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I believe I answered that. I don't have the right to pick and choose. If I am caught breaking the law, I am punished. I have to decide if I am willing to accept the conequences of my actions. If my actions harm another, the punishment will be more severe.
If I thought for a second that reading my Kindle during take off or landing would cause the plane to crash, I would not read my Kindle. First, I care about my own life and would not be so stupid as to do something that I thought would kill me. Second, I care about the life of my family members who are on the plane with me. Third, I care about the lives of everyone else on the plane who I don't know.
If I think that my speeding is dangerous, I slow down or don't speed. I have even been known to drive under the speed limit due to road conditions. I am not interested in hurting anyone, just getting to where I want to go as safely and quickly as possible.
I seriously doubt that you or anyone else on this board follow every rule that they are suppose to to a T. We all bend the rules at some point in time. Most of us do so without any consequences because we are aware enough to not want to harm ourselves or the people around us. There is a small minority who are willing to do things that they know will harm others and we all hope that they are caught and punished before they do so. It does not always work that way and that sucks. We hope that they are caught and punished for their actions so that they pay a price, even if that price can never equal to damage that they cause, and to let others know that there is a price to pay to deter similar behavior in others.
The holier then thou attitude is annoying because no one here is perfect and because the silly examples do nothing to make a serious point. If e-readers, Ipods, game boys, headsets, and the like being used during landing and take off were going to crash a plane it would have happened by now and we would all know about it. If it was really dangerous, the FAA would not be looking at removing those rules. If it was really dangerous, IPads would not be used in the cockpit by pilots.
The FAA has been hoping that airlines would foot the bill for the necessary tests to demonstrate that these devices are safe. The Airlines did not want to pay for the expensive testing and just keep using FAA guidelines. Clearly the complaining about the rules have become loud enough that the FAA is going to do the testing. More likely then not, the rules are going to go away.
That is more then enough for me to decide that I can safely read my Kindle without jeopardizing my life, my families life, or your life on the plane. If you are sitting next to me and are not comfortable with that, feel free to tell me that the rules say I need to turn off my Kindle and I will sigh and put it away. If you say it politely enough I might even buy you a drink for not being a dick about it.
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