30.EP.27u: October 8, 2002.
A sniper has been killing people in the USA. He's been picking off random folks from the safety of an unknown location. People just walk along, and THWAP, someone's been hit. It's scaring the hell out of everyone on the West Coast. Because the thing is: it's random. No rhyme, no reason, just totally random. So far, six people have been killed in Maryland and Washington. And it seems like every couple of days, it's another one. Today, a boy was shot in Washington, just as his aunt dropped him off at school. And, the US doesn't need this kind of paranoia right now. They're already getting a big enough dose of fear-- even if the majority of their fear is self-induced. And even if they're doing it to themselves, becoming more and more paranoid and more and more xenophobic just for the sake of becoming paranoid and xenophobic, they still don't need a sniper to top it all off. But, still, look where the threat is coming from, look at that: it's coming from above. It's such a staggeringly, jaw-droppingly ugly scenario: This petty little American serial killer has taken American military strategy into his cold, shriveled little heart. And now, death comes from above. And it's cold, impersonal, and pointless. There is no reason for these random sniper deaths. The bullet's trajectory is even more meaningless as the bombs over Iraq and Afghanistan-- because at least the "war on terrorism" is fueled by doggerel and propaganda, and so at least because of that it signifies something, even if it is something more frightening than the event that spurred it off. And so the serial killers in the USA now kill from a distance. They go for maximum damage while embracing the bravery of being out of range. They've become an organic species of remote controlled aircraft, hovering, striking without thought or conscience. And so the safe hyperreality of American warfare has come back to America-- eaten its own tail-- and it turns out in the end it's not very safe after all. There's no safety when you're in the crosshairs and the person pulling the trigger doesn't give a fuck about you one way or another. It's just business. A clean kill. Minimum effort for maximum result. Don't get your hands dirty, and then move on. It's the American way.Sometimes the world is ugly and creepy.
--Kim, in conversation with the author.
Next: Hats (again)....