Absolute and relative

To understand the world, we need to be able and willing to adopt both an absolute and a relative perspective

Did you see that video, a few weeks ago? It was widely shared on social media, and has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times (with other copies many more times) since it was posted. This was not entirely surprising: the surreal sight of an airline passenger repeatedly punching the seat in front of him does indeed have great viral potential.

It concerned, of course, a case of air rage, a conflict over the position of the seat back. The puncher, seated in the last row of the plane (where the seats do not recline), was seemingly most unhappy with the fact that the lady in front of him had reclined her seat. The internet promptly split into those who took her side ( “I paid for a seat with a button, so I can bloody well press it”), and those who took his side ( “I paid for this seat and I am entitled to a modicum of comfort for my knees”). Despite the tribal division, one thing appeared to unite both camps: the greedy airlines are to blame for this kind of conflict.

Is it greed?

That the airlines have a hand in this is beyond doubt. As Men’s Health reported following an earlier ‘reclining seat wars’ incident, “The average seat pitch-which is the…