Joy. During Prince Abdullah’s visit to beeyooteeful Texas, a request was made to keep female air traffic controllers away from the plane.
Really. Honestly. It didn’t come through official channels, and I suppose it could have been someone’s idea of a rather low-key joke, but the request did wend its way through the system and, while the prince’s plane was arriving, folks in the tower did make sure it was a man guiding the plane in.
What?
I mean, if the prince would rather not be taken out to Hooters, fine, that’s the role of a host to make sure that his or her guest feels comfortable.
But when it comes to someone who is not in one’s face, when it comes to arbitrarily disqualifying a set of trained professionals at the whim of … somebody … then that’s just …
Well, if the word had come through that no blacks should be allowed to man the ATC radar, or no Jews, or no non-Muslims … would anyone have even considered the whole matter? Would an all-white, or all-Christian or all-Muslim crew been kept on duty while the controller management sorted it all out?
Mercifully, the request was not honored during the flight out. The Crown Prince is lucky he didn’t get steered into controlled airspace. Or the ocean.
When the President of the United States has his nose way up a man’s butt, you give that man whatever he wants.