Quote From New TV Drama Series Big Sky: “The Trucker Is Today’s American Hero…”

…Two episodes out so far. In last night’s, the full quote goes, ”I’m getting sick of you not respecting me. This country’s in supply chain crisis. The trucker is today’s American hero. I am a hero, whether a mother can see that or not.” Unfortunately this wasn’t uttered by the most, uh, sane, relatable and credible character. But he's got some smarts and does drive a big rig “for a living”. (NOT like you guys at ALL!)…Hmm, hope it won’t make actual truckers look bad in viewers’ minds. I was thinking of ya’ll in trying to memorize the quote.

Anyone else watching this well-made drama on abc? (If you don’t have cable, it’s probably free at abc.com; from the creator of the excellent recent two season "Big Little Lies" show that starred Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.) Caveat: This one's a lot more "twisted" and less "normal" than "BLL". Not exactly real “trucking” going on in the gripping, mostly sane, but “sick”-at-times plot, and I’m not recommending it as a wise use of a busy trucker’s time. (I'm not one till next month.) At least it brings attention to the human trafficking crisis at truck stops, though in pretty creepy detail and not entirely accurately in my understanding. Inevitably exaggerated in some ways, fortunately. (We had to watch a video about this issue as part of our study for the MVD's permit test, in CDL school a few months ago. It was a worthwhile mandatory option, as in there were no questions about it on my permit exam. A real eye-opener about a tragedy I wasn’t aware of going on.

So, upshot, a couple obvious key questions this show brings to mind:

1) Are any of you encountering anything related to this “lot lizard” trafficking issue on the road these days? The CDL class video mostly highlighted girls and young women being abducted off the street, rather than prostitutes grabbed at truck stops, but then the girls were being blackmailed, etc. into “hooking” at truck stops. My sense is that truck stop prostitution is on the wane.?

2) To what extent do you think of or experience our country in “supply chain crisis”, etc.?

Yeah I'm watching it, but the trucker in that show is a sex-trafficer. Not a good look.

Industry is not really digging the image it projects.

Freightwaves article on Industry Reaction to Big Sky...

Rick

To answer your questions, since I haven't seen the show, I've only seen 3 or 4 lot lizards in my 5 years. Granted I don't seek them out or anything but I do think that part is on the decline. Especially with all the TAT signage and training going on that is pretty prevelant.

As far as the supply chain crisis, its sort of 50/50. There are plenty of trucks to move freight, but the shippers and receivers have been running such lean JiT systems that when something happens that does disrupt it then the effect seems much worse than it is.

Nope,only had 1 , 3 a.m. knock on our door as we slept lol

Mostly get people going thru the parking lot, seeing a driver in the cab, go and beg money or try n sell some useless crap. Had 1 decent looking blonde in the afternoon at Tolleson, Az. Loves, come ask for money lol. 30 minutes later she had changed her shirt and put on a ball cap, and made the rounds again!

I said you were here already, like 30 minutes ago. She was 1 of like 6 of em hanging out on side street curb rotating who goes and asks....Scammers ! 1 guy claimed to be a Vet holding up some ID card with thumb over the pic hahaha

Last was older scraggly woman in a wheel chair roll by n ask, with 1 leg (unless she sat on her other leg to hide it hahahaha Lots of characters out there for sure

Watched pilot episode an hour ago. Abc.com

Then this popped on https://youtu.be/6ElCpHuiWkA

Decent trucking song, Cajun (I replied to your important and intriguing thread)...Thanx for the double-clutch shift in the gears here with the musical interlude... So did you "like" the pilot episode? The 2nd one gets even more compelling, of course. Guess I'm hooked...for now. Geez, I spent like 30 years watching almost zero TV and not even owning one, but now that it's "there", with so much good junk on these days and some time on my hands (though not for much longer!)...

Jake Break, I assume you're long past "Rookie Solo Driver" status, having driven for 5 years? Or did you spend years teaming? (I've read you a lot but not totally sure...)

Thanx to Rick S's link, it seems "the trucking industry" is being spoken for by these self-appointed organizational voices for all truckers, as bitterly resenting and rejecting this show's depiction of them. Well that's a stereotype in itself not nearly all truckers will agree with, right?. Sounds kinda like some ironic "PC" oversensitivity/identity politics going on in the industry? Since I started the thread yesterday it's occurred to me, that even though yeah, not a good look that the main character who's a trucker is a seriously screwed-up sick-puppy of a mamma's boy who's making his living from sex-trafficking... But on the other hand...

...I wonder what the state troopers' associations are saying, since their main character in the show makes state cops look arguably even worse... Less like a "one-off", since anyone from any line of work can be a bad apple, but the cops are especially under fire these days for theirs, so it's a touchy subject for them. Plus they have special privileges which allow them to transgress like this a lot more believably. (Unrestrained power breeds testosterone-boost/poisoning and corruption in most male brains, science shows...sigh.) That said, the show will likely make some viewers a tad more cautious toward state cops as well as truck drivers in general.

I think the trucking industry spokespeople would be better off taking the opportunity to weigh in on the exposure to the sex trafficking issue.

No doubt many TT denizens have seen "Duel", Steven Spielberg's first feature film, basically a horror flick starring Dennis Weaver as an innocent motorist vs a truck which played the role of the "monster" in the movie. Incredibly powerful and affecting and scary for a low-budget film on TV. Since I was still in my "formative years" it tweaked my view of big rigs and truckers for decades, even still haunts a bit me when I see a big truck following too close at night, especially when I can't see the driver. (Like since seeing "Jaws" I can't go in the ocean without worrying about what might be stalking me beneath the surface.)

But much more toxically stereotyped in the show as relatively scarily-terrible-dangerous, non-diverse across-the-board, is the entire state of Montana! The plot is explicit about that. Beautiful state, but it's not gonna promote much moving there. The trucking occupation, on the other hand, is really in no way vilified as a whole due to that one particular bad apple, no matter how rotten. "Ronald" is clearly atypical and could be found in just about any line of work.