Is That an Echo I Hear?

Am I the only one to whom such thoughts occur?

[Note to Readers: A version of this essay was published this morning by American Thinker, under the title “Was Karmelo Anthony Channeling a Scene from ‘Tombstone’?”]

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said, of the cognitively-diminished Joe Biden, “I never saw that person — not a single time.”

Am I the only one who was reminded of Bubba famously saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anyone to lie, not a single time”?

There are various “tells” that tend to indicate when a lie is being told. I’m reminded of Lady Brocklehurst’s admonition, from James M. Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton, that one should listen when someone prefaces an answer with “The fact is…”, because “that is usually the beginning of a lie.” I believe that the need to reinforce a denial with a phrase like “not a single time” is one such “tell.”

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Now, on another note (but continuing the theme of “Am I the only one who sees this connection?):

The story of Karmelo Anthony, charged with stabbing to death Austin Metcalf on April 2 at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, seems to be one of those stories that the Lamestream Media is happy to have sink from view with nary a ripple, in contrast to the kind of “legs” the story would have were the races of the two 17-yr. olds reversed.

Had Metcalf, who was White, stabbed Anthony, who is Black, I have no doubt we would still be in the midst of “protests” such as we saw in Ferguson, Missouri and following the death of George Floyd.

Anthony has admitted to the stabbing, which escalated from a confrontation over Anthony, an athlete from a rival school, being in a tent designated for athletes from Metcalf’s school. While being told to vacate the tent, Anthony said, “Touch me and see what happens,” and when Metcalf touched him, Anthony drew a knife from his bag and fatally stabbed Metcalf in the chest. What should have been an argument between two rival athletes, or at worst a fistfight (between two young men of the same age and general physique, so there was no clear disparity of force) became a homicide.

Whether it was a murder may hinge of conceptions of self-defense and of premeditation. It would seem to me that Anthony’s claims of self-defense don’t hold water because Anthony was clearly not facing a threat of grievous physical harm and so was not justified in introducing lethal force into a non-lethal situation.

It has been posited that Anthony having a knife in his bag constitutes premeditation, but I disagree. I happen to believe that a knife is merely a survival tool that is sensible for anyone to carry, for all manner of purposes. I have carried a knife of one type or another ever since my Cub Scout days. I do remember that, after meetings of our Boy Scout troop in NYC, a group of us would “bop down to ‘the Village’ [Greenwich Village]” or Chinatown, and there were blocks where we walked with our Boy Scout knives out and opened!

But there is an aspect to this story that, to me, suggests an element of premeditation, and it connects with my “echo” theme.

As noted, in the confrontation between the two teenage athletes — and, by the way, it was raining and Anthony could have merely been seeking shelter from the rain, in which case Metcalf might very well have left well-enough alone — Anthony warned Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens.”

I set that phrase in italics because it lit up my radar. I couldn’t help but feel that Anthony had been waiting for an opportunity to use that phrase, which was part of one of the most memorable and quotable scenes in the movie Tombstone.

I may have had that movie on my mind because of the recent passing of the actor Val Kilmer, whose memorable portrayal of Doc Holliday was one element that made that film a classic. But the line in question wasn’t delivered by Kilmer, but by Kurt Russell playing Wyatt Earp:

“Go ahead! Skin that smoke wagon and see what happens!”

Males, particularly immature males, tend to practice and even rehearse how they will conduct themselves during the Monkey Dance, the subconsciously ritualized game of dominance and submission in which males of all species engage.

[Note: Do not read anything racial into it being called the Monkey Dance; it’s a contest for status between males regardless of their race, color, creed etc., and whether the “dancers” are the same or different.]

I learned the term “Monkey Dance” from Rory Miller, a martial artist and seasoned correctional officer and trainer, who writes about it extensively in Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected.

It’s been going on for millennia, just as it has in the animal kingdom. But now that we humans have TV and movies, it can take the form of wishing to emulate our favorite badass movie scene. Since the Monkey Dance is actually designed to establish dominance and submission without the parties coming to blows, every man wishes to be able to establish his dominance (and make the other man back down) with a line like “Go ahead; Make my day!” or “Do you feel lucky today, Punk?” or something similar, of which the line from Tombstone is but another variant. Here’s another famous scene, where we see the Monkey Dance being rehearsed:

I remember a fellow once saying to me, “I’ve stepped over bigger piles of shit than you just to get to a fight!” I’m sure my reaction was not what he expected; I said, “Holy Cow! I’ll bet you’ve been carrying that line around since Junior High School, just waiting for a chance to use it on somebody!” Fortunately for me, it was a Group Monkey Dance, and his own group couldn’t help but chuckle, leaving him to merely curse me and walk away.

I can’t help but suspect that Karmelo Anthony had rehearsed finding an opportunity to “channel” Kurt Russell’s line from Tombstone, but when that line didn’t have the desired effect, Anthony was too immature and cowardly to let it go, or even to let it devolve into mere fisticuffs, but instead escalated it into drawing his knife and stabbing his adversary to death. I hope he didn’t rehearse that part, but who knows?

Many advocate for youths to participate in sports on the grounds that sports builds character. This story strikes me as a case in which sports reveals character.

ST