Both Wrong

I'm at this reading, George Saunders (look him up if you don't know, short story writer) and Ben Stiller, whom I'm sure you know, and the packed, cold crowd is getting squirrelly. Some older Manhattanite ladies in bangled sweaters, an overly developed sense of self-importance, and a radically underdeveloped sense of proportion have taken it upon themselves to be the fire aisle patrol or something, and they take a woman to task for sitting in front of them.

Suddenly this guy with an accent I can't quite place (Nordic? French?) gets into the act, and in typical European fashion, defends the sitter's right to sit wherever she wants, nevermind the Manhattanites sense of fairness or the rules.

Even after the sitter leaves, wisely beating a retreat in the face of such controversy, the Manhattanites and the European bicker, and though I can't really side with the privileged ladies and their fussy ways, the European's arrogant attitude is so typical of the Europeans I've met that I can't really side with him either.