JetBlue hires violent felon as a pilot

Boris Badenov said:
How could you forget that? It's practically stamped on my forehead. No more spliffs for you today, commie.

I wish I could find that picture of me at age like 10 with a cutout of Ronald Reagan on the steps of the Smithsonian, giving a big ole thumbs up, wearing GHWB glasses.
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I had a picture of Devin Nunes and I playing Atari but I think I've already thrown it in the shredder. True story.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
And many get better. Which is why people should be judged on who they are rather than who they were.
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My girlfriend and one of my employees are felons. I have volunteered as a GED tutor in a couple of programs serving felons.

I get rehabilitation and reintegration.

Where do I draw the line? I’m pretty comfortable with drawing the line with premeditated acts of violence - a hit. I do think the nature of a crime matters.

I want this guy to continue his pursuit of the American Dream, I just don’t want him pursuing that dream as an airline pilot.
 
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SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
people should be judged on who they are rather than who they were.
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Utter poppycock. The entire idea of Identity is predicated upon the notion that there's some particular THING (person, in this case) being described by "you", "who", "it", "they", etc. Language would be meaningless, otherwise. Wave your arms around all you like, you're still a finite, distinct being with a history that you're going to wear as long as you exist, like it or not. This is at the absolute *crux* of Reason and Sentience. Obviously people improve or devolve (or it's probably a lot more complex than that), but this hilarious formulation that, what, "Anyone can be whatever they want to be if they WISH and BELIEVE" is a story we tell children to make sure they stay awake in school, not an actual facet of Reality. Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy, too?
 
Boris Badenov said:
If it isn't, your words, including "illusion", are meaningless. You're barking. I sort of picture you as a Pomeranian...
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I’m not sure why a word like “illusion” would be meaningless just because identity is one, but okay. I suspect while you’re pretty well read generally, you haven’t read a lot of philosophy or neuroscience. Start with some Hobbes and work forward from there.
 
Backtracking a bit.

Reintegrating felons back into the workforce will continue to be a challenge.

We must be honest about recidivism and accept that we are playing a game of risk management. I think it’s a game worth playing but the approach of “they’ve done their time, they get a fresh start” is problematic.

I don’t think that convicted pedophiles should work in schools or childcare. I don’t think that convicted drug dealers should work in pharmacies. If we can’t agree on that, we don’t have much to talk about. If you aren’t willing to employ convicted pedophiles in schools you are agreeing with my premise that the nature of the crime matters.

Beyond that, there are some interesting conversations.
 
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Boris Badenov said:
Lulwhut? I read Leviathan when you were still pooping your Pampers, Millennial.
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You’re gonna have to go a little deeper than freshman Philosophy 101. Hobbes talked a lot about subjects other than political philosophy. Read “Of Identity and Diversity” for some of his thoughts on identity and how people are different over time. Basically his discussion of the Ship of Theseus that @ppragman mentioned earlier. A common solution to the thought experiment is that a ship never existed at all. What we perceive as a ship was simply a collection of boards, nails, rope, etc. that we consider a ship because we make use of them in that configuration. Ultimately, a ship doesn’t exist, though.

People are no different. Your brain is who you are, and it is completely different than it was a week ago, let alone a decade ago. Your “identity” is simply a snapshot in time, no different than the ship is a snapshot in time. It will have new boards, new ropes, etc. in a few years, but we’ll still consider it the same ship because that’s easiest for us. Reality is far different, though.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
And many get better. Which is why people should be judged on who they are rather than who they were.
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Wait…..didn’t JetBlue hire him for who he WAS? He WAS an AF B-52 pilot. And I’m confident that who he WAS is how he got the job! But you’re stating he shouldn’t be judged by who he was……

Hmmmm……well then now, he IS a convicted violent felon.

I appreciate the “concept” of letting people serve their time and moving on when the merits of the case dictate it. However, in this case we have an AF Captain, seemingly a sound, reasonable thinker, well along in his career flying the B-52. Then, suddenly he “snapped”.

We don’t know what pushed his final “button” but could that same button be pushed by an angry passenger, an FA that resembles his ex-fiance’, or a CA telling him how to fly the plane?

Don’t know. If he snapped once, can he again? Most likely, and THIS is enough to merit removal from this type of job…even 135 operations, IMHO.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
You’re gonna have to go a little deeper than freshman Philosophy 101.
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Dude, uhm, I majored in philosophy, and not in clown college. Turn down the condescending didacticism just maybe to a 9. The contention that a thing (person, chair, whatever) can be *anything* at *any time* is violence against language and reason. I don't remember Hobbes directly addressing this what-evidently-has-now-become-a-question (I suspect he would have considered the question itself to be sorta nuts), but Hegel certainly did, and he came down fairly definitively on the side of things (people, whatever) being discrete, even if his assertion that this being is somehow suspended in its relationship to other things seems a little shaky (to me). I can't really think of a meaningful Western philosopher (post-Greek, pre-Postmodern, anyway) who contended that "identity" was somehow "an illusion". I mean if you're a Buddhist or whatever, good for you, but let's not attempt to conflate that with serious thought, study, intellectual rigor, etc. Words mean stuff and you are a discrete thing which exists and is irreducible in some fashion.
 
Boris Badenov said:
Dude, uhm, I majored in philosophy, and not in clown college. Turn down the condescending didacticism just maybe to a 9. The contention that a thing (person, chair, whatever) can be *anything* at *any time* is violence against language and reason. I don't remember Hobbes directly addressing this what-evidently-has-now-become-a-question (I suspect he would have considered the question itself to be sorta nuts), but Hegel certainly did, and he came down fairly definitively on the side of things (people, whatever) being discrete, even if his assertion that this being is somehow suspended in its relationship to other things seems a little shaky (to me). I can't really think of a meaningful Western philosopher (post-Greek, pre-Postmodern, anyway) who contended that "identity" was somehow "an illusion". I mean if you're a Buddhist or whatever, good for you, but let's not attempt to conflate that with serious thought, study, intellectual rigor, etc. Words mean stuff and you are a discrete thing which exists and is irreducible in some fashion.
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My opinion of your alma mater has been besmirched. A shame.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
And many get better. Which is why people should be judged on who they are rather than who they were.
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Ain't no way I see people would honor a similar pass to some black or brown guy who was convicted for a terror plot (killing no one, just plot) and then served 20 yrs and released.


And you know darn well "are rather than who they were" is NOT true. If I was applying to the big 3 today, and 10 yrs ago there were racist tirades online that I wrote that went off on Jews, Muslims, Christians, etc. you can bet that IF the hiring board saw those posts and linked it to me as the applicant, my interview is going bad / job offer is getting denied.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Ain't no way I see people would honor a similar pass to some black or brown guy who was convicted for a terror plot (killing no one, just plot) and then served 20 yrs and released.


And you know darn well "are rather than who they were" is NOT true. If I was applying to the big 3 today, and 10 yrs ago there were racist tirades online that I wrote that went off on Jews, Muslims, Christians, etc. you can bet that IF the hiring board saw those posts and linked it to me as the applicant, my interview is going bad / job offer is getting denied.
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I have no idea whether the pilot in question is white, black, or purple, so I don’t know why you insist on making this about race.
 
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