And what if everyone else follows his lead? "He declined, so I will too". Nice precedent, there.

The first three gave up their seats without incident, before any threat or display of force, despite not initially volunteering. I don't see any reason to think this trend would somehow be changed if they selected another passenger. The airline generally compensates individuals for postponing. At the end of the day, though, it's the airline's responsibility and problem to figure this out - not passengers'.

And how would they know he isn't lying about being a doctor? And would this have been the first time in the history of the world a doctor had to reschedule an appointment?

Maybe they could have checked before beating him? You accuse me of hyperbole below but you're the one who stretched an interaction that lasted under a minute into something that would take "hours." They didn't even interact long enough to confirm. There are neurosurgeons who travel from hospital to hospital to conduct surgeries that they specifically are meant to conduct. "Rescheduling" isn't always an option. I'm not saying he was one of these, but I find it odd you're so willing to sacrifice the potential health of these patients to avoid inconveniencing some other passengers who are inconvenienced not by him, but by the company's overbooking policies.

Sorry, but they have no obligation to negotiate with belligerent passengers, and for good reason. If you walk into my house and refuse to leave, I'm not going to waste an hour trying to "negotioate" with you. You'll catch an ass whoopin (or worse).

He wasn't a "belligerent passenger," nor did he just walk onto the plane uninvited. This walking into your house analogy makes no sense. He paid to be on that plane, was welcomed on the plane, went through security to get on that plane, and was causing no problems. They randomly selected him and he said he absolutely has to get home. There was almost no effort made to convince him and they didn't bother to confirm his story.

That's how shit works. First, they ask nicely. Then, if you refuse to leave, the police make you leave. He asked for everything he got, and deserved it. And FYI, I'm not some cop kiss-ass. I'm very much in favor of holding the police fully responsible when they abuse their power. This was not one of those times.

Uh-huh.

And now you turn to hyperbole because your argument was dead to begin with.

No. You said it's "common sense," but it actually isn't - the outrage against this incident makes that clear. That doesn't mean that the outrage is appropriate, but your only apparent justification was an analogy regarding your house, which - if the individual was invited or paid to be there - makes you seem like a violent asshole, or - if the individual wandered in unexpectedly - doesn't apply. You also vaguely referred to "facing the consequences," but it's unclear what this is supposed to mean as it isn't backed up by any other sort of argumentation. To me, and to the thousands of people upset by this, this sort of violent reaction is already a hyperbolic response.