High and Mighty: Reptilian Mind

Editor’s Note: This is the beginning of a series focusing on Keith Bradsher’s ‘High and Mighty: SUVs: The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way.’ This article is based on Chapter 6, “Reptile Dreams.”

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“The answers in these consumer groups have persuaded Rapaille that American culture is becoming frighteningly atavistic and obsessed with crime. He cites as further proof the spread of gated communities and office buildings protected by private security guards, together with the tiny but growing market in the United States for luxury vehicles with bulletproof armor. ‘I think we’re going back to medieval times, and you can see that in that we live in ghettos with gates and private armies. SUVs are exactly that, they are armored cars for the battlefield.’”

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Even more primitive or perhaps savage is yet another unspoken rationale for owning an SUV, the willingness to put other people at risk rather than themselves in a crash situation.

“‘My theory is the reptilian always wins,’ he said. ‘The reptilian says, If there’s crash, I want the other guy to die. Of course, I can’t say that aloud.’”

The sound of running water above your head… CRACK! A clack of wood on wood!

Look up!

More walking in the woods today. This is Discovery Park. I’ve ‘blogged about it before. It’s a happy-making place.

When I started out on this walk, I was on the outer loop trail, which is jam-packed with joggers. I switched over to the less jogger-friendly trails, including the one pictured above.

Before I switched, though, I encountered a pair of women who were talking up a storm, and walking a young dog. As they approached, the dog was lagging behind, sniffing something under some leaves. The woman said, “Leave it,” and yanked on the leash.

As they approached me, I smiled congenially, because nothing freaks people out more than a friendly person. I made eye contact with the dog, because dogs tend to be more interesting than the people walking them. The dog approached me and sniffed my shoes. The woman said, “Leave it,” and tugged on the leash as they walked past.

I turned around. I must have looked puzzled. Did she really just do that? She turned around and looked sheepishly at me. “Puppy training,” she said. They went on, engrossed in their conversation.

Later, I was taking this picture:

A couple approached where I was, and obviously didn’t see me. Successful people in their late forties.

The woman was gawking at the natural beauty, listing all the things that were beautiful about the place. In that one spot, you can see a large chunk of Puget sound, the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, Mt. Rainier, and downtown Seattle. Just by turning your head. The moon had already risen, too, and the sun was obviously setting.

“..And the cliffs, and the moon, and the water… It’s all so beautiful,” she said.

I was still holding my camera, and I said, “Yeah, but too bad about those shipping vessels.” I was smiling.

She finally noticed me. “Do you think they’re not beautiful?” Her husband, it turns out, is some vice president of some shipping company.

“Oh, well they’re not beautiful, exactly, but it’s good that they’re there.”

The husband spoke up. “They do rather mar the natural splendor. They’re anchored because of the union slowdown.” He was smiling, too, but with an edge of defensiveness. It was interesting how a total stranger with a camera was vaguely threatening to this veep.

I told him: “In the natural world, there are anthills and termite mounds, and is the Port Of Seattle all that different?” We all laughed a polite laugh and wandered off in different directions.

Music Du Jour

Ascension Day by Talk Talk from ‘Laughingstock’

‘Laughingstock,’ and the album preceding it, ‘Spirit of Eden,’ will always exist in my mind as volume 1 and volume 2 of the same album. And that album is one of the best ones ever.

Yes, it’s the same Talk Talk that had a few hits in the 80s, except it really isn’t. Just listen.

My mind has been invaded by an alien force. The tin foil hat didn’t help. Staying locked in my bedroom hasn’t kept it out. Existing on a diet of coffee and Milky Way Midnight candy bars didn’t keep my defenses up.

No, it got to me. The aliens got to me. They came in through, uh, I dunno what they came in through. A part of me thinks it was the computer, but that’s too scary a thought to think. So we’ll discount it.

But they got in, and they did their dirty work, those aliens. How do I know?

I find it hard to be pissed off about the state of the world.

It was a sunny day, and I went for a walk at Carkeek Park. The sun was setting over Puget sound, and I was on a densely-wooded cliff looking down on the slight surf below, through the branches at the sailboats, the cargo barges, the Olympic mountains in the hazy distance. Breeze in the leaves above my head sound like running water. Yellow-brown maple leaves, wider than my stretched fingers, having fallen on the trail, been disturbed by other hikers. Children in the playground area screaming happily as they chase each other around; I can only just hear it happening down the hill. A community that cares enough to take care of a park like this, on prime real estate.

Now that our government has decreed that preemptive strikes against threatening nations around the world is a good idea, there’s little to do but enjoy the fallen maple leaves, I suppose. Or perhaps make a pile of those leaves and set it on fire, because the light and heat of such a fire would have more effect towards the cessation of violence than hundreds of thousands of people marching for peace around the world.

Does peace come from maintaining places like Carkeek Park? Where is Carkeek Park in the world?

(And no. My mind hasn’t been invaded by an alien force. Just a kind of frustration.)

Music Du Jour

‘Tango‘ by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from Smoochysmoochy

It’s more of a bossa nova than a tango, but the beautiful melody and rich arrangement are only heightened by the fact that he’s singing in Japanese.

Sakamoto is one of those really interesting musicians who does all kinds of stuff. For instance, he hit the top of the charts in Japan in 1999 with an album of solo piano work. Whoda thought?

There’s another track on Smoochysmoochy called ‘Dennogiwa,’ also sung in Japanese, but with a single English phrase in there: ‘neural network.’ It always makes me wonder what the rest of the song is about.

Put my name in this thing. It’s all true, too!

Is is sick that I’m enjoying Shirley Bassey?

“GOLD…. finger!”

I was talking to a friend tonight, about music and how it reminded us of our teenage years.

And I was thinking about nightclubs. I’ve always been the perpetual outsider, the strange traveller as opposed to the affable local, and even when I was going to Fitzgerald’s, in Houston, at least a couple times a month, I never really understood it.

I was playing in a band, called The Bends. We only had one gig upstairs at the Fitz; the rest were downstairs on the less reputable small stage. Though it must be said: GWAR played that small stage.

Be that as it may. I went to Fitz a few times with some friends, mostly people I met online. It was a tremendous amount of work, but it was also enjoyable. The work came from getting overstimulated; the rebound time could be as long as a week.

Hmm. Listening to iTunes. Shuffle play brings me ‘Rigged’ by Joint Chiefs. You say, “WHO?”

Well, The Bends begat Suction Prints. Suction Prints begat Joint Chiefs. I wasn’t involved in Joint Chiefs, and only peripherally involved in Suction Prints. A Joint Chiefs show at Fitz was a sight to behold!

Even though it’s not yet Monday, I think ‘Rigged‘ is todays music du jour. It was written in reaction to the first Gulf War, but regains relevance a decade later. And yes, they’re Zappa and King Crimson fans.

Since it’s Sunday, today’s music du jour is a kyrie from Brunel’s Mass, Sequentia “Dies Irae.” Performed by the Hueglas Ensemble.

Beautiful, androgynous and symmetrical. And it’s a short file.

(Brunel doesn’t have a web site, or I’d link to it. Hah!)