NEW YORK – The overnight transformation of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater from anonymous airline employee to social media darling has itself become a major media spectacle. Major newspapers and networks have been transfixed by his story, which started with an obscenity-laced swan song down an emergency exit slide after a confrontation with a scum-of-the-earth passenger.

Slater’s dramatic exit resulted in his later arrest and many are wondering how someone charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing could so quickly and emphatically be crowned as a folk hero.

The answer, say experts, is simple: hypocrisy and an amazing lack of self awareness.

Madyson Frenchkiss, a 25-year-old escort specializing in foreign diplomats who enjoys non-executive plutonium status on Lufthansa due to her frequent travels, was reached for comment while standing in a 12-items-or-less line at Waldbaum’s with a grocery cart packed with 79 items.

Steven Slater, between passenger assaults

“OMG [sic] that flight attendant is so like my hero,” she gushed between laborious chomps of the massive bulge of bubble gum lodged in her mouth. “It’s about time somebody put rude people in their place!”

Anthony DeLucca, 31, paused from his shouted cellphone conversation on a crowded city bus to offer his own praise. “That guy, man, even though he’s gay, he’s my hero!” he cried, even louder than his phone conversation had been.

“Somebody’s got to stand up to inconsiderate people!” he added, lifting a leg to facilitate a foul burst of flatulence.

“If you take even the most obnoxious people, the ones who from day one have gotten what they want by being the squeakiest wheel and survey them, you’ll realize most of them don’t realize what assholes they are,” explains Dr. Steward Seawall, a non-managing director of psychiatry at the Tony La Russa Institute of Arrogance in Tampa, Florida.

“That’s why we see people praising Slater and friending [sic] him even though most of them, as airline passengers and customers, act just like the self-entitled, over-privileged wench that started the altercation.

“Clearly, her need to get to her bags immediately was more important than anything else on that plane, including other passengers and Steven Slater’s injuries. Since catering to that mindset is what is defined as ‘customer service’ in America, these incidents shouldn’t be that surprising.”

As an example, Seawall cited one of his case studies who defecated on an airline galley cart when he was denied a beverage during a flight from Los Angeles to Newark. “This guy is one of Slater’s biggest fans. He can’t stop talking and tweeting about him. It’s amazing.

“The fact is that he – like most other whining, hyper-demanding customers – can’t see the irony, the hypocrisy in idolizing Slater when it could as easily have been them that instigated it. Heck, maybe even Kate Hanni likes him.”