We get along, while restricted

"311 people, 326 if you include the staff, in a silver tube, travelling at 500+ mph, through the air.

None of us know each other, all from different countries, different cultures, different religions, with different purposes. We have no choice in being where we are, as we sit here. We cannot land, we are over water, so we have to just be. A bubble of civilization, with no time zone or governing power. Are we in the hands of the pilot or are we in the hands of the collective passengers or, to quote David Cameron,

How do our individual needs get met? The stewardess cannot provide individual stimulus, so we sit and try and entertain ourselves. 311 of us, in are own world, whether Socialist or Capitalist, whether religious or atheist, the needs of the individual in this scenario are restricted. The alcoholic cannot really let go, a Muslim cannot pray to Mecca, a vegan cannot eat. We are restricted, but we get along.

Sadly, outside of this steel tube, we continue un-restricted and we do not get along. By nature, humans get along, until a deity, an ideology or a substance gets involved. Then it all goes wrong."

ACL, September 2012