Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
Things that aren't directly connected to BBM and yet are somehow Brokieish
CellarDweller:
how about cowboy zombies?
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on March 20, 2017, 11:37:57 am ---I enjoyed it. If you like obscure Westerns with homoerotic undertones, it's one to add to your collection!
--- End quote ---
I like obscure Westerns, but normally they needn't have homoerotic undertones.
--- Quote ---We city dwellers are rather naive. This happened all the time in Wyoming, and still does, probably. Strangers passing each other on country roads are careful to follow a ritual of safe passage that I learned on my first trip there. I imagine it's much the same in the deep South.
--- End quote ---
Well, I lived in just about the deepest South you can get, geographically speaking anyway, and although there were plenty of shootings they were rarely by rednecks and never, to my knowledge, at random passersby just because people didn't like the way they dressed (my awareness would have extended to rural areas outside of New Orleans). In the city, there were plenty of shootings -- with approximately a murder a day, New Orleans had a higher murder rate then than Chicago does now, not even per capita, just total -- including one across the street from my apartment, so I wasn't exactly naiive on that subject. The victims sometimes were random passersby, often children, but in those cases usually the shooter would be aiming at someone else, for a specific reason, and the passersby just happened to be in the way.
I can't speak for the late '60s, but I'm pretty sure if it were happening all the time in Wyoming now -- random people getting shot by strangers -- we'd hear about it. Actually, I've traveled in Wyoming a fair amount and never heard of following a ritual of safe passage (except don't feed the bears in Yellowstone). At least, I didn't follow any, and I emerged unscathed. Of course, I wasn't much of a hippie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_United_States_by_state
According to this Wikipedia chart, you are far less likely to get murdered in Wyoming than in either of our states. In 2010, there were 8 murders in Wyoming, 91 in Minnesota, 117 in Colorado. In total murders, Wyoming was the second-lowest state after Vermont (7) and just under North Dakota (9). Of course, Wyoming is sparsely populated. But even per capita, WY's murder rate is lower at 1.4 (MN: 1.7, CO: 2.3). For gun murders, the rate per capita is WY is 0.9. In MN: 1.0, CO: 1.3. This despite a much higher rate of gun ownership in Wyoming than in either of our states. (Note: not an argument against tightening gun laws.)
Jeff and Chuck, I hate to say this, but you guys are relatively doomed. The gun murder rate in Pennsylvania is higher than Texas (!), 3.6 vs. 3.2. New Jersey's is lower: 2.8. That surprised me a bit -- sorry, Chuck, but I guess NJ just has that reputation, thanks a lot, Sopranos -- but the overall murder rate is lower in NJ, too: 4.1 vs. PA's 5.1.
But getting back to Wyoming, we all know the story of Matthew Shepard, so obviously the state is not without risk. Depending on who your traveling companions were, sadly, they may have felt the need to be extra cautious. :-\ >:(
Here's a page that discusses Easy Rider's ending. From what I can tell in a quick google, it was intended more as symbolism than realism.
http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/37203/explanation-of-the-ending-of-easy-rider
Front-Ranger:
Funny, I had seen some statistics when I was researching gun violence that Wyoming is a hotbed for it. Don't know if I'll be able to dig that up again. But let us think about the fate of poor Jack. His death was deemed to be an accident, brought on by his own klutziness in changing a flat tire. But there are those who think he was murdered simply because of the way he looked and acted. What's the true story? It will never be found in statistics.
Coincidentally, I am reading about Monroe Work, who documented the murders of countless people of color. It's an interesting read: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/
I myself have traveled quite a bit in Wyoming, especially the rural areas. One of the reasons I've gotten to see so much of the state is because my very presence added a measure of safety and "respectability" to my traveling buddy and allowed us to safely pass by.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on March 21, 2017, 11:15:33 am ---Funny, I had seen some statistics when I was researching gun violence that Wyoming is a hotbed for it. Don't know if I'll be able to dig that up again. But let us think about the fate of poor Jack. His death was deemed to be an accident, brought on by his own klutziness in changing a flat tire. But there are those who think he was murdered simply because of the way he looked and acted. What's the true story? It will never be found in statistics.
--- End quote ---
Jack didn't die in Wyoming. He died in Texas.
But perhaps you were actually thinking of that tough old bird Earl, and momentarily confused him with Jack? But Earl wasn't shot. He was beaten to death.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on March 21, 2017, 10:24:31 am ---Jeff and Chuck, I hate to say this, but you guys are relatively doomed. The gun murder rate in Pennsylvania is higher than Texas (!), 3.6 vs. 3.2. New Jersey's is lower: 2.8. That surprised me a bit -- sorry, Chuck, but I guess NJ just has that reputation, thanks a lot, Sopranos -- but the overall murder rate is lower in NJ, too: 4.1 vs. PA's 5.1.
--- End quote ---
Statistics never tell the entire story. I'm sure Philadelphia is responsible for most of that statistic, but, on the other hand, most of the shootings here are similar to what you described in New Orleans. They're also mostly young-black-male on young-black-male gun violence, and it's not uncommon that drugs are involved in some way (e.g., sales turf), or somebody coming on to somebody else's girlfriend, or somebody "disrespecting" somebody or somebody's girlfriend--or teens or, worse, young children who get shot by stray bullets. In any case, this sort of thing doesn't happen in the areas of the city I frequent. Of course, that doesn't mean they never will, only that they haven't.
I think, Katharine, that as a woman, you'd be far more likely to be raped and strangled in my part of town than I would be to be shot. (That sort of crime did happen just a few blocks west or here about 20 years ago. Two knuckleheads were arrested, charged, and tried, but they were acquitted. Officially the case has never been solved.)
I'm not sure what FRiend Lee might mean by "a ritual of safe passage," but once when I was traveling through Wyoming with OCD, he told me that expected behavior is to raise one hand, maybe touch the brim of your cowboy hat, when you pass another driver on a secondary or back road. I'd just think of that as "Wyoming good manners," rather than as a "ritual of safe passage." But maybe she's referring to something with which I'm not familiar.
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