Originally Posted by
Broncofan
I have flown with a couple people like you mention, but more I’m surprised about how many believe in crazy political conspiracy theories. For a well educated group it’s entertaining to hear some of the stuff these guys come up with. Had one guy tell me he never pays federal income tax from his rental properties because he never agreed to do so in the first place and it’s unconstitutional for the government to make him.
My theory on that is while most pilots are smart and educated, many of them don't have the broad context of experience with how organizations and society work because they've always operated professionally either alone or with one other pilot. They have less organizational context than a ramper, who at least interacts with boss on a regular basis. Also depends on what they do in their spare time and who they do it with.
Being smart, they tend to go looking for info and context, and find it in the blogosphere...
People who've had white-collar/professional jobs, including mil, have an innate understanding of how organizations (including governments) work and are less prone to off the wall ideas. When considering the motives and actions of an organization, never attribute to malice what can be explained by lethargy, incompetence, or greed in that order.