The
new millennium’s “duck
and cover” is
here except this time, the threat is within. The City of Houston has
produced an unsettling six-minute
videoon
what to do if someone starts shooting in a public place. And, to my
surprise, soiling yourself isn’t one of the steps. Neither is
shooting back – so we know that the NRA probably didn’t
contribute any money to the production. (The video was made with
funding from the Department of Homeland Security.)
The
video is set in a nondescript workplace, although I suppose the
advice applies to any public space. It advises a three-tiered
strategy: run, hide, fight. The obviousness prompted one commenter to
ask, “Is the next one about what to do when the power goes off?”
But
remember that nightclub fire where most everyone rushed to the same
door, even though there were four possible exits? People don’t
always behave rationally in emergency situations.
You
should get out as quickly as you can, the video says. Try to get
others to leave with you, but don’t let them slow you down, either.
If you can’t get out, hide – and silence your cell phone so the
noise doesn’t give you away. If you have no other choice, “fight,”
the video says. “Act with aggression. Improvise weapons. Disarm
him. And commit to taking the shooter down, no matter what.”
“Improvise
weapons”? Looking around my desk right now, I see tissue, hand
lotion, and an outdated list of phone extensions. Maybe I can use my
ear buds as a garrote.
The
video’s production values are pretty good – better than anything
Joel Schumacher has ever put out, for my money. The most startling
thing is the absolute vulnerability of the victims. Everyone likes to
complain about the state of the country, but no one expects a one-man
armory to breach their cubicle walls. Really, how could you live that
way?
The
most disturbing thing to me, though, is the video’s existence: the
need for such a thing implies that spree killings are here to stay;
more or less a permanent part of American culture. And that makes me
never want to leave the house again.
This article appears in Aug 8-14, 2012.
