Hidey-Ho Good Neighbor! in anticlimatic

I find myself extremely disturbed by the events in Minneapolis, and my brain keeps trying to work out why it happened and how it could have been prevented. I feel so bad for her. I hope at least she was gone before she even knew it. But now there’s this sudden Person shaped hole in the lives of all her loved ones. Her child- now a complete orphan, and her widow- standing right there “Drive baby! Drive!” who now gets to blame herself for the rest of her life.

That fucking cop who couldn’t just dodge the vehicle without the quick-draw routine. Apparently he had been dragged 50 yards by a vehicle somewhat recently- by someone charged with sexual assault that he was trying to arrest- so “draw and shoot” must have been pre-loaded into his trigger instincts via the trauma of that at just the wrong time. It all happened too fast for him to think, then react, but if he had the possibility pre-loaded that he was about to get dragged again unless he stopped the driver, he could react as fast as he did. I don’t know for sure, but I think that’s what happened on his end. Other explanations include: he’s a piece of shit, and was waiting for a reason to murder someone with impunity.

And that stupid fucking girl. All in her head, riding a collective consciousness completely separate from the one she’s deliberately ramming up against- a very serious, very deadly one. The violent arm of the state executing it’s lawful will is not an entity to trifle with. Why are we sticking our throats in the mouths of wolves?

And her killer is probably going to face no legal consequences for erasing a life suddenly and for no objectively good reason. The bodycam footage of them taunting him first, in a fairly friendly way (comparatively) was the most sickening to watch. The whole reason she backed up that little bit I think was to clear the guy that would go on to murder her. If she hadn’t, and just rammed him, probably she would be alive- in jail, but alive.

I keep picturing all the people I know that feel the same way she felt, politically, getting murdered in a similar way. Good, kind people, who only want to be loved and do the right thing- in over their heads, getting horribly and violently snuffed out and taken from everyone that cared about them forever.

When did we forget what a huge and horrible thing it is to kill someone?

Unforgiven won Best Picture in the early 90s, and is a master class on the topic. But what I have been coming back to more and more lately are the 90s sitcoms, Frasier and Home Improvement. Before the tipping point, people rather enjoyed their political rivals. There was still enough in common, somehow. The differences completed one another. They were alluring, actually. Charming. The tension was just playful, not…fucking bloodthirsty.

Martin Crane would keep the Crane boys down to earth, speaking up for ice cold reality when they were getting carried away in their own heads. Wilson would enrich Tim the Tool Man Taylor’s dull and practical life with culture and intellectually sourced/researched advice.

Today they would have opposing political yard signs and shoot each other over snow shoveling disputes. What happened to people? If you have hate in your heart for strangers who you do not know and who do not know you, just turn it off. I beg.