September 10, 2007This Week in the World - you can’t argue with a picture - even if it lies
I read an interesting blog thread about Kyla Ebbert, who appeared on Good Morning America in an outfit that got her kicked off a plane. Many commenters complained about the injustice of it all, some debated whether Kyla was “hot” or not, and a few commented on the airline’s right to enforce customer complaints. “FLYgirl” posted facts of the event including personal reports she heard from the people involved about how differently Kyla was wearing the dress in the plane than she wore it on GMA. Yes, FLYgirl said, it was the same dress, but it wasn’t the same appearance by a longshot.
FLYgirl could have been talking to herself. Just the picture of Kyla wearing the dress in its more modest form would overshadow 1,000 words. The video overshadowed 10,000 words. While FLYgirl’s post in the blog I read painted a much different picture than the one presented on GMA, FLYgirl’s word pictures couldn’t compete with the visual images people actually saw.
Please note, this is not a post about whether the airline was justified in asking Kyla to be more discreet in her dress, and it sure isn’t a post about whether Kyla is “hot” or not. It’s a post about 1) the power of pictures and 2) how one can tell (or show) a literal truth and still lie.
FLYgirl sounded credible to me, and while I don’t know that her accounting was accurate, I’m inclined to believe it. But her words didn’t make a dent in the conversation among those who believed the picture they saw over the one they heard described.
FLYgirl and the airline have an uphill battle to climb.
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I would better be prepared to comment if the picture was available to view for those of us who have not seen this or even heard of the issue at hand. However, the power of a picture and how a photo can tell literal truth and someone still lie is a problem that I have found is quite common with today’s youth. I am assuming that Flyfgirl was younger….thus making my assumption of today’s youth accurate. Being a mother of teenagers I have witnessed this behaviour first hand. The grass is green, but some youth will argue with you till they are blue in the face and swear the grass was purple!! Where has society gone wrong? Now that is a loaded question!!
Comment by Kimberly — September 11, 2007 @ 10:06 am
When I saw the picture of her from the news show, I was immediately suspicious that the outfit was not worn that day on the plane the same way. Pull the top down and the skirt up, and you do indeed have something objectionable.
Sadly, the lesson this young woman is learning is the wrong one. She seems to think she was wronged, and is now looking to sue. That may turn out to be a mistake as someone is likely to have taken a phone picture of her as she was actually was dressed. In any case, she should have learned that there are limits to how you can dress and behave without having repercussions, and resolved to understand that while she has a “right” to dress as she wishes, the image she projects is one that others have an equal right to respond negatively to.
In short terms, when you dress like a hooker, expect to be treated like one!
Comment by slcom — September 11, 2007 @ 12:00 pm
Appearance and dress codes are an odd issue for me. I am remembering the executive in my company 10 or so years ago, who wanted his employees - who did not deal with the public at all - to wear suits & ties and dresses & stockings. As you can imagine, there was an uprising. (I always joke that bosses do what they know how to do. Some are good at telling time. Some know how to dress themselves.) Then, at the opposite end of the spectrum, was the young man in the grocery store check out line last night. He was having to stand in an abnormal position in order to prevent his pants from falling to the ground. His pants - which did have a belt running through the loops - were riding so low that you could see skin between the BOTTOM of his underwear and the top of his pants. The whole while he was on the cell phone. This was no kid. This was a young man of at least legally adult age. Part of me wants to laugh till I cry when I see these “maroons” (in the words of Bugs Bunny), but part of me is tired of seeing more private “information” about a person than is necessary, desirable, interesting,or pleasant. I think it will always be that young people look for ways to dress to convey the message of contempt to their establishment elders. And I think adults will always be annoyed, shocked or disgusted by these displays. An almost archetypal “dance”. I can only hope that in 40 years time, there won’t be 60 year old men wearing their pants half way down their underwear, the way there are now 60 year old men wearing scraggly beards & ponytails, in some self-deluding effort to hold on to their “cool”. Pictures can be used to lie just like words. And sometimes the “lie” in in the mind of the beholder, not the photographer. In both my examples, and the woman on the airplane, isn’t everyone telling themselvs a lie? “I’m sexy and desirable and I’m going to make everyone admit it.” Or, “I’m moral and/or aesthetically sensible and should be used as the moral compass for the rest of society.”
Comment by Kathleen — September 13, 2007 @ 7:38 am
In Australia, this story didn’t make it to the tv/print media. After reading this blog, I did some reading on the web. A YouTube video of Kyla appearing on the “Today” show (found at the following link: http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/9/10/112023/611/travel/Kyla+Ebbert+Keeps+It+Classy+on+The+Today+Show - 27k -) shows that she flashed her underwear to the audience/cameras when she sat down after standing up to show everyone how unprovocative her outfit really was… quite ironic really!
There will be sympathisers and detractors, but this seems to be a case of people only seeing the extremes of what they want to see.
Comment by Anthea — September 14, 2007 @ 4:49 am