in support of southwest employees
the right to say "no" is the basis of a free people
southwest staff are striking over vaccine mandates. or maybe they aren’t. or maybe it’s weather. or probably it’s not.
you may not have even heard about this. the media has been more or less blacking it out, but it sure looks like an awful lot of folks did not come into work. many thousands of flights were canceled. and social media is overloaded with it.
southwest claimed it was “weather” but no one is buying this. check the “ratio” on this tweet (the ratio of comments to likes, generally a sign people are pissed at/do not believe what you said)
and it must really be some weather as it clearly kept all the counter staff at home too…
oddly, no other airlines were affected.
huh.
of course, these pilots cannot strike. federal law prohibits it. (not that this stopped the air traffic controllers in the 80’s)
also note it’s common around the world
so no one involved is really saying much of anything. SWA says “weather.” the pilots are “clearly not doing this thing that it looks like we’re doing because doing that would be illegal but if you need me i’ll be at home or maybe i’m sick. cough-cough.”
but they did go to court and file for a restraining order. so perhaps we can infer something about intent from that?
"The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021.
Specifically, Southwest Airlines has overtly and unabashedly, repeatedly taken unilateral actions which violate the parties’ status quo and which are contrary to the requirements under [federal law]."
note that there is no actual federal law here at this point. all the OSHA saber rattling has yet to lead to an actual rule that can even be challenged and the pretext of “SWA is a federal contractor” looks painfully thin.
some have tried to call this sick out “domestic terrorism.”
this is a truly disturbing and stupid framing. it’s nothing of the sort.
airline employees are not chattel. the right to say “no” is intrinsic to humanity and fundamental to the possession of agency in a free society.
it is not the pilots that changed the game, it’s their employer.
and this requirement to work is not and cannot be absolute. clearly, if SWA were demanding that all employees have sex with the boss or that they subject to being branded like cattle, no one would oppose their going on strike.
so let’s drop the histrionics about “not going to work is an attack on america.” it’s a vile attempt to vilify those who just wish to be left alone and an absurdist conception of who owns the labor of an indiviual.
![Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' released on 3" record](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!332Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F974afbd6-e70d-452a-82fd-6623f543f0fd_794x540.jpeg "Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' released on 3" record")
they are not sabotaging planes or erasing reservations systems. they’re staying home and watching TV or because, counter to claims, the weather in florida seems quite nice, perhaps going to the beach.
even A KITTEN can see that.
if this is terrorism, then so is every failure to accede to federal or employer diktat.
personally, i stand with the employees of southwest.
i hope the employees of american airlines join them.
i hope ALL employees do.
sure, this may disrupt my life. in fact, i was about to book a flight yesterday but decided against it. this looks like chaos brewing.
but it’s important chaos.
this is the chaos of standing on principle and not complying with tyranny.
so don’t worry about me, guys. i’m on your side. you’re fighting for me and i will have your back.
stay home. strike. pull this whole rotten edifice down and light the spark that induces others to rise up and say no to this endless encroachment and imposition, this death by inches of personal liberty and agency.
the gatos are with you.
the most fundamental right of a free people is the right to say “no.” you don’t need a justification. you don’t need an exception.
“because i do not want to” is always reason enough.
that’s what freedom is.
and that’s not where these “leaders” are trying to take us.
real leaders of free people exist to SERVE those people by protecting their rights and freedom.
these are the other guys.
standing against them is a moral duty and opposing them until they back down the only valid course for those who would remain citizens and not be serfs.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
sometimes, it’s just time. or do you need some more “temporary takings of liberty for your own safety” to finish convincing you?
as glamorous as it might sound, we do not need “f-15’s and maybe some nukes” to take on the government.
we just need freedom.
we just need peaceful but implacable freedom.
just stop complying. stand with those who refuse.
strikes and protests in places like italy and france are WORKING. vaxx passports and and mandates are going away. these plans are collapsing when people rise against them. the damage from this resistance is just too high to bear.
learn that lesson.
feed this fire and grow it into something they cannot put out. we the people are the many, and they the “leaders” are the few.
they need us, not us them.
we’re just fine if they go away. hell, we’re probably better. but without us, they are nothing. (and perhaps they should be)
i’m going to keep posting this until everyone gets it. because this is the ground truth.
society is ours, not theirs. it is our prerogative, not their ant farm.
history lionizes those who stood for freedom, yet those in power at the time always vilify them. of course they do. they’re the ones who stand to lose.
don’t fall for that one.
it’s not us wanting to breathe free who are in the wrong.
it’s they who would deny us this right.
always was.
vamanos.
2020: Stay home and don't go to work for America!
2021: If you don't go to work you're a terrorist!
My wife and I are supposed to fly on SWA Friday morning. I’ll drive if necessary. I’d rather drive than see these SW employees knuckle under. Hopefully, the lawsuit prevails. It is Texas after all.