Original Publication Information:
Suedomsa the Magazine December 1997 Volume One,
Issue
Five
Smart ReMarx by Andy Marx
This is Not a Love Song
In the Review-Journal, an article cited the instance of a woman who was
brutally attacked after having spent ten or more minutes attempting to
call 9-1-1. She was chased by another car in L.A., tried to get through
to the emergency service on her cellular, and was unsuccessful. The other
car forced hers to the side of the road. She was shot through the jaw and
another bullet ricocheted off her cell phone. The phone exploded and a
large chunk embedded in the side of her face.
My first reaction to this article was a distinct lack of sympathy for the
woman. My first complete thought was, "That's what she gets for using a
cell phone."
I'm perfectly aware that this reaction is irrational. The stereotype is
that cell phone users cause accidents because they aren't paying attention
to the road. Clearly, this woman was using the cell phone for emergency
purposes (ostensibly the best reason for owning one) and what happened to
her was not something she caused. It probably wasn't even something
she could have prevented.
She later learned the best advice in such a situation is to ditch the car.
I would have run another car off the road (preferably a beefy truck
driver) and with a ten minute cushion, I would have done it right in front
of a call box. Incidentally, we don't have those in Nevada because stuff
like that never happens here. Call boxes, for the uninitiated, are yellow
posts on the side of the road that have direct, landline access to the
nearest emergency station. They are technically for police-assisted
situations and not just your average breakdown, but the distinction
between safety and convenience is beyond most people. What I really like
about call boxes is their amazing frequency on California highways.
That is a sense of security.
Another story: The Jackal. Bruce Willis takes a guy out into
rugged Canada and uses his box of cigarettes for target practice. Whoops,
he missed (because the gun's aim was off) and pulverized the guy's arm
instead. Then Willis's character decimated the guy's car. In a later
scene, Willis is the People Under the Stairs (Krueger, I believe, tried
this trick once) and everyone in the house dies. I admire the Willis
character for his ingenious methods of destroying the lives of others.
Really, some of the murders were quite novel even as the plot itself was
generic and slow paced.
All three movies referenced in the last paragraph had one fatal flaw (not
shred by a similar shock flick Seven) - a total and complete lack
of suspense. It's not that the movie was a waste. The matter simply
rests that I was not on the edge of my seat. I didn't grip the armrests
until my fingers smarted and the plot twists really weren't much of a
surprise. Nor did the repeated graphic violence do much to my mental
state. Seven is perverse and the magnitude of its success rests on
that perversity. Jackal is neither perverse nor particularly bloody
enough to really impact me.
Two Las Vegas cousins killed a girl (who was dating one of them).
Something about tying her up, I really didn't read the whole article to
find out what had happened. One line particularly drew my attention,
though, both cousins had been jailed before. The sense I get is that
society depends heavily on precedents in behavior to predict future
violence.
There was an uproar in about Metro not releasing the names of convicting
child molestors in a timely manner (assuming, under law, that they would
have gotten around to it sometime). I don't condemn the police for not
rushing to reveal who has been molesting the children. Maybe I'm too used
to watching the Simpsons' police force that stands around eating donuts
and being ineffectual. I secretly don't expect the police to do much of
anything productive.
I do understand one essential fact about police work. It ain't easy to be
an officer. Law enforcement has to babysit society constantly. It is too
much to expect society (that ambiguous, ambivalent force of nature that it
is) to police itself. Violence has so inundated itself into our lifestyle
that it is hardly noticed anymore. But even when crime does catch the
public eye, it does not have the impact on its audience that is necessary
to push us to do something to stop it.
A quick solution is not forthcoming. So I say this, let's work towards a
society of peace and love where people don't hurt each other. Deal? In
the meantime, Simpsons is on twice a night, and I never miss an
episode.
