Flight Level 3-4-0: Above The Pond Scum

By Ron Blehm (17 July 2006)

On this matter I really must speak out! Truly, I am blessed and thankful to be associated with flightsimmers. I know you are asking, "huh?" already. Let me back up. Over the past month my wife has become quite the avid soccer fan. With the help of TiVo I think we were able to watch at least part of every single match that was played during World Cup. I have to tell you, for an American, watching players "dive" to the turf, rolling around feigning injury seems quite ridiculous and odd but this I can accept as "part of the game." Watching the final matches was quite exciting and the end of THE FINAL was certainly quite unexpected to say the least. Hang on, there is a point coming out here. Both in an effort to better understand "her" new sport and also to raise some awareness about sportsmanship, the Wife-unit found herself on an ESPN forum and what we found there was the inspiration for this Op-Ed.

One of the threads was about "trash-talking," something that apparently is quite prevalent in many sports settings. Beyond discussions of who was right and who was wrong regarding the head-butting incident, what was justified or not, was the overwhelming presence of...hatred! Wicked, vile and hurtful words were being hurled across the web faster than we could respond. This was in a realm so far beyond any trash-talking that it was actually, physically nauseating. Suddenly threads would take a political turn and the hatred was indescribable and even scary - yes even to someone who considers himself pretty well-informed about "things." I found myself asking, "How do these people exist?" Not asking where or why but I mean physically, to be filled with such hatred for another person or group would certainly have to eat at your insides. How do these persons physically survive that much vile hatred?

As I've stated, I feel blessed to be a flightsimmer. Our little Flight of the Month Club and virtual airline have members from over 60 nations, from every caste and creed - and I know we are small in comparison to many out there. Yet any of these "off-limits" discussions of race or religion or politics have always been taken on with an air of learning and understanding. We may not always agree with another point of view but we can gain a better understanding of our friends by hearing or empathizing with their views. After all, isn't simming actually one of the things we can do together? (I recommend this piece.)

After writing this piece I received and e-mail from a chap who felt that I was naive and didn't really understand all of the trauma my country has brought upon the world. Sure, there are those out there for whom things still are personal and painful and I can appreciate that - my point here is that I followed up with this gentleman and we have subsequently had some good, helpful and productive discussions. For that I am grateful. As I stated, I'm associated with a small little VA and in the past week I have seen war and bombings come into the heart of two of our hubs. (A third has been in a state of unrest even since I was there some 35 years ago!) In fact, events like this are exactly why I chose some of the hubs I did - so that we all can learn that this world is a big and varied place. Events like we have seen in the past few days break my heart, not because I'm picking political sides but because I understand, a little bit, that people are hurting and dying out there.

And I think, I hope, that is how we, as simmers, are a better group than some of these racist, fascist idiots you'll find on other web sites. I loved Chip Barber's piece a couple of days ago - he's right, there certainly are less uplifting things we could be doing, and you don't need a little blue pill to be an idiot! I'm thankful that as simmers, generally speaking, we seem to be a more educated, more aware, more well-rounded lot; a group that is about 35,000 feet above calling someone names just because they come from another country.

Ron Blehm
pretendpilot@yahoo.com

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