Top Gun: Maverick Madness
“I think a hero is any person really intent on making the world a better place for all people.” ~Maya Angelo
Maverick: a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates: someone who goes against the group. According to www.dictionary.com
In the wake of another mass shooting, the number one movie in the country is called “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Is it a stretch to describe a mass murderer in a classroom as a maverick?
Two seemingly unrelated events lead back to the hypocrisy of our politically corrupt, socially bereft, altruistically devoid American culture.
I have become obsessed with every detail concerning the senseless, sickening, slaughter, in Uvalde, Texas.
A perfect storm struck innocent victims once again.
The back door of the school was propped open. I used to do it when bringing stuff into my classroom.
*Later we found out that in Uvalde the door was not propped open. It was unlocked.
The basic details continue to change as law enforcement officers scramble to cover their asses. The cops are willing to throw a teacher under the bus for the door issue.
The classroom doors were not locked from the inside. This is universal school safety protocol. As the year progresses, most teachers get careless and classroom doors are wide open by the end of the year.
In every school I have worked in, the school resource officer was an overweight, retired guy. Not well trained, nor interested in getting his own head blown off. From all accounts, the resource officer wasn’t on campus at Robb Elementary School during the attack. No surprise.
The 18-year-old assailant had a familiar story. High school drop out. Lived with his grandparents. Grandpa, a felon, knew nothing about his grandson, guns, or how the boy came to own the weapons.
Mom was clueless, but she admitted her son could be scary if he “got mad.”
Evidently this guy got mad at grandma over a cell phone bill, so he shot her in the face. He took off in her truck even though he didn’t know how to drive, and crashed near the school.
My question — who took the school shooter to buy weapons and ammunition if he didn’t know how to drive? Where did he get the cash for guns if he couldn’t pay his cell phone bill?
Classmates described a stalker, a bully, and “a popular loner — someone everyone knew and who had friends, but still kept to himself.”
Another kid reported that the popular loner enjoyed hurting animals.
Recently a video surfaced. The shooter grinned into the camera while holding a bag of dead cats. This video has been removed from the internet.
I have had one student in my classroom every year who fits this description. And there is very little the school can do if the parents decide not to cooperate.
In earlier times, a member of the tribe was invited to go on a “hunting party.” The elders knew how dangerous outliers were to the well being of the group. I’m not condoning murder, but pointing out that a person capable of carnage is not a new phenomena.
Some beings are so damaged that they can’t help but self-destruct. They only want to make others suffer as much as possible.
The constantly shifting facts of the Uvalde catastrophe on the news and a shaky video showed the heavily armed police force huddled in the hallway for well over an hour while children called 911 begging for help.
*Now we know that there were 60 to 80 law enforcement officers on site waiting to be told what to do. Everyone of the chickenshits are the antithesis of a maverick.
Absorbing the gut-wrenching facts unfold, I spiraled into the danger zone.
To save myself, I pulled up, off the couch and found myself at a movie theater.
I bought a ticket to “Top Gun: Maverick.”
I sat far away from the other patrons. The darkness and air conditioned space was a temporary narcotic for my jangled nerves.
Then, an old white guy sat directly behind me and hacked up a lung. I moved away. Before the movie began, I was surrounded by OWGs making god awful old man sounds. Coughing, clearing of throats, snorting and wheezing.
“Back when I flew, it was F-4’s …,” some old fart announced.
You are a fucking dinosaur and nobody cares!
Why do old white guys need to make sounds and share smells of body functions in public places? A display of failing virility?
I adjusted my mask and stifled a gag.
Oh, I digress.
Speaking of OWGs, Tom Cruise is well preserved. In the movie he played a game of football, shirtless, with a bunch of twenty year old hunks.
Maverick is told by his commanding officer that unmanned aircrafts are the future and he is obsolete.
The cast in “Top Gun: Maverick” are young, smart, muscular, and driven to be the best. They are competing with their over achieving compatriots for a chance to fly on a death defying mission.
This film was one of nostalgia. Now drones fly under the radar and with a push of a button a target explodes on the other side of the world. Often taking out unintended victims. Where’s the valor in that?
Maverick is a dissenter. He refuses to blindly follow orders. He takes matters into his own hands, consequences be damned. Of course, Maverick is the hero, he gets the girl, and repairs an important relationship by the end of the movie.
The next sequel should be titled Top Balls: Maverick II
In this movie a hero is dedicated in earnest to preventing the daily mass shootings in our country. An individual who steps out of the party line, consequences be damned. He or she takes a stand against gun toting MAGA, gun promoting NRA, and gun manufacturers of automatic assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Maverick II rejects millions of dollars offered by gun lobbyists on a yearly basis to float a political career and life of luxury. This version of Maverick II is relentless in getting legislation passed for universal background checks, a waiting time for gun permits, and age limits for all gun sales. The character is a diplomatic charmer able to win over the GOP to pass common sense laws to prevent automatic weapons from falling into the hands of school shooters, racists, and people who want to be on the news.
I’d gladly sit in a theater full of OWGs and listen to a melody of bodily functions to see that drama.
It’s pure fiction.
There isn’t a politician out there with the balls to do the right thing, save us from ourselves, and each other.
