And in response to this incident, or a rising tide of working-class people being reported to corporate employers for expressing beliefs that a lurking celebrity or journalist calls out, I can imagine the imposition of new, onerous, generally applied restrictions on where uniformed flight attendants can socialize with one another in airports, or whether uniformed retail employees are allowed a quick cell-phone conversation inside the mall while on break. Asking myself who that new regime would most harm, the answer is marginalized people; pondering who would find it easiest to navigate, the answer is creative professionals like Lena Dunham and me; we attended colleges that prepared us to navigate the elite’s social norms, and we don’t wear uniforms in public that identify our corporate bosses to eavesdropping strangers.
Those are among the thoughts, beliefs and concerns that would prevent me from responding as Lena Dunham did to the two flight attendants at JFK; and if I encountered them tomorrow, I can imagine a dozen manners of engagement that would, I think, be more effective at changing their minds than a social media call-out, or a telephone call from human resources informing them of an internal investigation. In fact, what I might do, if they agreed to give me their email addresses, is to send them an article I commend to anyone who believes that trans people are gross, or that they would not accept a son or daughter who came out as trans.
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