Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

[kamuelakea]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Scrivener,

I have problems. Don't we all.

I did notice that while you talked about Matsumoto, you did not once mention either of the 2 people sent to the hospital. That's who I'm concerned for. And the many others who will die over the next few months because our society refuses to treat drunk drivers, especially celebrity ones, with the castigation they deserve.

Please note that my rant on drunks was against the idea of drunks driving and I included every celebrity drunk I could remember of all races and genders. My rant was not, as the admin accused, to "pile on" to Matsumoto. It was to discuss a serious matter affecting Hawaii, a matter that was triggered by Matsumoto but not simply about Matsumoto. You feel sorry for me and I feel sorry for Matsumoto. But I am angry about Waihee and Kahoano and Matsumoto and the others for being so selfishly dangerous.

My problem is not with Matsumoto the woman, it is with what she CHOSE to do and with what so many choose to do. I don't know if Hawaii is worse than other cities of similar size but it sure seems like we've had more than our fare share of celebrity drunk drivers lately.

That's my point and the only concern I have with the late author.

[pzarquon]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

An eloquent response, Mitchell. And a reasoned one. I should just nod silently, but...

I think it was reasonable to speculate, before we knew. It's natural. But yeah, the level of dark glee expressed over some kind of presumed validation was unnecessary. Not that that's stopped any of us before on other issues, but still... it warrants comment.

On the other hand, I think it's fair to look at how we'd interpret one tragedy over another. Had someone posted an "Oddly Enough" Reuters story about a freak DUI death, I can imagine folks here chortling and cracking wise about Darwin's law, condemning or at least tsk-tsking. Heck, I'm sure we've had our "LOL" moments over someone else's agony.

Is it different because some of our kids knew Lisa Matsumoto? Is it different for Dayna Ho-Henry because her dad was an icon? Not that I'm saying I'd ever laugh or go "dancing on graves," before or after some unknowable period of time after which some snark is acceptable. But while I'd distance myself from how some things have been said, I'm concerned that we might be putting celebrities or community leaders on some pedestal, while feeling free to mock the random guy with bad luck in Makiki, or Kaneohe, or San Diego.

Drinking and driving is foolish, selfish, dangerous, full stop. I don't care if it's my neighbor, Daniel Dae Kim, or whoever. If we're entitled to feel anger over last week's anonymous DUI fatality, why not this one?

[tutusue]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

[...]
As I said, part of me agrees that there should be some restraint shown when a person has just died in terms of discussing any issues around the death.

Kam, your posting actions show otherwise.

But I spoke out because the drunks on Hawaii's roads are disgusting me.

I can't agree with you more. It wasn't that you spoke out...it was WHEN you spoke out. You condemned with no knowledge. Once the cause was made public I feel we all have the right to discuss what happened. Flail away, verbally, now if you like. But prior to the HA link, I feel you were completely off base with your remarks. You even started another thread to drive home your opinions. That thread was closed for good reason.

And the odds are that the vast majority of wrong way highway collisions are drug or alcohol related.

The odds, probably, but certainly not the only reason. Blood sugar problems can play havoc with the brain before one goes into a diabetic coma.

[...]Of course typical of Hawaii style, these things should not be discussed. They should ignored, hidden and shelved.

Huh? Hawaii style? Again, your timing sucked. That's all. Now is the time to discuss it if one is so inclined. You attack subjects like this one with the velocity of a Mac truck and the diplomacy to match.

Well now what do you think?

What? This has nothing to do with what we think now...and everything to do with your insatiable desire to condemn someone prior to the facts being known.

FWIW...alcohol or a medical condition were my first thoughts but I felt no urge to rush to judgement on HT. Neither did anyone else. Only you.

[...]
I will never purchase her books or see her plays unless all the proceeds go to fight drunk driving or to help with those injured by drunk drivers.

I think this is a very constructive way to 'voice' your rightful anger over this situation...certainly much more constructive than what you've written in this thread and the other one.

That's what the family should do with any future proceeds if you ask me.

Great idea. It's just too bad you couldn't contain your vitriol for a couple of days. And, it's also too bad that your vitriol takes such a negative, premature course.

[...]But something about dancing upon the graves of others makes me uneasy,[...]
I think there is a time and place (and perhaps a manner) for everything, kamuelakea, and if you'll permit me to say so in all sincerity, I'm not sure you get that. There's so much hate in your words that I'm beginning to feel sorrier for you than for Matsumoto or any of the other injured parties in this unnecessary event.
[...]I do, however, wonder if it is human life you value so much as being right.
[...]hate is just such a destructive force. Is there no other way to get your feelings across?

Thank you, Scriv.

[1stwahine]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Drinking and driving is foolish, selfish, dangerous, full stop. I don't care if it's my neighbor, Daniel Dae Kim, or whoever. If we're entitled to feel anger over last week's anonymous DUI fatality, why not this one?

Exactly.

I stand by what I said in the closed thread.

"There is no EXCUSE for DUI! Don't Drink and Drive!!!"

My nephew in Kauai died at the age of twenty-one because of a drunk driver who also died due to injuries sustained by the car crash. He was taken off of life support. His head crushed and body mangled.

His memory lives on by his Ohana. A memorial is on his mother's vehicle reminding everyone of his name, birthday and day he died. It also says "Don't Drink and Drive!"

Celebrity or not...no one is above the Law!

Auntie Lynn

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Thank you, others, for eloquently stating points similar to those I would have made. Kam - please pay attention to what I said earlier; it wasn't about what you said, it was about when you said it. I hope you can understand that. Of course, I had similar thoughts, as did others who commented in this thread, as to what might have been factors in this tragic accident. But I preferred to wait until there were some facts presented, rather than jumping out with sensationalist speculation.

And also please note, there was NO accusation of racism in this thread. You are getting your postings (and reactions to same) mixed up...perhaps because you now see the pattern that's been obvious to many of us?

[kamuelakea]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Kam - please pay attention to what I said earlier; it wasn't about what you said, it was about when you said it. I hope you can understand that. And also please note, there was NO accusation of racism in this thread. You are getting your postings (and reactions to same) mixed up...perhaps because you now see the pattern that's been obvious to many of us?

No, you please pay attention to me. You cried racism. I don't care if it was this thread or another. You did it. And it showed that you know nothing about Hawaii and you know nothing about racism.

I said what I said because I knew (in my mind) that this was alcohol/drug related. It was obvious to me. I said "To be determined" to satisfy people like you but I still knew it.

Your pattern is also clear.

Funny how you lefty types worry so much about the timing of my opinions and yet feel nothing for the true victims in this tragedy, the mother of 2 and the guy who got nailed by the drunk driver.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Funny how you lefty types worry so much about the timing of my opinions and yet feel nothing for the true victims in this tragedy, the mother of 2 and the guy who got nailed by the drunk driver.

Your hatred is eating you up, sir, and that is sad. I am not interested in your delusions. You are clearly blinded by your misconceptions, as you missed this part entirely:

Now is the time to grieve for all concerned and their families.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

I still think it's a bit early to be piling on this particular incident. There's too little known about the circumstances. No reports of having left a party or a bar and no reports of expecting her some place. While the phrase "Acute alcohol intoxication" usually indicates stupendous amounts of alcohol, it could also represent a bad reaction to smaller amounts.

Given the reports that she reached out to even minor players in her plays and was friendly to all, I find it hard to believe that she would have knowingly placed others in danger if for some reason she no longer cared about her own life.

OK, so we all decry driving while drunk. What should have happened differently here? She's dead. Not much point beating a dead corpse or asking for stiffer penalties. Has she ever been arrested for DUI? Did she have a pattern of drinking and driving that her friends knew about? Was it a bar that served her liquor? Was she with friends that should have intervened? We don't know. There's really nothing apparent that should have been done differently to prevent this.


Just keep in mind that any system that completely protects us from all drunks most likely would also deprive us of our freedom.

At this point I still think this is the wrong poster girl to attach a DUI tirade to.

[pzarquon]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

I'm not sure if anyone wants to make her the "poster child." But if there was some collage created for a PSA, I suspect she'd be included. Losing her is a significant blow to the local arts community, I agree. But how she died will probably become central to the overall message people ultimately find in her life. Probably not the legacy she planned to leave, but one, I think, that can still be meaningful and positive.

Rather than debating degrees of guilt or mitigating circumstances, I think we might turn that energy toward the innocent. There's a woman, a 35-year-old mother, in the hospital right now that I think deserves much of the concern and well-wishes that's apparently out there in abundance.

Has she ever been arrested for DUI? Did she have a pattern of drinking and driving that her friends knew about? Was it a bar that served her liquor? Was she with friends that should have intervened? We don't know. There's really nothing apparent that should have been done differently to prevent this.

I think the key point is that it only takes one lapse in judgment to make a bad, and fatal, mistake. I don't care if she was a well-known drinker and late-night party girl, or a mild-mannered nun that dipped into the communion wine for the first (and last) time. There was something somebody could have done to prevent this. One person, one decision, and that should have been enough.

Anyway. The Honolulu Advertiser thread on Lisa Matsumoto at Topix.net has over a hundred messages. The course the conversation and debate took is pretty familiar.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

I think the key point is that it only takes one lapse in judgment to make a bad, and fatal, mistake.

That's true not only of DUI. Unfortunately we've all had occasional lapses of judgment - fortunately for us the results were less disastrous.

I'm not sure if anyone wants to make her the "poster child." But if there was some collage created for a PSA, I suspect she'd be included.

I'll agree with that.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

When I worked at the bar, I don't know how many times I almost got my ass kicked because I always made it a point to cut people off. It scares me to look back at the # of people who actually got behind the wheel after having a few drinks that I've served.

I'll just say this and be done with it. Agree with me or not, it doesn't matter.

While I won't label her an alcoholic (I believe the label should be imposed on one's self and not by others), the fact that her BAC was 3 times the legal limit AND she still got behind the wheel are signs of an alcoholic habit.

Alcoholism is a fatal disease. Ms. Matsumoto is proof.

[kiwidiva]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Unfortunately, it is the season (for drinking and driving)...

I went to hubby's command "holiday" party Friday night in Waikiki and noted that there were a lot of us playing designated driver - it looked to me like the message is getting across to the military folks... or at least the ones near us...

Went to another holiday party Sunday night and made the comment out loud asking whether I was the only person driving home? Since I was the only one who WASN'T drinking!

It really infuriates me when people think they know their limit and will STILL drink and drive...

[kamuelakea]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

I still think it's a bit early to be piling on this particular incident. There's too little known about the circumstances.

GeckoGeek, your need to be polite is making you myopic and rude. Let me explain. All you "Locals" listen up and try catch.

Once, many years ago, I was a passenger in a car driven by my very "local" friend. Still one of my best freinds by the way. He was driving on the inside lane of a 4 lane road, 2 going one way and 2 going the other. It was a main road so there was traffic moving and stopping at red lights and turning etc.

So this car wants to turn left out of a driveway and my friend, Mr. Aloha spirit local boy, decides to hold up on the INSIDE lane to allow this driver to turn left into the road and head the opposite direction. Well, no body on the OUTSIDE lane stopped cuz traffic waz moving. No surprise, a car comes behind us and starts banging on the horn and yelling expletives to get the #)# out of the way.

Who was the rude one in that exchange. It was after that experience that I realized that sometimes the "local" desire to be polite at all costs sometimes ends up actually being more rude. The need to stop in the road and "be nice" was HIS need, not the need of the other car trying to cut across. He could have waited for a safer time. But my "local" friend decided that he and the other driver were more important than the traffic coming up behind. Not to mention, he actually was creating a hazard by egging the other driver to cut in and across the 2 lanes possibly right into a moving car in the outside lane.

So to me, his need to be overly polite actually ended up being both rude and dangerous.

That same need to be overly polite to someone who got really really drunk knowing that she drove her car to where ever she was and knowing that she would have to drive it home and knowing everything we know about drunk driving is the same. Your need to be polite regarding what this woman did (not the woman herself) is actually rude. Its rude to the woman in Queens and the guy who got injured. It's rude to the many she could have killed that night and who had to call 9-11. It's rude to the people who are going to die from drunk drivers in the future partly because we don't put these individuals in the same light as we put, say, pedophiles. But we should.

People like Leolakio and others on this board don't get how their mentality is actually the real rude one on this board. Not mine.

Aloha

[scrivener]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

Your need to be polite regarding what this woman did (not the woman herself) is actually rude. Its rude to the woman in Queens and the guy who got injured. It's rude to the many she could have killed that night and who had to call 9-11. It's rude to the people who are going to die from drunk drivers in the future partly because we don't put these individuals in the same light as we put, say, pedophiles. But we should.

There is a difference between the two situations. A huge difference. In your example, being polite was dangerous and possibly illegal. Someone could have been seriously hurt by your friend's desire to be polite. In this case, whose life is being saved by leaping to conclusions about someone's condition before the facts are out?

[kamuelakea]

Re: Playwright Lisa Matsumoto dies...

There is a difference between the two situations. A huge difference. In your example, being polite was dangerous and possibly illegal. Someone could have been seriously hurt by your friend's desire to be polite. In this case, whose life is being saved by leaping to conclusions about someone's condition before the facts are out?

The facts were out.

3:30 am
driving on the wrong side of a freeway
driver knows the freeway
driver is 43 so has been driving the freeway for 20 years or so
driver passed many on coming cars (they called 9-11) and yet did not exit or pull over.

and now you will all say that a stroke or diabetes could cause this which while maybe possible is really stretch. Could you please cite any instance of someone driving the wrong way on a highway for as long as she did and it not be due to drugs or senility (very old driver). Out of the thousands that have surely occurred I'm sure someone can find that one.

but the real thing that made me extremely sure that this was drugs was that no one was saying where she was at 3am when she left. Somebody probably knew but they were silent.

Either way, the victims here deserve the concern and all victims are not equal.