the friendly facade cracks

yesterday i saw a completely harmless car accident in westwood that was handled pretty poorly by the people involved. as i was riding the bus to campus, we passed the accident. i didn't see it happen, but it was clear that the four people in the brand-new cadillac sedan had been rear-ended by a guy in a crappy, old pick-up truck with a "free tibet!" bumper sticker. at first, the young guy driving the caddy and the truck guy got out and assessed the damage (or, from what i could see, the lack of damage). they both seemed pretty calm and seemed to be remaining civil. suddenly, the other three people in the sedan got out. the two middle-aged people who seemed to be the young driver's parents just stood there looking, but the old lady got very agitated. i couldn't hear what she was yelling, but her lips were easily readable: "what were you doing?!?"

that's not a particularly unpolite remark, but she was gesticulating wildly and staring daggers at the truck guy. we pulled away before i saw anything else, but the social dynamics of the situation were clear: poor liberal rear-ends well-off family without causing much (or any) damage, rich old lady flips out and screams at poor guy for daring to interrupt her ride. moneyed privilege seemed to be the spirit of the encounter, and the poor truck guy was appropriately deferential.

i don't know what's more disturbing: that the rich woman felt entitled to bawl out the poor man over nothing, or that the poor guy was so willing to be harangued. i hope this isn't the standard socio-economic climate in la. i'm aware that the rich are in charge no matter where you go, and i'm told the cops around here are particularly protective of the rich. however, when the very people getting stepped on don't seem to have a problem with the wealth/caste system (especially in la's relatively progressive political climate), hope for progress is pretty dim. i really hope this was just an isolated incident and not an indication of the status quo in la.