Sometimes you read an article that makes you think - what?

Parents don't have a right to get on a jet with unruly children. In fact, they're stealing from the rest of us.

A little late in making those Thanksgiving flight plans? Wondering how you could possibly afford your ticket -- that is, without putting a kidney up for sale on Craigslist? Good news! You can get a free flight home on Southwest plus a $300 travel voucher. Just do what I plan to -- get on a Southwest flight in the next few days, and when it's taking off, shout over and over, "Go, plane, go!" and "I want Daddy! I want Daddy!"

Pamela Root got the free flight and the voucher, plus an apology from Southwest, after her 2-year-old kept screaming those things at the top of his little lungs as their San Jose-bound flight was about to take off. In fact, little Adam reportedly screamed so loudly that the safety announcements couldn't be heard and the pilot turned the plane back to the gate in Amarillo, Texas, where the two were booted off.

Root was appalled when a flight attendant told her something to the effect of "We just can't tolerate that [screaming] for two hours," reported the San Jose Mercury News. Root insisted Adam would be "fine once we take off" -- which, in my book, means either "He'll be fine" or "It would be a serious pain in the butt to be stuck in Amarillo another day."

Unbelievably, Root demanded the apology she eventually got from the airline (shame, shame, Southwest) and hit it up for the cost of diapers and the portable crib she says she had to buy for the overnight stay. Even more unbelievably, there's still no word of any apology from Root to the other passengers.

There is a notion, reflected in numerous blog comments about the incident, that other passengers should "just deal" and "give a kid a break." This notion is wrong. Parents like Root and others who selfishly force the rest of us to pay the cost of their choices in life aren't just bothering us; they're stealing from us. Most people don't see it this way, because what they're stealing isn't a thing we can grab on to, like a wallet. They're stealing our attention, our time and our peace of mind.

More and more, we're all victims of these many small muggings every day. Our perp doesn't wear a ski mask or carry a gun; he wears Dockers and shouts into his iPhone in the line behind us at Starbucks, streaming his dull life into our brains, never considering for a moment whether our attention belongs to him. These little acts of social thuggery are inconsequential in and of themselves, but they add up -- wearing away at our patience and good nature and making our daily lives feel like one big wrestling smackdown.

Southwest sent the right message in yanking Root and her screaming boy off the plane. Unfortunately, it lacked the corporate courage to stand its ground, probably fearing a public relations nightmare from the Mommy Mafia. Yet, almost every day, I encounter parents who need to get the same message Root initially did. Trust me -- should I long to hear screaming children, I'll zip right past my favorite coffeehouse and go read my morning paper at Chuck E. Cheese.

I know, I know -- because I am not a parent I cannot possibly understand how hard it is to keep a child from acting out. Actually, that probably has more to do with the way I was raised -- by parents I describe as loving fascists. As a child, I was convinced that I could flap my arms and fly, but the idea that I could ever be loud in a public place that wasn't a playground simply did not exist for me.

I hear claims that some children are prone to tantrums no matter how exquisitely they are parented. If this describes your child, there's a solution, and it isn't plopping him in a crowded metal tube with hundreds of people who can't escape his screams except by throwing themselves to their deaths at 30,000 feet.

Granted, there sometimes are extenuating circumstances, reasons parents and their little hell-raiser simply must take a plane. Well, actually, there are two: dire family emergency (Granny's actually dying, not just dying to see the little tyke) and the need for a lifesaving operation for the wee screamer. In all other cases, if there's any chance a child is still in the feral stage, pop Granny on a flight or gas up the old minivan. It really does come down to this: Your right to bring your screaming child on a plane ends where the rest of our ears begin.

Amy Alkon's book "I See Rude People: One Woman's Battle to Beat Some Manners into Impolite Society" will be published this week.

What?

Despite the depressing march towards positive rights for all kinds of random and arbitrary crap, as far as I am aware there is no such thing as a "right" to go on an aeroplane, and therefore no-one - parent with unruly child or no - is "stealing" from anyone else simply by getting onto a flight and making some noise. Southwest are the party with the rights here - they have the right to sell flight tickets to whomever they choose. The people who choose to buy those tickets also choose to abide by the terms of the seller. The seller chooses to let children onto their flights.

Amy Alkon clearly understands this concept of meeting the needs of consumers elsewhere:

Trust me -- should I long to hear screaming children, I'll zip right past my favorite coffeehouse and go read my morning paper at Chuck E. Cheese.

So she should not be surprised that Southwest were so keen to appease a vocal representative of a profitable market by providing an apology and covering expenses. Their decision.

Alkon is confused. She would so like to believe that Southwest "booted" Root off the plane because of her "feral" child, but the reality is (as she herself points out) the decision to turn the flight around was taken for very practical reasons. The behaviour of a two year old is unpredictable; many will make some noise, however most will not be as extreme as this child. A pilot would have taken the same action had a passenger been taken severely ill. Would Amy have had the same problem with a heart attack victim? Well, probably:

There is a notion, reflected in numerous blog comments about the incident, that other passengers should "just deal" and "give a kid a break." This notion is wrong. Parents like Root and others who selfishly force the rest of us to pay the cost of their choices in life aren't just bothering us; they're stealing from us. Most people don't see it this way, because what they're stealing isn't a thing we can grab on to, like a wallet. They're stealing our attention, our time and our peace of mind.

What about the other Southwest customers who happen to be a little bit old and frail? Taking their time getting onto Amy Alkon's plane - are they stealing little pieces of her life in the process? What about the deaf guy speaking at volume to his wife - he paid for his seat, sure - but is he stealing Amy Alkin's airwaves? And that stupid woman, over there. She's blocking the aisle because she can't read her seat number! Maybe we should just put her down before she steals poor Amy's peace of mind, and donate her ticket to another mealy-mouthed old sow instead.

In fact, perhaps we all ought to opt for voluntary euthanasia just to ensure that, in the process of going about our daily lives and paying for the services we use, Amy is not somehow offended by one of us stealing something intangible from her.

Alternatively, Amy could set up her own mainstream airline with reasonably priced tickets that only offers flights to people without children. Now there's an idea. What? No takers? But... why ever not? Might it not be a viable business model or something?

Put simply, whinging Amy Alkon isn't important to Southwest - Mrs Root is. If she doesn't like it, she needs to "gas up the old minivan".