[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 187 (Monday, November 27, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17528-S17529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE MONEY TRAIN

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, thousands of concerned citizens all across 
America are now joining the chorus of voices speaking out against an 
entertainment industry that too often glorifies mindless violence, and 
peddles its harmful wares relentlessly to our children. These citizens 
understand, as I do, that images of senseless violence--repeated over 
and over again and showing murder in ever more graphic detail--debase 
our culture and affect people's attitudes and conduct, especially the 
attitudes and conduct of our impressionable young.
  Regrettably, a shocking incident reported in today's New York Daily 
News, New York Post, and New York Times seems to confirm the accuracy 
of this observation.
  This past Sunday, two men squirted a bottle of flammable liquid into 
a token booth at a subway station in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant 
neighborhood. They then lit a match, igniting an inferno that blew the 
token booth apart and sprayed broken glass and splintered wood 
throughout the subway station. Trapped inside the token booth at the 
time of the explosion was its operator, 50-year-old Harry Kaufman, who 
miraculously survived with his life but who nonetheless suffered 
second- and third-degree burns over nearly 80 percent of his body. Mr. 
Kaufman normally works only weeknights, but made the fateful decision 
to work the overtime shift on Sunday because he was trying to save 
money to send his son to college.

  This incident--committed by two men whose depravity is beyond 
description--is remarkably similar to incidents depicted in a new movie 
called ``The Money Train,'' produced by Columbia Pictures. Although I 
have not personally seen ``The Money Train''--and after Sunday's subway 
attack I have no intention of patronizing it--the movie apparently 
contains two scenes that occurred nearly identical to the one that 
occurred in Brooklyn on Sunday. In the movie, a pyromaniac named 
``Torch'' squirts flammable liquid through the slot in the token booth 
and then ignites the booth. Unlike Mr. Kaufman, the fictional token-
booth operator escapes unscathed from the ensuing explosion.
  Are ``The Money Train'' scenes and the real-life tragedy in Brooklyn 
just a coincidence? Perhaps. But, apparently, this is not the view of 
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who says, ``There 
seems to be some connection between the movie and the explosions.'' Or 
as Alan Kiepper, the head of New York's Transit Authority, points out: 
``We know from experience that when you get movie and television 
depictions of criminal activity, it is often copycatted.''
  Copycat or no copycat, the individuals who committed this unspeakable 
act must be held accountable for their crimes. We are all responsible 
for own actions. To say that a movie caused this senseless act in 
Brooklyn gives it a logic and dignity it does not deserve and cannot 
have. There can be no excuses for criminal behavior, whatever the 
motivation may or may not be.

  But, at the same time, those who work in Hollywood's corporate suites 
must also be willing to accept their share of the blame. For those in 
the entertainment industry, who too often engage in pornography or 
violence as a way to sell movie tickets, it is time for some serious 
soul-searching. Is this how they want to make their livelihoods? Is 
this their contribution to society?
  Those who continue to deny that cultural messages can and do bore 
deep into the hearts and minds of our young people are deceiving 
themselves and ignoring reality. They are ignoring what happened this 
past June when a group of teenagers killed a Massachusetts man claiming 
they were natural born killers. And, yes, they are ignoring the 
senseless act that occurred this past Sunday morning in Brooklyn.
  In fact, news reports indicate that transit authority officials had 
reviewed ``The Money Train'' script before the movie was filmed and had 
objected to the token-booth arson scenes. The film's producers decided 
to create the scenes anyway--on Los Angeles soundstages. We may never 
know the true impact of this decision.
  Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity to convey my thoughts 
and 

[[Page S 17529]]
prayers to Mr. Kaufman and his family. We wish him a speedy recovery. 
And we wish the New York City Police Department every success in their 
efforts to track down the vicious thugs who have committed this 
cowardly act.
  The American people have a right to voice their outrage, and they can 
do so not through calls for government censorship, but by derailing 
``The Money Train'' at the box office.
  Just so you get a better picture of what happened, this is the Daily 
News, the front page of the Daily News. It is just entitled 
``Torched.'' So, when you put a flammable liquid into that little token 
booth and light a match to it, with no real way to escape, this is what 
happens. The front page says, ``Attack mimics the hit movie `Money 
Train,' Token clerk firebombed in booth, Family and (transit authority) 
assail film thriller.''
  Then in the New York Post pretty much the same. ``Torched! Gun-toting 
firebombers steal scene from movie to blow up token booth.'' I know, if 
there is any--maybe the paper is wrong. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe most 
Americans are wrong. But if someone out there is watching a movie and 
is taken by it and excited by it and says, ``I would like to try it,'' 
and then goes out to try it in real life, this is the result--burns 
over 80 percent of his body. Keep in mind he was working the overtime 
shift so he could earn a little extra money to send his son to college.
  The same coverage is in part B of the New York Times, same kind of 
coverage, same broad coverage. But on the inside page here it says, 
``TA Worker Hurt In Booth Inferno.'' ``Two are sought in `movie' 
stunt.'' ``Train film's on fast track.''
  It is all about what happens when people are mad and depraved or 
whatever. This is what happens. So I would just say to my colleagues, 
outrage is a powerful weapon. It is covered by the first amendment. The 
movie industry will tell you and the TV industry and all the others, 
``Oh, this is the first amendment, right of free speech.''
  We have also a right under the first amendment called ``outrage.'' 
And if the American people express their outrage, in my view, good 
things will happen. We do not need to pass legislation. We do not need 
censorship. We just need to alert the American people and to ask some 
of those--in this case Columbia Pictures--to accept some corporate 
responsibility, to be a good corporate citizen.
  I noted that Time Warner--we recently talked about that--has decided 
to sell off and has sold off Interscope, which is producing some of the 
CD's that you could not repeat anywhere, privately or in public or 
anywhere else. They were available to young people 10, 11, 12 years of 
age or younger, walking into any of these stores and buying the CD's.
  Those are the things that, in my view, I think make you wonder, where 
do you draw the line on profit? When does profit become greed? When 
does it stop, if it is harmful to society, particularly young people in 
America?

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