I never met “Oh Six” though she was a rather famous up-and-coming film star with thousands of admirers. I thought that maybe I did see her once when we were out looking for Forrest’s treasure chest and she and a companion were up for an early morning jog along the Lamar River but the whole thing went by so fast I really couldn’t tell.
“Oh Six” wasn’t her real name, of course, but that is what her fans and the paparazzi called her. Her handlers, those who knew her real name and who followed her closely, knew of her travels, her fits of jealousy, her sexual affairs and her loyalty to those around her. But like all handlers of the famous, her’s were also generally tight-lipped about such things as a way to give her some protection from both those who loved her as well as from those who hated her.
Hate is a strong word, I know; and I seldom, if ever, use it to describe the feelings of anyone no matter how uninformed, bigoted, obtuse and downright frustrating they may be. But, as used here, the word is accurate. Those who hated her did so precisely because of her travels and talents, her habits and sexuality, her trajectory towards fame, her family and friends, and how, by force of personality, she dominated anything and everything around her.
She died in early December; killed by one of those whose hate was sufficiently intense to give no second thought to taking the life of another. I’ve seen nothing about just whose finger pulled the trigger and I don’t want to know.
I wish that I could have warned her though; told her that where she was going was not safe. “No!” I would have shouted. “Don’t do that!” “Don’t go there!” But then, I didn’t know her, had no way to make contact and it wouldn’t have helped anyway.
I don’t know if those who followed her every step, her handlers, tried to build a real protective capsule around her or not but my guess is that they didn’t. For them it was a question of granting her a short, happy life of freedom or a longer unhappy life with freedoms restricted.
I want to think that I would have made that same choice for her but right now, I’m not sure.
Stay safe,
r/
Note: I wrote the above piece the night before the horrendous events in Newtown, Connecticut. The killing of Oh Six fades to almost nothing when placed beside what happened there. Indeed, I debated putting up the Oh Six post at all. In the end, as you can see, the post went up because there is, in my mind, a connection between the two.
Although I no longer hunt and don’t now own a gun, I am not against hunting—as long as there is a keen respect, indeed reverence, for the hunted. Anything less than that diminishes the hunter, the activity of hunting, and the culture within which the hunter resides. That is why the hate that killed Oh Six matters.
Likewise, I believe the Second Amendment to the Constitution to be an important part of that document though I disagree with interpretations made by the Supreme Court regarding challenges to that amendment. Like you, I have friends who believe the Constitution to be the final word; that the courts cannot place their “modern” ideas above what the founders “wrote down in plain English.” Yet, they remain silent when I ask them why they hunt with semi-automatic, high-powered, scoped rifles instead of a muzzleloader. Do these modern arms somehow raise the shooter’s skill level in the hunt? Accrue added value to a trophy? Or make the story more heroic and meaningful?
Neither do they respond when I ask them why they haven’t joined the National Guard or the local police force if they want to play with weaponry that has no place in the sport of hunting or on the streets of any city or town in the United States. A “well regulated militia” had meaning when the amendment was written and it has meaning now. But, neither then nor now does that have anything at all to do with “concealed carry,” “stand your ground,” or to private ownership of the implements of war.
There is a debate that is needed in our country—a debate about freedom, and guns, and culture, and rules, and tradeoffs, and conflict, and fear, and pride and the moneyed interests that encourage something alien to citizen welfare. But I fear that the debate is not going to happen; at least not in a meaningful way and the list of gun mayhem grows longer: Newtown, Connecticut; Portland, Oregon; Aurora, Colorado; Kansas City, Kansas; Manchester, Connecticut; Binghamton, New York; Blacksburg, Virginia; Littleton, Colorado; San Isidro, California; Hyattsville, Maryland; Austin, Texas and most any street corner, alleyway, or parking lot in America on any given day.
Ezra Klein of WonkBlog who recently reviewed the statistics on gun violence involving multiple deaths summarizes the findings:
“Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not.”
We can do better; much, much better.
r/
I just looked up to see who Oh Six is and I couldn’t find anything. Did she go by another name?
Good blog. Glad you posted it.
I have so many friends saying the answer to this is to buy a gun which I understand, but doesn’t that seem odd? Doesn’t seem like that should be the answer. If your house is on fire…you don’t throw fire at it. If your drowning, you don’t hope it rains.
I prefer to think that maybe our country needs a good dose of empathy taught in schools. Maybe it’s time that we all need to learn how to care about each other. Especially with all these video games that are all about “winning” by killing others. I remember when my son was in football and a couple kids ran right into each other while they were goofing around. Both kids fell back and were knocked out for a bit. I went to them and called over a coach who didn’t see them. Geez did I get a stern look for going to the boys(they were only 10 year olds at the time). I logically see how they wanted them to be toughened up…but when does that get a point that it’s not good and we lose are feelings about caring for each other?
I really think that these automatic weapons need to be removed from the public. That’s just crazy. I want a chance to run. Ok…getting teary again over this just thinking about those little ones and the fear they must have had. Just breaks my heart.
Steph, For the first one try “Oh Six Lamar River.” For the second; my feeling is that you are right. Go to Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog (Washington Post) and read his article. It is the best I have seen on the subject and the statistics he has found explain a lot. Best wishes, r/
I read the occasional op-ed. I read lots of Facebook posts by my friends. And because of these two things, I can safely say that I know what all of America thinks. And since I know what all of America thinks, I can safely predict that what I am about to say will be unpopular.
I do not like guns. Guns are for killing. I do not like killing. Guns are not for gardening, canoeing, scrap-booking, parasailing or baking. They are for killing (and seriously maiming, of which I am also not a fan).
We live in a society that prizes freedom. But we do not live in a society that prizes anarchy. We do have laws. Laws that pertain to our citizens, companies and government. For instance, you are not allowed to run over someone with your car, nor are you aloud to poison someone’s coffee.
Since Friday, many have been tipping their grieving toe into the gun control waters by suggesting that we limit the killing capacity of guns available to our citizens. To me, that’s like saying you may run over one person with your car every so often or put cyanide in one person’s drink as long as you don’t drop Agent Orange from an airplane.
I was never a fan of how we react to very specific instances of crime, with very specific deterrents. They rushed the cockpit, so put a lock on the cockpit door, he had a bomb in his shoe so check everyone’s shoe for bombs. Thank goodness that reasoning did not win the day after the underwear bomber tried to do his thing. It’s as if someone wishing to do others harm can’t think of a new way around the new “deterrents.”
Don’t shoot me for saying this but, The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is, to put it academically, a bunch of hooey.
I do not need to defend myself with a gun against an armed intruder, because I know that the stats show that doing so greatly increases my own chance of death. I do not need to go hunting (again, not a fan of killing). And I do not need to join a haphazard band of concerned citizens in the event that a crazed despot has somehow convinced the entire U.S. military to turn against its citizens. I think I’ll lose that battle. And I seriously doubt the British are coming for a second time anyway (even though we did steal all their good TV show ideas).
And I sure as heck don’t need to have a gun because some guys in wigs said I had the right to hundreds of years ago. There is a reason we amend our constitution on occasion. I mean, kudos to Thomas Jefferson and all the rest, but not all of it still makes sense.
If you are one that fears that if we outlaw guns, the good guys will be the only ones without them, then I suggest you look at Japan, or the many other countries that have done so and put real teeth behind enforcing the ban (you can get 20 years for HOLDING a gun in Japan) and notice that all of them combined don’t have the number of gun deaths in a year that we do in a few hours.
So, since we are a country that loves to declare war on things, why don’t we declare war on the weapons of war? All guns gone. Outlawed. Starting…………………now!
I think by Oh Six Richard means a certain wolf.
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/12/07/yet-another-collared-and-very-famous-yellowstone-wolf-killed-in-wyomings-hunt/
One thing I have enjoyed about Forrest’s treasure hunt – and book – is how it at once glorifies cowboy culture and even elements of military life while simultaneously expressing grievances about the abuse or misuse of force, war, guns, etc. This is an important point of view which doesn’t get a lot of play in the media.
Very interesting reply David. I think you could easily persuade me to believe as you do with many of your arguments. I do still believe in hunters and sportsmen having guns. I just wish it was under a more controlled environment, but now at this point…it is what it is. I have to say too that with 3D printers…it doesn’t matter what laws get on the books. The bad guys will have unlimited resources to make whatever weapon they want to make.
Good job Beno and figuring that out. It was fun to read once I knew who 06 was.
I thought you were talking about PhotoShop6
Photoshop 6 has sexual affairs? I knew I shouldn’t have stopped at Photoshop 3.
Anyone have any idea what he’s referring to about ‘Oh Six’??
The only promising lead is Beno’s reference to a wolf, but why does OP then discuss sexual affairs, jealousy, and filming?
Beno is correct. Wolves have affairs, they do get jealous and all kinds of tourists like to take their picture. “Oh Six” was the alpha female of the Lamar River Pack in Yellowstone. She had a collar and the Park scientists knew her every step. There is even a web site where you could follow her movements. She went outside of the Park, and my guess is that some coward with a gun and low self-esteme saw where she was and shot her. There is a very big difference between “hunting” and “killing.” I hope that someday the guy who did it and others who “hunt” (?) with anything other than a muzzle loader learn that. There is no real sport in a scoped shot at 300 yards, 30 minutes into the day with a guide who has probably been “chumming” the area with corn or apples for the last six months.
I got out of the military and sold all my guns, tried to live just as Jesus would have us then I had a home invasion and had to fight for my life I went out and bought a gun again then that gun saved my life 3 more times I learned the world has evil people waiting to strike and you cannot depend on the law to protect you. I know 1 thing I’m not giving u I know 1 thing I’m not giving up mine
Hi Poke,
Thanks for stopping by. Have you thought about moving or changing your occupation? Seriously, I don’t mind you having a gun if you want one (nobody is asking you to give it/them up) but I think you should be a bit nicer to the police and other security personnel. Fifty-five of them were killed by gunfire in 2012 and all of them were armed. And thank you for your service. Best wishes, r/