Originally Posted by studentff
No, I'd rather cockpit and cabin crews show enough intelligence to know that neither the word "bob" being written on a barf bag nor the presence of a passenger drinking from a bottle of water, nor a Japanese businessman (non-native english speaker) being confused about the precise definition of "suicide bomber" in a news article about the middle east are grounds for diverting an aircraft.
Emergency procedures and first-responders' valuable time should be saved for actual emergencies.
IMO, Air Rage is an actual emergency and if the passenger is that out of control, a diversion is warranted. I have experienced a passenger going bezerk and it's frightening. He was difficult to subdue and assaulted two FAs and four passengers before we got him strapped into the seat.
Further, it appeared that he was having a bad reaction to whatever medication he was on, and I think that diverting to get him medical attention would have been a reasonable course of action.