This year, only two months old, already has an Idiot of 2004 honoree:
The unnamed American Airlines pilot who used the intercom to urge Christians to identify themselves and discuss their faith with non-Christian passengers on a Feb. 7 flight from Los Angeles, Calif.
AA spokespersons said the pilot, a recent missionary in South America, has been suspended with pay for “using his authority to invade (the passengers’) sphere of privacy.”
Forget the privacy issue. The real issue is domestic terrorism.
Some passengers, still spooked by 9/11, surely believed a Muslim fanatic once again was at the controls and wanted to pinpoint victims for an in-flight massacre.
Christians and Jews, after all, are the prime targets of Islamic extremists.
Someone should tell that pilot the only wings he’ll ever wear again are issued in Heaven. (22 FEBRUARY 2004)