Slapping scene from Jaws

Mother slaps Chief Brody



This scene illustrates a problem that stays undefined in the movie. The problem is who's to blame for the loss of life that this scene refers to? Chief Brody gets the slap, but it is clear from the movie who is really to blame, and that is the mayor. But Brody takes the blame too, and some of it may well belong to him. The problem is that at the time, nobody knew for sure who was right and who was wrong, only that it wasn't any boating accident, as was believed prior to the killing of the woman's boy.

Obviously the woman blames Brody, but she doesn't know what was going on behind the scenes. Behind the scenes, the mayor overrules Brody. Brody wanted to close the beach, but the mayor wanted to keep it open. The mayor prevailed, and the beach stayed open. It was because of this that they boy was attacked and killed by the rogue shark. Clearly, she has the right to be upset, but was slapping Brody the best medicine? SOMEBODY was to blame. The Chief was the most visible, and he took the slap.

On the other hand, it was effective in getting Brody to do something, which he did.

I started to use this clip during the COVID madness, but didn't. Or I think I didn't use it. There is a parallel here, I believe. People may misunderstand it though. They may think that all the masks and shutdowns were right after all, but I don't think so. In arging against masks and shutdowns, you may come across as someone like the mayor in this clip. But not every situation is the same. You cannot apply cookie cutter solutions to problems.

But like the movie, the wrong guy takes the slap. The guy who deserves the slap the most is the one who gets off scott free. So I'm using it this time!

COVID was used for political gain, not for public health. Those responsible for this grievous abuse of power are getting off scott free. Somebody deserves the slap, and maybe the wrong guy gets the slap, but maybe that will motivate somebody to go get the damned shark that caused all the problems in the first place. The "shark" isn't the problem, actually. You can get the shark as long as you correctly identify the problem. Like Brody, we've got plenty of people out there who know damned well that COVID was mishandled, and not by Trump! It was Biden and the Democrats who used it for political gain.

Biden and the Democrats are more like that mayor, who misuse their power to make a problem far worse than it had to be. They deserve the accountability, but being the way they are, are masters at avoiding accountability. Somebody has to step up, but who?

Trump could have handled it better, but the problem wasn't the virus. It was the response to the virus by certain people like Biden, who misused the situation for personal gain. Trump has got to do better, or the same things are going to happen all over again.