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I'd love to hear this more nuanced explanation. You also comment else where about Menzio's picture, where he wears a "Yasser Arafat" scarf. Another commenter h

I'd love to hear this more nuanced explanation. You also comment else where about Menzio's picture, where he wears a "Yasser Arafat" scarf. Another commenter has remarks on his hair and beard as well, claiming that the combination of Menzio's dress and hair tripped the alarms of the passenger that reported him. Based on Menzio's portrait, he looks like a bit of a hipster or one of the several colleagues I have that are too lazy to shave on a daily basis. His behaviour was probably best categorised as being rude. The Washington Post article also says: "Instead this quick-thinking traveler had Seen Something, and so she had Said Something. That Something she’d seen had been her seatmate’s cryptic notes, scrawled in a script she didn’t recognize." And "Menzio showed the authorities his calculations and was allowed to return to his seat, he told me by email." Clearly these events may not have been reported perfectly accurately, but there is nothing to suggest that any of the actions were reasonable. Also serious question: I also don't understand how one mistakes calculus for the script of a foreign language. In my mind they do not look anything alike.

Zuider 11y ago
>I'd love to hear this more nuanced explanation. I suspect his fellow passenger's account would bear little resemblance to either the Washington Post's spin on events, or how Menzio himself chose to interpret the matter on his Facebook page. Reading between the lines, it would appear that Guido Menzio was pointedly and gratuitously rude to his neighbor when she attempted to initiate friendly conversation. He responded to her questions with curt non-answers, and remained pointedly focused on his work. Overly talkative people can be severely annoying, but that did not justify Guido Menzio's overt rudeness to his neighbor. He could have saved a lot of trouble with a little diplomacy. > I also don't understand how one mistakes calculus for the script of a foreign language. From the Washington Post article, it appears that the woman complained to security that Guido Menzio was intensely doing math, so clearly she did not mistake a differential equation for 'terrorist writing'. It was not the math that unnerved her, but his behavior. >You also comment else where about Menzio's picture, where he wears a "Yasser Arafat" scarf. I was wrong about the "Yasser Arafat" scarf. The article doesn't suggest that he was wearing one at the time. Again, there is no indication that Menzio's appearance was the cause of the incident, but rather his behavior.
- roywiggins 11y ago
  If every time an airplane returned to the gate when someone behaved rudely to a neighbor, it would never take off. Have you considered the possibility he has a fear of flying and was using mathematics to take his mind off it, and he was desperately trying to fend off her disrupting his productively distracting train of thought? There's all sorts of very good reasons not to talk to strangers.
  - Zuider 11y ago
    Nothing justifies Menzio's behavior, either on the plane or later on Facebook where he made outlandish claims and invoked Trump. He is completely obnoxious, and the author of his own misfortunes.
    - mznen 11y ago
      You've gradually outed yourself, I guess.
      - Zuider 11y ago
        What does that even mean? There is a narrative here, which appears at first very compelling, especially to readers of HN: gentle intellectual persecuted by hysterical ignoramus... But the narrative gradually reveals holes and inconsistencies which makes it at best inconclusive, and in my considered opinion, strongly supports a radically different interpretation: Menzio behaved like a demented nut-job, terrified his fellow passenger, published a self-serving narrative on facebook which was picked up by the Washington Post and spun even further. Where is your skepticism?

Zuider 11y ago

>I'd love to hear this more nuanced explanation. I suspect his fellow passenger's account would bear little resemblance to either the Washington Post's spin on events, or how Menzio himself chose to interpret the matter on his Facebook page. Reading between the lines, it would appear that Guido Menzio was pointedly and gratuitously rude to his neighbor when she attempted to initiate friendly conversation. He responded to her questions with curt non-answers, and remained pointedly focused on his work. Overly talkative people can be severely annoying, but that did not justify Guido Menzio's overt rudeness to his neighbor. He could have saved a lot of trouble with a little diplomacy. > I also don't understand how one mistakes calculus for the script of a foreign language. From the Washington Post article, it appears that the woman complained to security that Guido Menzio was intensely doing math, so clearly she did not mistake a differential equation for 'terrorist writing'. It was not the math that unnerved her, but his behavior. >You also comment else where about Menzio's picture, where he wears a "Yasser Arafat" scarf. I was wrong about the "Yasser Arafat" scarf. The article doesn't suggest that he was wearing one at the time. Again, there is no indication that Menzio's appearance was the cause of the incident, but rather his behavior.

roywiggins 11y ago
If every time an airplane returned to the gate when someone behaved rudely to a neighbor, it would never take off. Have you considered the possibility he has a fear of flying and was using mathematics to take his mind off it, and he was desperately trying to fend off her disrupting his productively distracting train of thought? There's all sorts of very good reasons not to talk to strangers.
- Zuider 11y ago
  Nothing justifies Menzio's behavior, either on the plane or later on Facebook where he made outlandish claims and invoked Trump. He is completely obnoxious, and the author of his own misfortunes.
  - mznen 11y ago
    You've gradually outed yourself, I guess.
    - Zuider 11y ago
      What does that even mean? There is a narrative here, which appears at first very compelling, especially to readers of HN: gentle intellectual persecuted by hysterical ignoramus... But the narrative gradually reveals holes and inconsistencies which makes it at best inconclusive, and in my considered opinion, strongly supports a radically different interpretation: Menzio behaved like a demented nut-job, terrified his fellow passenger, published a self-serving narrative on facebook which was picked up by the Washington Post and spun even further. Where is your skepticism?