- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
When Orson Welles' radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' sci-fi paranoia gem The War of the Worlds was falsely interpreted by American audiences as a news broadcast, the nation went into a panic. This historic incident revealed the odd power of the media and how radio/TV can literally impact the way we 'view' our worlds.
Imagine therefore in the current age, the era of computers and digital cable television, that there is a mass insanity outbreak (greater in scale than the Los Angeles Race Riots) on Halloween Eve in NYC related to the American people simply going 'nuts' with the overflow of media stimuli (e.g., CNN, Facebook, Hollywood, etc.). People pour out into the streets in Halloween-fitted costumes and masks but carrying bats and pistols and unleashing pure anarchy.
Such a 'War of the Worlds' scenario is not inconceivable, and we can even entertain 'hysteria storytelling' to understand the modern problem of 'media culture mismanagement.'
Isn't that what Woody Allen's sardonic 1998 film Celebrity is all about?
====
Jimmy read the news that a NYC high school was seeing its students in October bringing water-pistols to school and filling them at water-fountains and then shooting teachers in some kind of mock sarcasm display meant to poke fun at the Columbine school-shooting massacre and the media's apparent mishandling of the culturally-scarring event. Jimmy read an opinion of a NY Times writer who suggested that there was no regular way to curb the smuggling of these water-pistols, since metal detectors can not scan for plastic, making this gesture by these unruly NYC students rather upsetting. Jimmy wondered why these NYC high school students were so unruly.
No one knew that Jimmy was actually a street-vigilante who prowled the streets of NYC every Halloween dressed as a ski-mask wearing superhero called Waterboy and carrying water-pistols. Jimmy carried water-pistols to showcase his interest in environmentalism-related issues --- "My water-pistol is filled with water polluted by industrialization-related manmade waste!" Jimmy was anxious about the fact that the NYC students were using water-pistols to create a whole other brand of anarchy. Jimmy decided that Halloween that he would do his usual politically-conscious performance-art bit but this time add something extra --- he would walk up to cars at traffic lights and offer to wash their windshields with his water-pistols for money.
While Jimmy was doing his 'Halloween deed,' he noticed a group of young American women dressed up as 'super-nerds' approaching him. They were all very attractive, but Jimmy realized they were carrying real weapons (bats, pistols, and chains). Jimmy put 2-and-2 together and realized that these young women were from the same NYC high school involved in that water-pistol fiasco reported in the NY Times. Jimmy conjectured (correctly) that this was all part of some elaborate insane 'Halloween Eve Octoberfest' student 'pandemonium performance' meant to draw national attention at America's mishandling of the modern 'media culture' (e.g., The People's Court, Jerry Springer, The Menendez Trial, etc.).
The next day, the NY Times reported the following story:
"In what can only be called a shocking and relieving turn of events, Halloween Eve produced no dangerous vandalism or anarchistic outbreaks related to the NYC high school water-pistol fiasco. While there were reports of high school aged individuals walking around the city last night in costumes and carrying weapons, apparently a mysterious ski-mask wearing vigilante (name undisclosed) quelled any riotous strangeness simply by telling people on the street that he was a 'water-gun preacher'!"
====
The Menendez Brothers
Imagine therefore in the current age, the era of computers and digital cable television, that there is a mass insanity outbreak (greater in scale than the Los Angeles Race Riots) on Halloween Eve in NYC related to the American people simply going 'nuts' with the overflow of media stimuli (e.g., CNN, Facebook, Hollywood, etc.). People pour out into the streets in Halloween-fitted costumes and masks but carrying bats and pistols and unleashing pure anarchy.
Such a 'War of the Worlds' scenario is not inconceivable, and we can even entertain 'hysteria storytelling' to understand the modern problem of 'media culture mismanagement.'
Isn't that what Woody Allen's sardonic 1998 film Celebrity is all about?
====
Jimmy read the news that a NYC high school was seeing its students in October bringing water-pistols to school and filling them at water-fountains and then shooting teachers in some kind of mock sarcasm display meant to poke fun at the Columbine school-shooting massacre and the media's apparent mishandling of the culturally-scarring event. Jimmy read an opinion of a NY Times writer who suggested that there was no regular way to curb the smuggling of these water-pistols, since metal detectors can not scan for plastic, making this gesture by these unruly NYC students rather upsetting. Jimmy wondered why these NYC high school students were so unruly.
No one knew that Jimmy was actually a street-vigilante who prowled the streets of NYC every Halloween dressed as a ski-mask wearing superhero called Waterboy and carrying water-pistols. Jimmy carried water-pistols to showcase his interest in environmentalism-related issues --- "My water-pistol is filled with water polluted by industrialization-related manmade waste!" Jimmy was anxious about the fact that the NYC students were using water-pistols to create a whole other brand of anarchy. Jimmy decided that Halloween that he would do his usual politically-conscious performance-art bit but this time add something extra --- he would walk up to cars at traffic lights and offer to wash their windshields with his water-pistols for money.
While Jimmy was doing his 'Halloween deed,' he noticed a group of young American women dressed up as 'super-nerds' approaching him. They were all very attractive, but Jimmy realized they were carrying real weapons (bats, pistols, and chains). Jimmy put 2-and-2 together and realized that these young women were from the same NYC high school involved in that water-pistol fiasco reported in the NY Times. Jimmy conjectured (correctly) that this was all part of some elaborate insane 'Halloween Eve Octoberfest' student 'pandemonium performance' meant to draw national attention at America's mishandling of the modern 'media culture' (e.g., The People's Court, Jerry Springer, The Menendez Trial, etc.).
The next day, the NY Times reported the following story:
"In what can only be called a shocking and relieving turn of events, Halloween Eve produced no dangerous vandalism or anarchistic outbreaks related to the NYC high school water-pistol fiasco. While there were reports of high school aged individuals walking around the city last night in costumes and carrying weapons, apparently a mysterious ski-mask wearing vigilante (name undisclosed) quelled any riotous strangeness simply by telling people on the street that he was a 'water-gun preacher'!"
====
The Menendez Brothers
