Comments on: Let’s Not Be Silly: The Marie Arraras 911 Call, and What It Means

By: where is your line? » Blog Archive » Fact: Recording Abuse is Self-Defense

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:07:40 +0000

[...] of women seek help from the system – only to be dismissed (remember this 911 call?), or to find that there are no more shelters (state of California). Oksana has a chance at justice [...]

By: Interesting posts, weekend of … missed weekends « Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:13:08 +0000

[...] wants to play a game of 20 questions or something instead of sending help [Trigger warning] – Let’s Not Be Silly: The Marie Arraras 911 Call, and What It Means. Still don’t believe it? Maybe you should check out A Voice For Neli, [Trigger warning] an [...]

By: Elisa Camahort Page

Elisa Camahort Page — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:25:43 +0000

Great post. Wanted to let you know it is this week’s BlogHer Voice of the Week post:
http://tigerbeatdown.com/2010/06/22/lets-not-be-silly-the-marie-arraras-911-call-and-what-it-means/

Thanks!
Elisa Camahort Page
for Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer co-founders

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:20:23 +0000

Thirty years ago a friend of mine was shot to death by a burglar after spending the last moments of her life going through a variation of that conversation with a dispatcher while a patrol car was less than a block away. “Do you know the man who is trying to break in? Is it your boyfriend?”

Horrifying.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:18:35 +0000

Why are you trying to defend this operator? Why do you think that somehow this person’s atrocious behavior is something you need to defend? Does it reflect on you somehow?

Emily WK, when a woman speaks, a representative of the Devil’s Advocate Office is automatically appointed to enforce the Only Men Are Rational Act, as illustrated by the famous case Guyz Rool vs. Gurlz Drool.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:24:55 +0000

Thanks, Katy!

By: The Internet Ate My Homework – The World as Seen from 4'11"

The Internet Ate My Homework – The World as Seen from 4'11" — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:34:16 +0000

[...] closing: fat people don’t walk (an essay on urban design); a “silly” lady who desperately needed the 911 operator to listen (need help? these people can help); they hate us [...]

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:41:24 +0000

When I worked in a public library in Queens, I called 911 ALL THE TIME. Once when my boss fell down the steps and couldn’t move (I had to call 911 twice for that one, because an hour and a half later they still hadn’t arrived and she was still on the floor), a couple times for gang incidents (which I had to try to diffuse myself when the cops were slow to show, or just wouldn’t show up at all, and I’m a short, slight woman), once when a man was threatening my co-worker (and, again, even though I said the threats were real and were happening right at that time, the cops didn’t show up until over an hour later).

In fact, the only time they did show up quickly was when an elderly man collapsed. In the seconds after a placed the call, the man came to and begged me to call off the police because he didn’t have insurance. I called them 911 back, but the said help was on the way. Wouldn’t you know it, the one time it wasn’t dire that the cops to show up, they come with the EMTS and the Firemen within five minutes of the call.

Reading this article and the comments confirms my frustration with 911. I wish it was a little bit more like 311, where the operators are more informed with a whole host of databases at their fingertips and a lot more patient.

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:57:00 +0000

While I’ve only called 911 once (witnessed an accident in a terrible rain-storm on the Penn Turnpike, got transferred to the Turnpike Authority when I said there didn’t seem to be injuries, they were very polite), my most disturbing incident with 911 wasn’t the dispatcher’s fault.

I and a friend were walking back to a garage after seeing a museum show. We saw three girls in very fancy out-to-dinner clothes. A car pulled up next to them, three guys in ski masks (on a warm day in Florida) jumped out, picked one of the girls up, and shoved her in the back of their car. My friend whipped out her phone and punched in 911. The girl leaned out the window and yelled “It’s ok! they’re my friends!” I think the fact that we looked really upset and made her state it again several times (“Are. You. Sure?”) got the message across that most people take abductions on the street pretty damn seriously. Then we had to explain to the operator that the girl we saw stuffed into a car claimed it was a prank, because you cannot hang up on 911.

I would hope that if I were ever kidnapped off a street, someone would call, and not assume it was a prank. I kind of wished we’d sent the police their license plate anyways, so that someone could drive home even more seriously how much you DO NOT mess around with stuff like that.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:58:17 +0000

Wow… As I was reading the transcript, I envisioned the 911 officer as a man, but upon listening to the call at the link that someone posted and hearing that she was actually also a woman changed the entire tone of the conversation, at least in my mind. Probably says something about how I judge people.

I would encourage people to listen to the phone call if they’re really interested. The actual tone of both people changed my perspective entirely.