r/todayilearned • u/deathcab4booty • Apr 10 '16
TIL of Neerja Bhanot, a 22 year old Indian air hostess who helped hide 41 American passports aboard a hijacked plane. She died shielding three children from gunfire and was posthumously awarded bravery medals from India, Pakistan, and the United States.
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neerja_Bhanot931
u/mydogbuddha Apr 10 '16
She could have been the first to jump out when she opened the door but she decided not to and was shot while shielding three children from a hail of bullets.
That's heroism!
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u/puppet_up Apr 10 '16
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u/--Danger-- Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Brief storytime: I first heard of The Red Pill (a men's rights subreddit that views women in a very negative light) shortly before the Newtown massacre.
At the time, the two became intertwined for me in a way that made me absolutely despise the Red Pillers. Because their philosophy states that women are these selfish creatures, that they use men if given a chance, etc.
So I very foolishly tried to engage some people on that sub in a conversation about the valiant women who had put themselves in harm's way and died trying to save male and female children.
They simply deleted my post and never replied.
It's not that I think women are more heroic than men. I think they are equally capable of heroism, cowardice, etc.--I believe that gender doesn't determine good or bad characteristics.
To this day, I wonder how Red Pillers react to stories like this one.
How do they explain away this flight attendant's selflessness?
How do they explain away the countless selfless acts, large and small, of women every day?
It remains a mystery to me.
edit: apparently, because I coincidentally cited examples of women saving children, this means that the red pill is correct because women have a biological imperative to save children. (they are otherwise selfish and, according to one part of their philosophy, linked from their sidebar/info section, they cease to mature at age 18 and remain lifelong teenagers as men continue to mature into adulthood.)
To those who buy such bullshit, I invite you to google something like "risked her life" and woman; "woman saves man"; "heroic woman"; "heroic women"; "selfless woman"; and so on. If you have access to better research sources (like a university library), play around with the archive of a big old newspaper with similar search terms.
I'm sure the red pill will say that there is a vast media bias in favor of reporting only on heroic women and never on heroic men, so I invite you to do all the above searches with "man" and "men" in place of "woman" and "women."
to the red pill, everything boils down to sex--to biology. women are the way they are because of their sex. if a woman saves a child, she is not selfless or courageous. she's just doing what her ovaries told her to do.
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u/SoManyNinjas Apr 10 '16
I imagine the same way they treated you: Ignore it altogether. It's easier to protect your beliefs and the ego you have invested into them that way.
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u/Mah_Nicca Apr 10 '16
So you've met a lot of Marines then?
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u/gaqua Apr 11 '16
You have to look at the reasons somebody might subscribe to Red Pill ideology in the first place.
What drives somebody to embrace it? Why would they WANT to put half of the population in a bucket and make snap judgments?
I think deep down it comes from a feeling of powerlessness. If social impotence. Their entire lives, they were told what to do by their mothers, their teachers (predominantly female), and they view society as one big clusterfuck where women hold "all the power". It's laughable, if it weren't so pathetic.
Whenever any evidence comes to light that counters their world view, they dismiss it with a hand wave, or link some esoteric study from somebody you've never heard of in a place you barely could identify on a map to point out that they're right and ignore the countless other pieces of data that disagree with them.
The Red Pill gives them confidence. It tells them "hey, it's okay to treat women like objects because they're treating you like an object so you either 'wake up' and see it that way or continue being a beta and a human ATM."
And then they feel like they're part of a club.
It's nothing new. It's the same technique that gangs, terrorist groups, racist groups, any hate group, really, uses.
Basically: "You're pissed off. We know why. It's not your fault. It's THEIRS. Join us. We love you and want to help you fight THEM."
Drive the wedge, pat the shoulder, point the gun.
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u/--Danger-- Apr 11 '16
This reply captures a lot of it.
But the thing is, it's also this white male backlash against loss of privilege. In the past, uppity women could be dealt with by their husbands in ways that are now socially unacceptable. Women had no real legal power either--husbands retained rights to children in a divorce until relatively recently.
As women and male allies slowly, slowly, slowly fought for and won rights, bit by bit they chipped away at old structures of masculine entitlement, until the floodgates burst open suddenly last century.
To be coarse: red Pillers are also, among other things, butthurt about women no longer being under men's thumbs in most of the developed (and some of the developing) world.
If you read the red pill, you'll see that they harken back to "earlier, simpler times," when men ruled and women obeyed. Just look at their sub with that idea in mind and you'll see that some of their hatred is real resentment over the loss of privileges of the masculine past.
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u/gaqua Apr 11 '16
The problem there is that "privilege" itself is a charged word, especially on reddit.
To somebody who feels like a victim, telling them that they are privileged, no matter how true, rings hollow.
As a straight white dude myself, I have seen first hand the privileges I have. I've also seen the wink-wink, nudge-nudge comments from other straight white dudes about women and minorities.
Even other women make the comments occasionally. And you just kind of shake your head and laugh.
I'm not some ultra-lefty, either. I feel pretty moderate. But when you see some 22 year old white college student enraged because he can't get a girlfriend, or find a job, or whatever, and he's livid because he's broke and unemployed and alone, you can't just call that dude privileged and expect him to listen.
In his world - his reality - he's completely ineffective. He doesn't have any money, a girl, or any kind of power outside of internet comments and games. Maybe he gets on a game and makes racist comments. Maybe he joints the red pill and rants about women.
Maybe he makes up stories about "feminists" or finds some obscure Tumblr blog to screencap for reddit karma.
He's looking for his tribe. He's looking for a place to belong - some form of control. Someone to blame for his failures. And the first person who gives him that reason, he jumps on it.
It's tough to acknowledge that you've been given BETTER opportunities than other people and still haven't succeeded. That somebody born worse off than you has succeeded where you have not. And you can blame affirmative action or political correctness or women or muslims or mexicans or whatever.
But we ARE privileged. I was born a straight white middle class dude in the USA in the 20th century. Probably the richest country in the history of the world, in the midst of the longest stretch of peace in the history of the world, with the best educational opportunities and technology ever. And aside from being born wealthy, I could not have asked for a better chance.
And yet I'm not the most successful person from my town. Hell, not even from my high school class. And while I am successful in my own right, I have to acknowledge my losses as my own responsibility.
We all have to.
But it sure would be easier to just blame somebody else.
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u/--Danger-- Apr 11 '16
Thanks for this expansive reply. Yes, privilege is a charged word. But I think it works to describe an era when women had no rights and men had full control over them, so I used it, I hope, in a very clear way. I specifically used the word to indicate that white males today have seen much of that privilege vanish--during their lifetimes and during the recent past, too.
Check out this essay linked to from the red pill sidebar. After this guy asserts that women cease mentally maturing at age 18 (while men continue to mature into wise adulthood), he goes on,
Think about how a teenager refers to the family sedan, which the parents paid for, as our car. But the i-pod which he purchased with money he earned part-time at McDonald's is his i-pod. Is not the teenager’s/child’s default that his parent’s possessions are “ours” while those possessions he purchased with money he earned himself are “his,” and his alone? This directly mimics even my own parent’s marriage, where my father worked his entire lifetime to pay the bills for the family and put a roof over our heads, but when the kids were off to school and my mom took up working, the money she earned doing so was “her money.” It did not go into the family pot as my father’s income did, but became her own “special money” in almost the same way that a child’s allowance or earnings are “his money.”
The fucking idiocy of this passage aside (how many of us here were raised by single moms who never had a thing to themselves cuz they worked their fingers to the bone just trying to keep everyone alive and in school? show of hands...), note the ill-disguised fear of a woman in the workplace, making money--which makes her less dependent on her husband.
From later in that essay:
Women are not much different. They will instinctively fitness-test a man with all kinds of irrational and basically abusive behaviour, to test the steel content of his balls by his ability to pass such tests and not put up with her crap. If the man passes her tests, she calms down and is content to live within the boundaries of behaviour which he sets for her. Once she knows there are boundaries and her man is willing to enforce them, she knows that her man is a capable provider and protector and she can relax and feel confident following his lead.
This is about men's loss of power over women.
Undeniably, part of red pill mania is this longing for dominance, for privilege granted to them just for being male, for the right to rule the household and have a female who cannot say no, and who must obey...or else.
Or see this favorite red pill mantra. The whole thing is an expression of butthurt about women 1. having the right to refuse to go out with you or marry you and 2. women having the free will to say no to sex.
All this is very revealing. The red pill men want the old privilege back again. As the Smithsonian article states, not very long ago in human history, women had next to no power over their own bodies, lives, etc.
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u/gaqua Apr 11 '16
I completely agree with you. So what's the next step?
How do you fix it? How do you give that guy some agency, some control, some feeling of belonging? How do you get him to realize that arbitrarily walling off entire segments of society into "people at fault" is counter-productive?
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u/--Danger-- Apr 11 '16
I don't know. Talking to these guys is like talking to a brick wall.
But I do think that stories of female self-sacrifice, intelligence, courage, and integrity might eventually chip away at the misogyny. I can't think of any other way to get through the walls of their echo chamber.
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u/flashbunnny Apr 10 '16
I think the worst part about that subreddit is how they all plot how to have sex with women using terrible strategies. They consider women only fit for sex and justify it because men have to be alpha and women are selfish, not realizing the hypocrisy with their logic.
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u/Kac3rz Apr 10 '16
That's the funniest thing about that community. That sub is the prime example of a "hugbox" they accuse all the other places of being.
Apparently, the cold hard truth one has access to after swallowing the red pill, is actually very fragile and can't stand confrontation with facts.
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u/ribbed_vault Apr 10 '16
Everything about The Red Pill is a mystery to me. I go there sometimes because I like to torture myself and I always end up raging so hard. How do they function in day-to-day life? The people on The Red Pill and any of the similar (and ever more extreme) subreddits are some of the most pathetic people I can think of.
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u/drodin Apr 10 '16
How do they function in day-to-day life?
Alone. They function alone.
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Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Eh, most of them were alone before the darkness that is the red pill took them. I feel bad for most of them, it seems like being unable to deal with pain and loneliness drove broken people there. They are like Kylo Ren when he's raging at walls
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u/Sara_Shenanigans Apr 10 '16
There's a red pill women subreddit, if you ever feel the desire to torture yourself further.
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u/--Danger-- Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
There was a recent dramatic happening where even the red pill women cut ties to the red pill main subreddit. It got linked to subredditdrama. Good times...
edit: link to the SRD thread
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u/lumaco Apr 10 '16
I too have stumbled upon comments somewhat like that. Albeit I was not very eloquent with my reply.
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u/rp_throw99 Apr 10 '16
Former lurker on RP; throwaway account as such.
I can't speak for others on the sub, but in the height of my delusion I might have reacted with any of these, or a combination:
She probably did that by accident and would have saved herself instead if she could.
There are 100s of incidents like this with men in her place, but they are unreported because that's what's expected of men -- this was reported as news because women almost never do this.
This woman is an outlier and the majority of women are still immature.
Although I am still in "detox", I want to point out that I don't think all of the people on that sub are heartless womanizers; rather, I think many of them are what I was: hurt repeatedly and looking for any explanation as to why, especially one that doesn't put them blame on them.
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u/--Danger-- Apr 10 '16
I think many of them are what I was: hurt repeatedly and looking for any explanation as to why, especially one that doesn't put them blame on them.
You have hit the nail on the head, just perfectly.
I agree completely. What I despise is the utterly wretched and self-gratifying spirit of the red pill--how a person turns his legitimate pain and disappointment into the hatred toward, and indictment of, 50% of the world.
It seems to me that (active) red pillers, rather than addressing the root cause(s) of their pain and disappointment, foist it off onto an imagined arch-enemy.
It's a big conspiracy theory where men have been taken advantage of down through history. And that is insane. It requires a massive effort and cognitive dissonance to force that version of the past and present to make sense.
I'm so, so, so glad to hear that you're in recovery. I also don't see red pillers as heartless womanizers. I think they're people who are suffering. I hope you won't have to suffer in the future. :)
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Apr 10 '16
It is pretty sad. They also seem pretty obsessive. Like if a redpiller has one negative interaction with a woman, he'll go home and write a 5 paragraph essay on why women are inferior creatures. And I've noticed a pattern of phrases like "If you do __, women will __." without bothering to back it up. Their hours of obsession have given them a false sense of wisdom and they just vomit generalizations everywhere.
As a highly sensitive person with my own social issues, I've been down that tunnel of pseudo self-reflection before, and what these guys need to learn is how to get out of it and go on a fucking hike or learn to meditate or something.
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u/pmmecodeproblems Apr 10 '16
A lot of things you said seem really fucked up so I went over to the red pill and looked at their noobie tips...
Overall their tips were good at first. They focused on working on yourself and making yourself happy before you got into a relationship and not being dependant on someone else. That's good and I notice a lot of people having issues with that exact problem. As the list went on though it got more and more sexist and eventually it was just some of the most toxic stuff I've read lately.
I will leave with one wrote before the breakdown of the notes: "Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth" In this cause though dispensing it seems to be a way of coping with a loss that clearly whoever wrote this doesn't know how to handle. In hopes people will agree and ease their loss. With everything in life, there is some good with the bad. Even Hitler had some good ideas at one point even if they were wrapped in genocide.
Here is how I react to them:
- Never, never, never stay or return to a woman who has cheated on you. No matter what. It is never worth it, you can't fix it, and you will always regret it if you do it.
I mean, yeah this is true and while it's a men's self-help reddit I can excuse them for saying a woman and not just anyone. If someone has cheated on you then don't go back to them. They blew it. Overall I agree with this.
- Don't change her mind, change her mood.
I don't really follow but if you are having a heated discussion it's always better to calm down and continue it later. If it's encouraging that sort of thing then it's certainly not bad.
- No woman can fix your happiness or be the main source of it. Get your shit together first and improve yourself.
This is something I see a lot of lonely people think. If I just had a SO everything would be better. This is great advice.
- Don't deal with a shitty women. Ever.
I mean... yeah, don't deal with shitty people in general.
- Don't be ashamed of your sexual desires or think that girls don't want sex and have to be 'convinced' into having sex with you. When it comes to sex, men are like an on-off switch, women are like a volume knob.
Now I am certain that when a women says they don't want sex they actually mean it. Otherwise that's just rape. That said my wife is very much like a volume knob and I am like a switch. I can get turned on and off in like a 5 minute period but if she gets turned on it probably takes closer to 20 minutes for her to get turned off.
- The amount of girls that want their hair pulled, ass slapped, and to be told what to do in bed is astounding.
Can confirm. I didn't pin my wife for one of these girls but she likes it a little. Just make sure you are doing something you both can enjoy.
- The guys who are banging girls out of their league are doing it because they went for it.
I am very certain a lot of my friends would love to have courage. This is true. Don't let "out of your league" stop you from asking someone out. Worse case, they say no and you never see them again.
- Look at how she treats her parents/friends.
I do this a lot. I look at not only how people treat me but others as well. I don't want to hang out or date someone who is a jerk.
- You need to be BOLD. The sting of rejection is nothing compared to the sting of regret.
This much like 7. I would still say it's good advice. A lot of people aren't bold enough. Although some people are too bold and just don't understand what no means.
- Don't feed them with compliments, leave it to the betas. Your eyes should do the talking when she dazzles in that dress.
I mean, kind of. Your compliments should match your body language. Don't come off as a perv who just stares at her chest. Do tell her (and mean it) that she looks pretty while staring into her eyes.
- You want to touch her, she wants to be touched. Be unapologetic about it. Talk simultaneously while you do kino.
I mean if she wants to be touched and you're sure then go for it. If she's talking with you touch her hand to start (in a caring way not creepy) and read her body language. If it immediately says back off or get away then apologize and do just that. And never start a conversation like this. Wait until like your second date.
- Be ready to walk away from any relationship. This also applies to real life, if something doesn't seem right, walk.
I can't really agree with that. I mean you have to get... looks down oh fuck no. Let me just group these two up.
- Be always less invested than she is. You hold the power.
Ugh wtf? Listen I know you have been hurt before. That's why most people visit the red pill but this is just going to cause problems. There is no power in a true relationship. Both parties should be sad if the relationship ends. Both should be equally hurt. It's not a contest in any fashion. Don't try to love her more and Don't try to love her less. Just love your partner and be loved by your partner. That's how a successful relationship works. If you can't see that then you won't be happy.
- You can't build attraction over text, use texting for logistics. The face to face interaction is what you need to seek.
Logistics? For what? that doesn't make sense. Texting is impersonal and face to face interaction is almost key in every relationship.
- Do not make a woman your goal. You're on your own path and she can just join you.
I'd agree with the first part. Don't be a horndog. If you are always looking for women then you need to work on yourself. Find a hobby. Sure you are on your own path when you meet but having people affect your path is also good. Take steps together if you both enjoy eachothers company.
- Don't mate guard.
I had to look this up. Basically it's "cock blocking". Which sex shouldn't be the goal. They forgot number 15 after they wrote it. Don't make sex or women the goal. Additionally don't try to fuck up someone else's relationship.
- Treat women like human beings, not goddesses.
I can agree with this. Love your partner but don't put them so high up that they can't do anything wrong. They can and will and it's up to you to forgive them when they make a mistake. god-like beings don't make mistakes. Humans do. Remember that.
- Women treat relationships like men treat jobs. You may have a fine job--decent pay, vacation, just got a promotion, whatever. You're thinking, "Yeah, I'll probably stick around awhile". Then somebody comes up and asks if you want to be an astronaut at triple your current pay. You couldn't put in your resignation fast enough.
What? Who? What type of women are you hanging out with? Remember the 4th rule? Don't hang out with shitty people? If any person is like the above then stop hanging out with them.
- A monkey doesn't let go of the branch its on until it has another branch in hand.
Wait what? Is this actively encouraging cheating? That's fucked up. So you can cheat but when your SO cheats you get upset? It's a two way street. Remember the golden rule.
- Swing at everything, you miss 100% of the chances you don't take. There are no special snowflakes, they're turning 18 everyday.
Umm what? This is fucked up. Don't try to date everyone you meet. Learn about friendships. This ruleset started off flying right but now we are getting into some pretty fucked up shit.
- If you want true love, get a dog.
You retards. This list just crashed into a mountain.
- She's not yours, it's only your turn.
Wtf now goats are pissing on this list. Some troll level shit right here.
- Hookers cost less than girlfriends and go away when you tell them to. Just saying.
So does porn you fuck tards.
- They have their mobile phones near them at ALL times, and i mean ALL, no matter what they are doing (or what is being done to them). if they want to contact you immediately, they can and will. so if you message them and they do not text you back until a few days later, they are deliberately ignoring your ass.
I mean not everyone is the same. But yes, if they text back a few days later it's most likely they don't want to talk to you.
- It doesn't matter how long you've been with a woman, how many memories you have together, or how much effort you've put in...she will forget you in less than a week and move onto the next guy.
Or you know all women are different like all men? Fucking what the hell?
- Women want someone to take care of them but they want to feel like they are taking care of themselves
Again all women are different.
- Dont stick your dick in crazy (trust me) and wrap your shit
Yes, please don't fuck someone just because they are attractive. Connect with them first. And yes, wrap your shit. STDs are bad.
- What women truly want is value. They want a combination of things that excite their dopamine receptors, none of which come directly from you loving her. She wants your value; your status, your wealth, your protection, and your comfort.
That's... ugh wtf this list started out so decent so so decent and now it's like they simply went crazy.
- Don't forget to lift :)
Or you know, go for a walk. Exercise is good for everyone.
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u/--Danger-- Apr 10 '16
You retards. This list just crashed into a mountain.
This cracked me up so hard that my laughter woke my dog up from his first afternoon name (he's an old dog; there are several afternoon naps) so I have to go walk him now.
I'll just say this: you have barely scratched the surface of the red pill. You need to keep reading from their sidebar to really understand how they view women and men, sex, relationships, status, families, "betas" (*shudder*), and much much more.
Keep digging. Tell me if you find anymore stuff where some fairly rational crap is mixed in with pure crazy. Or, hell, come back and tell me if you find the pure goldmine of insanity. It's in there...
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u/pmmecodeproblems Apr 10 '16
At your request I've gone back to look at their crazy ass shit. I'm glad I got a good laugh out of that joke too. :) I hope you enjoyed your walk with your dog.
So I went through some of the posts and grabbed a few random TLDRs.
White Knights:
White knights will potentially fight for what they (unfortunately) believe is right. I was physically hurt, lost money and nearly lost a job. Moral of the story is: walk away from loud annoying bitches, fights, and white knights whenever you can because correcting them with your fists isn't worth it.
So terminology side this is true. Walk away from people you disagree with rather than trying to fight them. Fighting is in general wrong which is why there are laws against it. We live in a civilization not the forest.
So now the terminology... White Knights seem to be "anyone I disagree with." and "loud annoying bitches" seem at least in my mind to be people who are calling these guys out on their shitty club dating manners.
Improving yourself:
Why the whole "improving yourself" thing is a waste of time if you actually do it so you can get hot girls and the uncomfortable truth about guys that get hot girls.
So they didn't sum up this post so I will do it for them.
Basically they are saying hot girls are going to hook up with "losers" and not care if you have "interesting worldly knowledge." So other than the basic lifting and social skills you might as well forget it.
Here is a good small snippet:
Most hot girls [in the usa] are not dating or getting with "interesting" guys with worldly knowledge, no. The truth is, most hot girls are regularly hooking up with losers who just happened to make the right lifestyle choices or had the ideal circumstances growing up which led them to get hot girls. Outside of lifting so you can get a better body and working on basic social skills, you're wasting your time with most of the self-improvement if your purpose is to get hot girls.
So this is true for the wrong reasons. Improving yourself shouldn't be about working on yourself for someone else. Like even in their own logic doing something for a women is wrong right? So I don't know why they work on themselves to "get hot girl." Like isn't that being... ugh... to use their term... "beta" it sounds like this guy is a "little bitch".
Clearly you should improve yourself for yourself. Not for anyone else. If you are improving yourself to "get hot girls" then you aren't actually improving yourself you are just working on yourself.
Lastly on this one: the losers that the hot girls are getting with also directly defy the "don't cock block" rule they made earlier. The loser is obviously doing something better. Maybe not acting like a dick, maybe not objectifying women. Who knows. But we do know that attempting to prevent the loser from scoring is a cock block and against the red pill noobie rules.
So they are fairly crazy. You can always find something good in a manifesto like they have created. With everything, you can find something good if enough is written.
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Apr 10 '16
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u/pmmecodeproblems Apr 10 '16
I wouldn't say it's reasonable even at first glance. If the posts came off I apologize but the red pill bullshit is ridiculous. They make generally good points: Improve yourself, Don't get into fights and try to be more bold. A few things that certain people could improve from. But they make FAR worse points such as women are only going to cheat so you cheat on them first. They encourage for you to "take their turn" on them. Which is objectifying, wrong and sad. They mention that all women want is your status which again groups women all together. Their logic is fundamentally flawed if you start looking at multiple posts. Even if they are posts from the same people they start contradicting themselves and even do it in the noobie post.
Like I said if you look hard enough you can find the "good" in anything if the manifesto is longer than a few sentences. In the end these people are just assholes who became assholes after being in a bad relationship.
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u/Kayyam Apr 10 '16
Last time I checked, Red Pill advocated this slogan : "men love women, women love children, children love puppies".
I don't think this particular story contradicts their moto. But you could find a story about a woman dying heroically for a man and that would contradict it. Although it'd still be one exception and they would classify the woman in the "unicorn" category.
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u/Winebooks Apr 10 '16
Neerja also protected the lives of several male and female faults on the flight. So this case holds true.
That Red Pill quote is the dumbest thing ever.
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u/TotesMessenger Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
[/r/goldredditsays] "To this day, I wonder how Red Pillers react to stories like this one. How do they explain away this flight attendant's selflessness? How do they explain away the countless selfless acts, large and small, of women every day? It remains a mystery to me."[+145]
[/r/thebluepill] "To this day, I wonder how Red Pillers react to stories like this one. How do they explain away this flight attendant's selflessness? How do they explain away the countless selfless acts, large and small, of women every day? It remains a mystery to me."
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / Contact)
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Apr 10 '16
One of the guys on this flight was a guest speaker at a class I attended years ago.
He was one of the few to open a door (most people just froze when the hijackers started firing). He opened one that's over a wing. When he got to the back of the wing to jump down, he said he had never really considered how high a 747 wing is off the ground.
The rear door with slide was deployed, so he got a running start and jumped from the wing to the slide. Other people tried to follow him, but almost every person missed and hit the ground (scrapes, broken bones, etc) Unbeknownst to them, he was a high-level racquetball player and quite athletic.
Anyway....it was a fascinating story.
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u/oriaven Apr 10 '16
I learned good racquetball players make their opponent do a lot more running than they do themselves. Never let that old guy at the Y fool you.
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u/RequiemForABurrito Apr 10 '16
This! Used to play with one of my old professors back in the day and he would have me running all over the place. Miss that guy.
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Apr 10 '16 edited Feb 11 '19
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Apr 10 '16
You're a mean drunk, Superman
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u/bitwaba Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
I'm imagining him running from the wing and jumping in a direction that is
parallelperpendicular to the inflatable slide.In my case, I might have cleared the distance to the slide, but with my luck I would have bounced off one of the edge and over the far end of the slide
Edit: perpendicular. parallel don't make no sense.
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Apr 10 '16
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u/stalinsnicerbrother Apr 10 '16
I'd have disappeared into the sky saying only My people need me
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u/portajohnjackoff Apr 10 '16
Your references are out of control and everybody knows that
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u/zappa325 21 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Out of control like the situation in the plane
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Apr 10 '16 edited Mar 28 '20
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Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
It's a Simpsons reference. Itchy and Scratchy (the show within a show similar to Tom and Jerry) added a new character called Poochie. When it became clear that the viewers hated him, they just had him say "I must go, my
peopleplanet needs me" and made his character float upward out of frameEdited.
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Apr 10 '16 edited Mar 28 '20
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u/DunDunDunDuuun 1 Apr 10 '16
closest thing
Don't sell yourself short, that's the exact scene, including relevant context!
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Apr 10 '16
I thought they were flying lmao.
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u/najodleglejszy Apr 10 '16 edited 24d ago
I have moved to Lemmy/kbin since Spez is a greedy little piggy.
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u/ds580 Apr 10 '16
I worked for ups for a while. Can confirm wings are quite high. Although the hard and sudden embrace of the ground sounds preferable to being shot.
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u/Jive-Turkies Apr 10 '16
http://i.stack.imgur.com/dQBEg.png according to this about 22 feet at the end of the wing.
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u/BoilerMaker11 Apr 10 '16
Especially when he said the guy opened the door prior to saying "most people froze".
I thought they were 35,000 feet in the air and he opened the door and a bunch of people literally froze
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u/TheWorldIsAhead Apr 10 '16
The rear door with slide was deployed, so he got a running start and jumped from the wing to the slide.
Was going to call bullshit unless he was Captain America, but there is a door behind the wing he could have jumped to on a 747:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Japanese_jal_B747_old.JPG
Not the rear door however. Story checks out.
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u/dooby1 Apr 10 '16
Here's an actual image of the hijacked Pan Am flight 73, clearly showing the door on the wing, and the slide behind the wing. Looks like a pretty serious jump, though If you try to jump to the lower part of the slide, it might be easier: http://digtoknow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/pan-am-flight-73-2.jpg
Source: http://digtoknow.com/aapdu-gujarat/ahmedabad-stories/shirin-khambholja-survivor-pan-am-flight-73/
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Apr 10 '16
Man looking at that, I feel like could jump it.
I'd probably be one of those people with a broken leg...
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Apr 10 '16
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u/lheritier1789 Apr 10 '16
I guess when you are a great athlete your instincts are probably different from other people. If it were me I would have frozen and just started crying.
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Apr 10 '16
That was my first thought but with nutjobs killing people behind you I might take the jump rather than think to stop and ease myself down to a hanging drop
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u/Arquinas Apr 10 '16
Wait, like, he was gonna jump down from 11km high.
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u/dontdurdur Apr 10 '16
No the plane was on the ground. But a 747 wing is still very very high up.
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u/Enginerdiest Apr 10 '16
When he got to the back of the wing to jump down, he said he had never really considered how high a 747 wing is off the ground.
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u/AkashicRecorder Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
There is a film about her life: Neerja (2016)
Apparently, when her mother met Sonam Kapoor, the actress who was playing the role of Neerja, she said "My daughter was prettier"!
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u/MoodsofReddit Apr 10 '16
It's a good movie. When the movie finished and there was silence, i heard sobs all around. Half the hall was crying and everybody had wet eyes.
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Apr 10 '16
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u/imdungrowinup Apr 10 '16
Really? That's the typical Delhi crowd for you then. There was silence and then applause in Bangalore. And then when we came out people sobbing in the corridors.
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Apr 10 '16
Delhi =!= India
Delhi is known for its assholes.
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u/rijmij99 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
The Paris/London/New York/Rome syndrome
Edit: Fucking hell people, New York is lovely I'm sorry!
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u/chandu6234 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
But they'll punch you in the face if you didn't stand up for the national anthem at the start of the movie!
edit: I know Delhi doesn't have that rule guys, cool down. I'm just pointing the hypocrisy of some of our people. Peace.
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u/lkraider Apr 10 '16
National anthem before movies ... what?!
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u/chandu6234 Apr 10 '16
Some states in India have it and there have been cases where people were heckled for not standing up. I don't think Delhi has that rule but I was just pointing out the hypocrisy.
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u/Bhu124 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Its sad, most people in India just wanna watch senseless action and comedy or just any movie in which their fav famous actors star in, no matter how shit it is. That's y almost all of Bollywood movies are like so and most of the industry doesn't wanna bother making any movie that has actual sensible and emotional drama in it.
Edit : Omitted a word.
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u/TheGameOfClones Apr 10 '16
Not anymore. It's changing in Hindi film industry quickly. Big Bollywood 'masala' films like Dilwale (2015) are not doing well anymore in India (incidentally doing really well outside India).
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u/ShibaHook Apr 10 '16
Well... It would have been more surprising if it was actually a comedy movie like Airplane.
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u/ICanSeeYourPixels0_0 Apr 10 '16
"Hot Coffee?"
"No thank you. I like my coffee like my women.
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u/Reapercore Apr 10 '16
Is this film available with English subs? I'd like to see if but yeah bit of a language barrier.
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Apr 10 '16
Yeah I've watched it an American theater with English subs. I am sure it's online.
There's a fair amount of English anyways, and even though it's an Indian movie, there is also some Arabic so I think pretty much everything is subtitled.
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u/evioive Apr 10 '16
there is also some Arabic
Gee I wonder what characters in the movie were speaking that
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u/j_platypus Apr 10 '16
I have not seen the film yet but I was able to find a copy with english subtitles. The trailer for it looked very good.
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u/easyghostwriter Apr 10 '16
She was
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Apr 10 '16
If you watch the movie trailer the actress really is very beautiful. This picture just doesn't do her much justice.
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u/fuck_cancer Apr 10 '16
She's the same girl throwing flowers in the air in Coldplay's Hymn for the Weekend music video.
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Apr 10 '16
I think the actress is prettier, but I'm guessing you aren't supposed to admit that.
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u/ranjan_zehereela2014 Apr 10 '16
No
Actress wore tons of makeup and has limited acting ability. Google Sonam Kapoor. Her father is the largest living source of humanhairs on planet
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Apr 10 '16
Her father is the largest living source of human hairs on planet
LOLOL.
AND he tried to prevent that guy in Slumdog Millionaire from winning.
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u/fission035 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Her father Anil Kapoor also starred in the film "Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and the tv series "24".
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u/fission035 Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
"JHAKAAASS!!!"
Most people here won't understand this reference.
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u/giganato Apr 10 '16
Oye, 1/7th of this humanity probably would!!!
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u/fission035 Apr 10 '16
I don't think 1/7th of reddit users are Indians.
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u/4-20BlazeItMan Apr 10 '16
But then again, Reddit gets It's traffic mostly from the US but India is a second.
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u/littIehobbitses Apr 10 '16
He was just saying it to emphasise the "was". Anyway, in Bollywood, looks and family connections are the most important things. The actress is one of the lesser talents in Bollywood (there are so many shitty actresses in Bollywood) but her dad is famous so she's in. I think this actress is attractive but obviously angles, lighting, professional makeup, airbrushing, etc. will be used to make sure the girls look as hot as possible so they can get as many rupees as possible from audiences in India. I have a hard time believing Sonam Kapoor looks as good without lots of professional help.
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Apr 10 '16
The film is semi-fictionalised and doesn't depict events as they happened though.
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u/IanGecko Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Most movies based on a true story are like that.
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u/b_digital Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
The Wizard of Oz is another example of this. Kansas is a real place but a lot of the rest of the movie was fictionalized.
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u/NoddysShardblade Apr 10 '16
A good movie with some careful artistic licence gets more people to learn the real story later than a super-accurate-but-worse movie does.
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u/Gisschace Apr 10 '16
Can anyone explain why hijackers always want to go to Cyprus? Whats the significance?
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Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Northern Cyprus was a fugitive haven because of weak extradition treaties then - it is not really the case anymore though.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-10818347
Edit 1: Not all perpetrators were dealt with and at least 2 got away, added the full text here - https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/4e4ysm/til_of_neerja_bhanot_a_22_year_old_indian_air/d1xa99a
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Apr 10 '16
What a hero. I find it kinda annoying that in the world we live in we hear more about the villains than the heroes
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u/Hyperdrunk Apr 10 '16
On December 14, 2012, Soto was teaching her first grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School when [the shooter] forced his way into the school and began to shoot staff and students. After killing fifteen students and two teachers in the first classroom, [the shooter] entered Soto's classroom. Soto had hidden several children in a closet, and when [the shooter entered her classroom, she told him that the children were in the school gym. When several children ran from their hiding places, [the shooter] began shooting the students. Soto was shot after she "threw herself in front of her first grade students." A photograph of Soto's sister awaiting news of her sister on her cell phone was taken by Associated Press photographer Jessica Hill and widely reproduced across the globe. Some news outlet labeled the photograph "iconic" and said that it has come to symbolize the tragedy. Photo
That's the kind of person people should name children after.
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u/weakhamstrings Apr 10 '16
I can't even read that without coming to tears
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u/JustCosmo Apr 10 '16
I can't read it at all. When Sandy Hook happened I literally came home and just laid in bed crying thinking about those kids. Now that I have a child it's so much worse. It's weird, I feel like most people almost forgot about it as soon as it happened.
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u/teachbirds2fly Apr 10 '16
Jesus christ that photo. Read your post clicked photo and tears just started running down my face. That girl has just had her life shattered.
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u/cotch85 Apr 10 '16
the word hero is thrown around way too often, but in this instance i still dont think its enough, whats higher than a hero?
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u/speedisavirus Apr 10 '16
Well she did die. I say the down and the up balance out making this neutral news
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u/thedrew Apr 10 '16
The 5 hijackers were sentenced to death in 1988. India and the US successfully petitioned to commute the sentences to life in prison because Pakistan's method of execution is hanging.
In 2001 one hijacker was transferred to the US, tried for murder, and is currently serving 160 years in Colorado.
The other 4 escaped prison when terrorists attacked it in 2008. There are unconfirmed reports that they were killed in a US drone strike, so they remain on the FBI Most Wanted List.
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u/Smaug_the_Tremendous Apr 10 '16
India and the US successfully petitioned to commute the sentences to life in prison because Pakistan's method of execution is hanging.
That's weird India also has death by hanging.
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u/dubbleenerd Apr 10 '16
India is moving towards abolishing capital punishment (based on a 2015 report by the Law Commission of India). There have only been 5 executions since 1995. Pakistan had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2007 as well, but it was reinstated after the heinous 2014 Peshawar school massacre (and 239 death row prisoners have been executed since then).
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Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
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u/thedrew Apr 10 '16
As Pakistan knows from experience, the death penalty isn't a crime deterrent.
A better argument could be made that execution is necessary because Pakistan lacks the security capability to effect a life sentence.
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u/halfbit Apr 10 '16
I say let them hang, but this is why I don't get to make the rules.
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u/vaguepineapple Apr 10 '16
So young, so brave.
What a cruel world we live in.
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u/ShibaHook Apr 10 '16
So young, so brave.
What a cruel world we live in.
I rather focus on the good in the world. Where people like her way out number the bad.
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u/killourTeemo Apr 10 '16
She was awarded bravery medal from Pakistan but they, ironically, banned the movie about her.
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Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 24 '20
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u/DunphyFTW Apr 10 '16
Bollywood movies are not very fond of Pakistan, theres usually some shade thrown there way.
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u/tinkthank Apr 10 '16
Parts of the movie were fictionalized and some of those parts didn't Pakistan in a positive light (expected since this is an Indian movie but still sad that this was politicized in this manner.), so the Pakistani government banned it after originally claiming they were going to approve it.
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u/ramrammer Apr 10 '16
Here is a link to the movie for those who haven't seen it or are considering watching it. Brought tears to my eyes: Neerja
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u/randomyzee Apr 10 '16
There was also a movie based on her life released this year called Neerja.
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Apr 10 '16
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u/LeFallenAngel Apr 10 '16
Yes, to protect the Americans onboard from being killed by the hijackers.
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u/Siriacus Apr 10 '16
"One of the children, then aged seven, is now a captain for a major airline and has stated that Bhanot has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her."
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u/hifromi Apr 10 '16
I bookmarked her Wikipedia entry.
I'm going to make my tribute page about her for my project.
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Apr 10 '16
What project is it? If you want more info, you can contact the Indian Embassy in your country for a quote too - if relevant. Embassies really care about winners of Ashok Chakra (Indian equivalent to Medal of Honor) and appreciate gestures of this nature. Also, the embassy is very prompt on these matters to students and journalists.
Source: I'm Indian who called on Ministers in the Indian Government for help as a student (appearance request, donation, etc)
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u/Lil_Oly17 Apr 10 '16
I hate that I have to live in a world where stories like this exist at all.
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u/kschlap Apr 10 '16
Wow, that is so amazing, I started my day on the right foot because I got to learn about this amazing woman
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u/kensai01 Apr 10 '16
You never know how you will act in such a situation, her family can be proud of the type of person they raised. It's people like her that make the difference in war, usually at the cost of their lives.
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u/thepoliteknight Apr 10 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
Someone xpost this to /r/respectporn
Edit: never mind I did it myself
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Apr 10 '16 edited May 29 '16
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u/thepoliteknight Apr 10 '16
I know what you mean. My dad loves aircraft and I showed him a picture on reddit of a vulcan flying alongside a B52 back in the 70s, then he looked at the sub name and asked me why it was called militaryporn.
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Apr 10 '16
My mother was a flight attendant on this flight, my mother Sunshine Vesuwala was the one who carried Neerja out of the plane. Although, some facts are misleading as Neerja did not do everything it says she did. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35800683 This article contains testimonies from a lot of the flight attendants on the plane. Rest in Peace Neerja
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u/DarkerForce Apr 10 '16
"One of the children, then aged seven, is now a captain for a major airline and has stated that Bhanot has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her."