You’re wrong there.  The guy has been very publicly humiliated–as in every one of his friends, most of his family, and millions of others now know that he was a bit of a douchebag.  Maybe he deserved a bit of chastising, and his wife probably deserves to know that he’s not honest about their relationship.  But base humiliation on a massive public scale seems a tad harsh.

This guy was cheating and will pay the price.

Nope, none whatsoever.

The commenters who are pity-partying his lying ass clearly never saw the disastrous effects of a cheating, lying spouse first hand. I’ve seen good people of both gender devastated after being betrayed by their spouse (even emotional betrayals). It’s a wound that the person carries for a long time. It can wreak havoc on their self-image and their future relationships. There is no good reason to be this cavalier with a partner’s trust and dignity.

If you enjoy flirting behind your spouse’s back and discounting his/her very existence, at least be aware that it is NOT harmless. Your spouse may or may not find out, but it is still profoundly disrespectful in spirit. If you know that your spouse could be hurt and/or humiliated by your behaviour, then don’t do it. Having basic regards for people who love you surely isn’t that hard, is it?

I’m not a lawyer, but I would think that in the absence of physical evidence of his wrongdoing, he would have a pretty good case for filing a lawsuit for libel. Just sayin’.

No one who sees me could claim that it’s my fault for being attractive or wearing revealing clothes. I hate to think what it’s like for the pretty girls.

I think the disproportionate need to defend the bored married guy is noteworthy. Clearly the model should have just shut up and taken it like a lady; as if his interest alone should effect her behaviour. Being the unwilling recipient of someone’s flirting doesn’t morally obligate a woman to do anything – let alone defend the flirter’s privacy and home life.

Do I want to live in a world in which everything I do is subject to public scrutiny? Hell no. Do I sometimes like telling people the crazy thing that happened to me on the plane? Yes. 

The model isn’t entirely blameless but something else is going on here and that’s, what happens to our reality-based, oft exaggerated personal anecdotes when they become public and how great is our obligation to maintain either veracity to the actual events or the privacy of the supporting characters?

Of course, in my fantasy, the pretty woman and I turn out to have an instant chemical connection and discover we have a lot in common. We use this  ”chance encounter with a stranger” to have a deeply vulnerable and affectionate exchange. Sometimes it’s easier to share with strangers, you know. Then we go our separate ways, happy to have been there but a little disappointed the flight is over. But just before we part we discover that, even though the flight is between two cities on the other side of the country, that we actually live in the same city, mere blocks away!

I don’t know why I shared that. Now you know I have unmanly, juvenile fantasies. My male fantasy center must be broken. I probably should be fantasizing about hooking up in the bathroom, but airplane bathrooms are just nasty.

Anyway, sure, people can tweet about their experiences. I don’t know about you, but when I post things, even about friends, I try to anonymize everyone except for myself. This is the opposite.

I think people still don’t actually see the effect that they have by making these kind of comments on the internet. Would it be justified for that woman to stand up and shout at the man in front of all of the other passengers? This would have had the effect of shaming the man for the few hours he was on the plane (safely for him, in that it could have given him a wake up call without immediate family and friends knowing). It would have made him feel pretty crappy for the rest of the flight, then he could have made up his mind whether he wanted to change his attitude. It would also have been a reminder to any others on the plane that they can’t just act like no one is watching or that no one will respond to what they are doing. The shame would be for a shorter time, with fewer people who didn’t know him. Even so, many people would have considered this kind of rude, despite the fact that this was more proportionate to the annoyance. The difference seems to be that in this case, the woman would also have been risking censure (by people who were actually there and had heard everything) or a bad reaction from the man, but she could still have had some kind of middle ground between “I’m not interested” and “I’m going to ruin your life”.

I mean, wtf?

Hello, Wuffie? Welcome to the reputation economy.