaming and then bleeding, appeared to be of Asian origin and was overhead complaining that this might have been a factor in his treatment.

“He said, more or less, ‘I’m being selected because I’m Chinese,’” fellow passenger Tyler Bridges was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.

That quote, translated into Chinese, was widely circulated on social media here. (Another witness on the plane said the man was originally from Vietnam, according to the BBC.)

By late afternoon on Tuesday, the topic had attracted 160 million readers on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, and 97,000 comments. Petitions to boycott United Airlines were also going viral on WeChat, a popular messaging service.

-snip-

Some users pointed out the irony of United’s motto: “Fly the friendly skies,” but many saw the incident as an example of American hypocrisy, and what one user called “a perfect illustration” of human rights in the United States.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/11/was-that-doctor-dragged-off-the-united-airlines-flight-because-he-was-asian-many-in-china-think-so/?tid=pm_world_pop&utm_term=.191dbedd5793

[Jim__]

1. '...a perfect illustration of human rights in the United States.'

Unfortunately, that's a pretty accurate statement.

[Hokie]

2. Unfortunately, I can understand why people would think that regardless of the facts

We have a party that is racist and jingoistic to its core running our country. Why wouldn't that be what people think happened?

[HAB911]

3. The first couple who got off under threat

what race/nationality were they?

[HoneyBadger]

6. Are you referring to the people that were not attacked?

Because you know.....they were not attacked viciously.

[HAB911]

7. when notified along with this gentleman, two people got off

'voluntarily'

If they were Asian, watch out below!

If they were Caucasian, what does it say if anything?

[HoneyBadger]

11. Not attacked

So it is entirely different

[HAB911]

13. Where I'm going with this is

why didn't they contest being removed? was it perhaps a societal/racial difference that caused them to be complacent while the doctor was more "unagreeable"

[HoneyBadger]

14. Maybe they did not want to fly and got lucky

It is a heck of an excuse if you wanted to veg at home instead of seeing cousin Lou get married or go to an off site conference on a weekend. Oops missed it, not my fault, see you in 5 years.

[HoneyBadger]

4. Yes he was

He felt that it was pure racism and misandry...




“He was kind of saying that he was being singled out because he’s a Chinese man” when speaking to the manager, who was African-American, Bridges said. “You should know what this is like,” the man said, according to Bridges. The AP was unable to confirm the passenger’s identity

[HoneyBadger]

5. He was originally from Vietnam according to the article

Awful what we did to those people. Will this American on Vietnamese violence never end? We should pay him reparations.

[LexVegas]

8. Uh, what? nt

[HoneyBadger]

10. We killed a lot of Vietnamese people

[HoneyBadger]

9. We have just lost all the good will that we earned by selling them coal

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8916977

There are a lot of Chinese people here. Some grad classes at NYU (in my anecdotal experience) are 90% overseas Chinese. NYU is a bit of an oddball as they will generally take anyone with money.

[LexVegas]

12. Uh, what? nt

[CentralMass]

15. I just checked the itinerary of a flight i have booked in June. No legs are with United.

Good and I'll avoid flying with them in the future

[progree]

16. Story about 69 year old Dr. David Dao

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028917439

He is an internal medicine specialist father-of-five, grandfather of one. He is a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American is married to a pediatrician who has a clinic in Elizabethtown, Kentucky - about 40 miles south of Louisville. Four of his children are doctors

[Johonny]

17. They once bumped my asian girlfriend so a white couple could sit next to each other

I was like WTF I booked our tickets together so we could sit together why does she have to move to accommodate people that didn't book their seats together? The airlines had no answer for us. They were white and my girlfriend wasn't so she got bumped and the white couple got to sit together. But in no way do I think his being Asian had anything to do with anything

Companies have gotten away with too much * for too long and the airlines are the worse at respecting their costumers.

[malaise]

18. That was also my first thought

He got the Rosa Parks treatment.

That's also the view of everyone we spoke with this morning at our regular walking spot.