aaaaand...
THE HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER
(Laurie Anderson, from The Ugly One With the Jewels and Other Stories)
Spoken:
I was living out in West Hollywood when a Hollywood strangler was strangling women. Every night there was a panel discussion on TV about the strangler, speculations about his habits, his motives, his methods. One thing was clear about him: he only strangled women when they were alone, or with other women. And the panel members would always end the show by saying:
"Now for all you women, listen: don’t go outside without a man. Don’t walk out to your car, don’t even take the garbage out by yourself; always go with a man."
Then, one of the eyewitnesses identified a policeman as one of the suspects. The next night, the chief of the police was on the panel, and he said:
"Now for all you women, whatever happens, do not stop for a police officer, stay in your car. If a police officer tries to stop you, do not stop, keep driving and under no circumstances should you get out of your car."
For a few weeks, half the traffic in LA was doing twice the speed limits.
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