December 4, 2021

More activities in New York — The mollycoddles of the West — Prevarications of Alec Baldwin — Evening statistics

I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my aunt and my brother, and afterwards we dined together at an excellent Chinese restaurant.  It was very reassuring to know that everyone in the room was vaccinated and was wearing a facemask.  Truly, New York City is the first place I’ve been to where people are behaving as if we are undergoing a pandemic.  No one has become a recluse, the city’s economic activity is ongoing; but everyone takes simple precautions as a matter of course, without making any fuss about it.  Those “rugged individualists” of the Western states, by way of contrast, transform a trifling inconvenience such as wearing a facemask into a crushing burden. 

I have not said anything to date about the accident shooting on the filmset of “Rust,” which resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injury of director Joel Souza, but the recent statements of Alec Baldwin, who fired the shot, have stirred me from my apathy.  Baldwin fired the short after being handed the gun for a scene after it had presumably been checked by the armorer, only to find after the fact that it actually contained live ammunition.  I have no doubt that Baldwin underwent a horrifying experience.  But his recent statements are simply irresponsible.  He claims, first, that the gun fired immediately after he had pulled the hammer of the gun and then released it, without his pulling the trigger — which is not physically possible — and, second, that it is “highly unlikely” that he will be formally charged with the shooting.  Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies responded by saying that no one involved with handling the gun has been cleared of culpability.  In the words of Sheriff Adan Mendoza, “Guns don’t just go off.  So whatever needs to happen to manipulate the firearm, he did that, and it was in his hands.”  The episode has highlighted concerns generally within the Hollywood industry after the effectiveness of safety procedures regarding firearms used on sets.  Several have suggested relying to a greater degree on digital effects to simulate gunshots.  Perhaps an even better solution is for film-makers to place less reliance on scripts that center on gunshots for dramatic effect, but that is not likely to happen

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 265,684,258; # of deaths worldwide: 5,263,719; # of cases U.S.: 49,933,750; # of deaths; U.S.:  808,608.