Why Walter Peck was wrong?

[Freeverse]

Walter Peck was obviously wrong. He just happened to be wrong in the exact right way to stumble upon a real danger that he had no idea existed. Through no merit of his own, the target of his ire just happened to be doing something that presented a potential danger to the city, and then due to his careless disregard for safety, just happened to cause that exact potential danger.

He's petty and reckless and over-reaching. The fact that the Ghostbusters were carrying highly dangerous nuclear devices on their backs and storing a hellscape of otherworldly creatures in their basement is completely unrelated to anything Walter Peck was accusing them of.

However. I do think that he genuinely believed that they were exploiting people. He clearly didn't accept the existence of ghosts; that was how he justified what he was doing. I suppose we could theorize about whether he truly believed that justification or if it was only what he told other people, but it doesn't really matter. Either way, he's a bad actor.

I also very deeply do not care that some extra wasn't wearing a hazmat suit, or how many districts New York has in the real world. These are important considerations in the real world, but since this movie isn't about the legal minutiae of New York, it's just not that big a deal. I recognize that this isn't really something that affects my position, but it just bugs me.

[CharlesPhipps]

Walter Peck was in the wrong, but Venkman's response to his initial presence was, to put it bluntly, stupid. When an agent of the state, whether a police officer, a member of some regulatory agency, whatever, approaches you, the smart thing to do is not dick around with them and make dumb, sarcastic comments (ex. "You forgot to say the magic word..."). The smart response is to say "Do you have a warrant or legal authority to carry out a search?" followed by "What is the name and contact information of your superior?" and/or "I must confer with legal counsel." There were a thousand better ways Venkman could have handled the situation in order to head Walter Peck off at the pass. Instead he jerked him around, told him to "fuck off" and proceeded not to think about him until it was too late. Peck was wrong, but Venkman could have handled the situation a LOT better than that, if only for his own self-preservation.

The funny thing about Venkman was that I didn't realize until I was an adult that it's pretty obvious he doesn't actually believe in the supernatural until he encounters the ghost in the library. He is an academic who has a degree in bullshit because it allows him to do absolutely nothing and get paid for it.

That says AMAZING things about his character.

That's Doctor House levels of misanthropy.

[TrueMetis]

Regardless of what Peck thought he handled it in the worst possible way, if he has any inkling about the nuclear accelerators then there should be a team of people in rad gear checking the place out, not him some city worker and a cop. If he think the Ghost busters are frauds using chemicals to cause hallucinations, then he should have a team of experts in CBRN gear looking the place over, and the containment unit should either be uninteresting to him as nothing more than a prop, or it has something to do with the hallucinogenic chemicals so don't touch it.

Like I can't think of any possible reason why he would have to think "shut this thing off" was a good idea.

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

I've always wondered how the hell anyone could think Peck was in the right. I mean, he flat out accuses the Ghostbusters of using chemicals to make people see ghosts, when we can see for a fact that's obviously not true. And his handling of the situation is reckless endangerment of thousands of lives.

Mind you this movie was pre-Chernobyl, so maybe they would have written him as more cautious about it, but still he seems pretty damn foolhardy in handling of nuclear devices.

Though I feel bad for William Atherton, the guy once said Walter Peck ruined his life as he struggled to get acting roles that weren't assholes or villains (though he's fantastic at playing both, see Dr. Destiny in Justice League and the morbid art collector from the Tales from the Crypt episode Easel Kill Ya for proof) in fact the only role I can recall where he wasn't evil or an asshole was in The Crow: Salvation, where he played the district attorney who knew his daughter had been murdered by corrupt cops but let them frame and execute her boyfriend because they were threatening his other daughter.

[CharlesPhipps]

Though I feel bad for William Atherton, the guy once said Walter Peck ruined his life as he struggled to get acting roles that weren't assholes or villains (though he's fantastic at playing both, see Dr. Destiny in Justice League and the morbid art collector from the Tales from the Crypt episode Easel Kill Ya for proof) in fact the only role I can recall where he wasn't evil or an asshole was in The Crow: Salvation, where he played the district attorney who knew his daughter had been murdered by corrupt cops but let them frame and execute her boyfriend because they were threatening his other daughter.

Ricardo Montaban said that typecasting is something actors need to be wary about as if you fight it, you will ruin your career as much as the reverse. He said that instead actors should try to add range to their type casting because then people will want to see you in other things. Basically, he argued, "If people want to see you as one thing you have already done something right."

But yes, assholes would insult him in the street and call him dickless.

[CrypticMirror]

Peck also accuses the Ghostbusters of using hallucinogenic gas to make people think they were seeing ghosts. The problems with that accusation is as follows:

1) How pray tell would they get it? You can't just go down to Walmart and pick up a couple of canisters and, even back in the day, the attempt to acquire something like that would get you on ALL THE WATCH LISTS.

They live in 1980s New York, they probably could have had their choice of hallucinogens from the local bodega. Brooklyn 99 wasn't joking that much when they said New York in the Eighties was basically the purge. Also, they used to work in a University dealing with exotic materials, I assume the movie just didn't show all the scenes of lowlifes hitting the GBs up for hallucinogens from a university connection. And even if they were incautious, maybe they did end up on a watchlist and that is why Peck was there?

Give it up already.

Well that is just rude of you. If you don't like reading my posts then you can add me to your "foe" list and they won't appear for you.

[Enterprising]

Maybe you should see the video of today, not a joke anymore.

What, you mean you were serious? In that case, excuse my while I go away to laugh even longer and harder!

[TGLS]

Maybe you should see the video of today, not a joke anymore.

What, you mean you were serious? In that case, excuse my while I go away to laugh even longer and harder!

youtu.be/iGLXMKUWkJE

[Thebestoftherest]

Maybe you should see the video of today, not a joke anymore.

What, you mean you were serious? In that case, excuse my while I go away to laugh even longer and harder!

youtu.be/iGLXMKUWkJE

A person of class.

[Keyser94]

Maybe you should see the video of today, not a joke anymore.

What, you mean you were serious? In that case, excuse my while I go away to laugh even longer and harder!

youtu.be/iGLXMKUWkJE

A person of class.

Sure, when everyone is dead by a nice nuclear explosion in the middle of New York because no one was there to oversee the operation of so called scientist. Who you wonna call? The Ghostbusters.

Even their backpacks are nuclear powered even that is never explain, because conservatives not understand the concept of science or science fiction, they never explain it, because it was never a factor, they never give a shit about science or regulation of any kind.

Remember that weeks before when Chuck was ranting about how science can fall down because pure greed in his Jurassic Park review? When used in unethical and unregulated ways? And now he is doing the complete opposite argument, wow, how consistent, dear professor.