TAYLOR SWIFTS PLANE TRIPS
We recently had all the exuberance associated with the super bowl. A spin off of that was publicity created by Taylor Swift flying back from her engagement, in Japan I believe, to be at the game. She of course receives a lot of attention wherever she goes and whatever she does. She apparently flew back to the game in a private jet. She could afford one and considering her occupation and lifestyle she probably finds the private jet very helpful if not necessary to make all her connections and attend the events she wants to attend. In the same regard many other people with a considerable amount of money also like private planes for the same reasons. The super bowl is a football game which very few people have a need to attend, but many want to attend, and a game which is very expensive which can be watched on TV at home. Also, it was held in Las Vegas giving it the combination of many items which call for an excessive expenditure to attend the event. This brought an unusually large number of private planes to Las Vegas flooding its airways for the coming and going to and from the game. It was private plane paradise. This lifestyle received considerable commentary in the news media for its excessiveness and even brought about some studies by professors who were commenting on how much more pollution private jets create on a per passenger basis as opposed to commercial jets.
As I read the commentaries and listened to the talk programs demeaning this private plane activity I was confused. I don't think it is too hard to anticipate that planes flying a few people around are going to create quite a bit more pollution than large commercial jets. It is also not hard to understand that a football game that has no home team is going to draw a lot of out of town fans. particularly when it is in Las Vegas where a lot of people like to go to spend money and entertain themselves. Hence it did not strike me that there was anything unusual about this event. I presume, besides the score of the super bowl, it was a slow news cycle. Thus Taylor Swift was not doing anything different or unusual from what a whole lot of people with a lot of money were doing except for the fact that she is Taylor Swift. I'm not sure there was any reason to call attention to her actions flying around in a private jet.
It seems to me that the real discussion was by people who are bothered by others with a considerable amount of money who spend that money on objects and events for their personal pleasure. We have a fairly large number of citizens who do that. I am not sure there is any reason to be bothered by the fact that they do that. It is their money which they either received by inheritance or earned through their work and in a free society they're entitled to spend their money as they wish. The right to pursuit of happiness is one of the rights we enjoy in our free society. We are just not supposed to intrude on others in the process. Those with more money usually spend their money and the more they have the more they spend. Much of the spending is undoubtedly subject to being categorized as wasteful. So what. That is their right. I see no reason to take the time to condemn them for it. If we started categorizing all of the things in our society that are wasteful, we would wind up with a huge portion of our economy and society being so categorized. The hope of achieving that level of success and personal freedom has for centuries caused our country to be inundated by those from other countries seeking a better life and more freedom.
People concerned about the issue of flying private planes may point out that they are particularly concerned about the pollution that is created. They are correct on that point. The many small planes create more pollution on a per person basis. However, that is no different than is the case with our automobiles versus mass transit, the number of boats we put in lakes and rivers for people's pleasure, or the many other things that we do for our enjoyment. It is self-defeating to try and legislate away all those actions that might cause some pollution. Instead, our individual actions and the government's action should be directed towards trying to have those facets of our lives done in the least intrusive way to have minimal pollution.
The demand for use of private jets is no different than all the rest of the facets of our economy and society. Those with more money spend it on more things for the pursuit of their happiness and that is disproportionate to those with less money whether we are talking about houses, cars, planes, electronic gadgets and gizmos or anything else that people buy and use. Those with more money are a smaller percentage of our population but have the most income or savings and they will use the most goods and services. Hopefully those same people will also remember to try and be philanthropic and through their actions and contributions to try to help others who are less advantaged. However, we have no reason to get in the way of the pursuit of happiness by any segment of our society because their expenditures exceed other groups in our society. We are not an egalitarian state, nor do I believe we want to be. We are a country that should still seek to provide equal opportunity for all not a state of equal existence for all.
Silence Dogood