Authority should be handled carefully so that it is still respected when it really matters. On planes, there are times when a flight attendant’s commands are c

Authority should be handled carefully so that it is still respected when it really matters. On planes, there are times when a flight attendant’s commands are critical to follow. It is extremely stupid for airlines to use blunt authority for every little thing, because passengers will start to see every request as another abuse of power instead of something with a good reason behind it. And frankly, we’re already there. How many stupid little rules are there? Which rules really matter, and which ones were just dreamed up to exert more authority? What about rules that can’t really be rooted in safety because they would rely on perfect enforcement that doesn’t exist today? There should be just a handful of “real rules”. The language should be cleaned up, too (no long-winded sentences full of unnecessarily-complex words that probably confuse foreign speakers the most; use Grade 8 language, get to the point). Abolish pretty much every TSA rule and about half of the “safety lecture” (we understand seat belts, thanks). This just isn’t hard.