You’re 97, huh? Well, you have the right to remain silent…
So, an old lady gets pulled over for speeding or something and then they throw ‘er in the slammer because of an outstanding warrant for her arrest. And of course, people are all huffed up about it because “how can you arrest a 97 year old woman?!” Well, my calloused thinking goes like this: If she’s young and alert enough to drive, she’s young and alert enough to pay fines. The bigger issue, though, is “where do you draw the line?” It’s obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: if 97 is too old, what about 96? 95? 80? 70? 60? And then, whenever you say “well, that’s young enough that they could be arrested…”, then I add one year and we go again. The point is that there’s no objective age (on the books) where people are exempt from paying fines and being arrested on outstanding warrants. In order to allow that woman to make her appointment at the beauty salon, the police would’ve had to make a subjective decision to let her go. That’s not law enforcement, it’s bias, and that’s not their job.
Bottom line: I think it’s pretty crazy that such an old woman was arrested, but that’s just a strange example of a statistical outlier. I don’t think the law–at least in this instance–should be subjective to someone’s age. Also, she’d have never been arrested if she’d paid that fine.
Friends: Jennifer Anniston
I’ve been a fan of the show for a few years now, but I can’t say I’ve ever been really sucked in by the acting. Occasionally, something will catch my eye, but I mostly watch for the comedy and story. Tonight, though, I was really impressed by the scene that Anniston did with Schwimmer near the end of the episode. Her energy was right on from the moment she entered the room, slamming the door behind her. I just thought she nailed the scene: she didn’t go over the top with the emotion, but she seemed really honest about her trepidation and frustration. I suspect a lot of that emotion was real emotion that the cast is experiencing as the final episodes are winding down, and I think it’s fantastic that she did such a great job channeling that emotion into her character in that moment. Kudos to Jennifer.