Slog - Comments on A Query for the Train http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train Yesterday I received this email: Hi, Eli. I haven't seen this slogged but I was curious about your thoughts into the investigation into the conductor's conduct before the commuter train collision in Los Angeles. He was gay and going through a difficult time in his life, including surviving the suicide of his HIV+ partner. Now it looks like he was text messaging teenagers at the time of the crash. How do you think the gay/pederasty angle will be played in the media? I guess this question came to me because I'm gay (or maybe because the emailer thinks I'm a... Copyright 2008 Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:05:50 -0800 Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:44:13 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Right-Wing Pundit But can I use this single, isolated incident of a gay person exhibiting irresponsible behavior that killed people, with no corresponding contrast to the behavior of straight people, as representative? Pleeeeeease? Pretty please?

]]> Right-Wing Pundit http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146608 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146608 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:19:52 -0800 Comment by elenchos It would be lame if somebody started blogging Gay Train Conductor Watch or Every Child Deserves a Gay Train Conductor or Those Passengers Were Asking to Die in a Train with a Gay Conductor. Because no matter how many news stories they can find like that, it doesn't prove anything, does it?

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146613 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146613 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:28:43 -0800 Comment by arborheightist Does he mean the engineer instead of the conductor? The conductor is the one who takes tickets, etc. The engineer is the guy driving the train. I thought it was the engineer that was texting when the train crashed. I don't get it.

]]> arborheightist http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146618 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146618 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:33:25 -0800 Comment by whatevernevermind His texts -- which were so obviously wrong to be doing from a practical standpoint, it's mind-boggling -- were not "sketchy". The teens are train enthusiasts who regarded him as a mentor and they were all friends because there ain't that many potential train professionals and there ain't that many train engineers. He wasn't a youth pastor, for crying out loud.

You weren't really equating gay with child molestor, were you?

]]> whatevernevermind http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146627 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146627 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:45:55 -0800 Comment by Eek, a mouse! Wow, all those people die and this guy can only think of himself and his poor, poor, gay community.

]]> Eek, a mouse! http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146631 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146631 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:48:46 -0800 Comment by David Wright Elenchos @ 2: No, it doesn't prove anything. (The "gay/pederasty angle"?! WTF?!) But it would be amusing to see Dan Savage do an endless series of posts on train disasters caused by heterosexual drivers.

]]> David Wright http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146648 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146648 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:04:57 -0800 Comment by I sound like my dad, but... I could care less what hole this guy pokes his pole into - you don't text while you're driving ANYTHING. It's total fuckery that people are so IM-reliant that they have to do it RIGHT now, at all costs, no matter what their primary responsibility at the time is.

]]> I sound like my dad, but... http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146675 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146675 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:29:19 -0800 Comment by Greg Dear letter writer: stop being a concern troll.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146713 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146713 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:04:45 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave actually the people most likely to text and drive are

a. type a sales people
b. young women
c. gabby hand fags

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146756 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146756 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:52:23 -0800 Comment by gracynyc Reminds me of the excuses provided to the dude that crashed the Staten Island Ferry about 5 or 6 years ago. "He was depressed...on medication..." Fuck you, man. These people were drinking/drugging/texting while DRIVING. Other PEOPLE. I don't think sexual orientation has anything to do with it.

]]> gracynyc http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146775 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146775 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:34:19 -0800 Comment by blackbird76 I live in the county where this train was headed & this is the first I've heard of these details. If this were going to be an issue with the media, they would have pounced a long time ago.

]]> blackbird76 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146809 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146809 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:27:06 -0800 Comment by mike eli sanders is gay?

]]> mike http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146815 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146815 Life Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:13:49 -0800 Comment by Lawks a Lordy Apparently.

]]> Lawks a Lordy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146904 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146904 Life Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:05:59 -0800 Comment by Workingman's Dead Trouble ahead, lady in red,
Take my advice youd be better off dead.
Switchmans sleeping, train hundred and two is
On the wrong track and headed for you.

Driving that train, high on cocaine,
Casey jones is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind.

Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
Got two good eyes but you still dont see.
Come round the bend, you know its the end,
The fireman screams and the engine just gleams...

]]> Workingman's Dead http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146944 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/a_query_for_the_train#c1146944 Life Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:44:13 -0800