From time to time, however, Las Vegas illusion and Las Vegas reality do intersect (uneasily). When ugly newsworthy incidents occur, e.g., when a dozen tourists are killed by a drugged-out schizophrenic speeding in his car toward them on a Strip sidewalk; when a twenty-something female out-of-towner is shot fatally inside Harrah's; or when an elderly, but obviously, somehow, non-compliant female tourist is dragged, handcuffed, a the marble-floored casino/hotel lobby by an overzealous Las Vegas cop; some of Las Vegas' magic vanishes for a short time. But the next day or at worst within the same week, the bad ugly thing (now referred to as "extremely unusual" or "a freak accident" is forgotten. Tourist injuries and deaths are never (one is led to believe) the fault of any casino. Further news of the unfortunate incident, whatever it was, is hard to come by, if the casino has anything to do with it.
True, "What happens in Vegas" may not always in fact stay right there, e.g., the world knew of the tourists gunned down by the mentally-ill driver [he was from California, not Nevada, reports hastened to emphasize, These are but a very few of the ways Las Vegas' [sic] ongoing illusion of being a hedonist's harmless desert nirvana are maintained and when necessary, repaired, 24/7.
Some who have had unpleasant visiting...
One may be sure Las Vegas spin-masters were put right to work after this occurred, prettying up as much as possible any ugly leftover details (the worst of these being a nightclub shooting in which the manager of the place was shot by a basketball star or someone in his entourage (no one is talking) and is now paralyzed. Tourists in town for whatever reason that weekend, or even a few weekends afterward, might have heard or read something or other about the shooting itself, but not about its now-paralyzed and unable to work again victim. That story just broke last week, and on a Wednesday.
Works Cited
Kimball, Roger. "Existentialism, Semiotics, and Iced Tea [sic]." Book Review of Conversations with Walker Percy. New York Times. 4 Aug. 1985. http: / query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E5D81238F937A3575BC0A963948260.html>.
