Arrogant and violent actions often times have far reaching consequences long after the deed has been done and the harm inflicted- either for the offended or the offender.
In the case of the uncalled-for flight harassment suffered by soon-to-be First Daughter Ivanka Trump while on commercial flight last Thursday with her husband and young children, she may have opted to remain classy and silent about the incident, but other people are easily taking up the cudgels for her, and aiming to exact more accountability from the perpetrators of the offense. And so the gay couple who harassed Ivanka and kids aboard their JetBlue flight and even boasted about the harassment plan on Twitter as if it were such a heroic, honorable act has not heard the last of this case, after all.
A group named Right Wing Millennials started a petition at Change.org six days ago asking that Matt Lasner, the husband of Ivanka harasser Dan Goldstein who haughtily tweeted about the plan, be fired from his teaching post at Hunter College in New York City. The petition called the flight harassment of Ivanka as immature and cruel, especially since she was traveling with small kids and just quietly keeping to themselves and not causing any trouble. The call for action letter also said that Lasner is " not a good example for the youth", " that he is teaching student is very troubling" and that " he does not deserve the honor of teaching."
Before the ugly outburst of his husband Goldstein inside the plane where he screamed at Ivanka and kids that " your father is ruining the country!" and menacingly asked why she should be on their flight when she should be on a private one, Lasner tweeted that "Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil".
From there it was obvious the couple had a " premeditated" plan of harassing poor Ivanka, and the Twitter post of Lasner even appeared to speak of pride of what his husband is about to do and even used the hashtag " banality of evil." Lasner further engaged commenters on the post and even had some succeeding tweets about the matter. However, he later deleted all tweets from that incident, and only the first and most incriminating tweet of all has been saved by netizens.
Lasner may not have been the direct harasser, but supporters and sympathizers of Ivanka concerned about her not just for being soon-to-be First Daughter, but more so as a woman and mother to three young kids, perhaps believe that the professor more than gave his consent to the action of his husband, even supported it and bragged about it on Twitter. He also did not do anything to prevent his husband Goldstein from verbally attacking and threatening Ivanka, and that makes him a party to the offense.
The lead petitioner Brendan Bradley also pointed out that Lasner deleted his Twitter messages on the incident, tried " to cover up and change the story around to avoid the consequences of his actions is also a testament to his character". The offending couple later tried to claim that Goldstein talked to Ivanka in a "calm manner".
The couple has not apologized for the harassment, and initially even questioned why they were asked to deplane. When public backlash started pouring in, the couple tried to downplay the incident, especially Goldstein's behavior.
Hunter College has yet to comment on the plane incident, and on the petition against Lasner. Curiously, though, Lasner's profile in the college's website has been taken down. There are still no petition or plans for action against Goldstein, a lawyer from Brooklyn.
With less than a week since the petition was started, it already garnered almost 40,000 signatures supporting the call to fire Lasner from his teaching job for not being a good role model to the youth.
