The person reportedly told the flight attendant multiple times that it was a dog, they just didn't seem to care or listen. So they did question them. They just eventually bowed down to authority.
You can say that they should have questioned authority, and people should, but that doesn't change reality. People in positions of power have insane amounts of control, beyond what people would even view as logical. This psychology has been built up over time since we were kids. You can't just suddenly overcome that.
I accept that to some degree what you are saying, but that's kind of my point. People in positions of power have this insane amount of control because we accede to them, often unnecessarily. The whole point of this post is to encourage people to question this dynamic, and to challenge someone with authority if they are being unreasonable. I would not have let my dog be put in the locker.
Are you sure? Psychological tests have proven multiple times that given the right circumstances, most people will commit murder if asked. Yet you're talking like if they can just say no when a person of authority tells them to stow their dog in a place that they might not necessarily know for certain isn't safe for it.
Yes, I am sure (about me!).
I would be interested to see those tests. I did actually post a few weeks ago about a psychological illusionist called Derren Brown who did get people to commit "murder", but the people were carefully selected and put under extraordinary pressure. And even then, I am not sure how these tests can be applied here. It's very different.
I am not talking about other people saying no; I am talking about me.
Putting a dog in an overhead locker on a plane is a staggeringly stupid thing to do. I still can get my head around the fact that anyone would think it would be okay.
ETA I see I have dropped the ball here. I was talking about other people too! D'oh! I stand by my comments - I would encourage people to politely question an unreasonable request by someone in authority. And in this instance, we are talking about cabin crew, not a heavily armed soldier...