NICK GILLESPIE WRITES on why things didn’t go wrong:

Indeed, the most interesting blackout-related story is the one that never happened. The sort of pandemonium, hysteria, looting, crime, and chaos that typically greets even minor football victories as well as catastrophic utility failures simply didn’t materialize. This was true even in New York City, where such antisocial behavior was once seen as part of the city’s very essence. Indeed, the iconic ’70s Manhattan-based sitcom Escape from New York was titled that way for a reason—one that no longer makes sense.

(Note to Gillespie: two “Indeeds” in one paragraph? You’ll be hearing from my trademark lawyers, as soon as they take a break from the work for Fox. . . .)

Really, though, as Kathleen Tierney has noted, the panic-and-chaos reaction is the exception, though the media tend to treat it as the rule. (More on that here.) But the media tend always to paint ordinary people as, well, worse than they really are. Why is that?

UPDATE: Reader Mark Tough explains something else confusing:

The John Carpenter film, Escape from New York, is neither a sitcom, nor a (direct) product of the 70s, having been made in 1981.

Cruising over to Reason, the quote looked the same until I checked the source HTML, where the problem becomes clear. Nick’s original text actually reads:
“Indeed, the iconic ’70s Manhattan-based sitcom The Odd Couple even featured a Boy Scout punching one of the characters, among other signs of defining Big Apple vitriol. The 1981 cult classic Escape from New York was titled that way for a reason — one that no longer makes sense.”

Better?

Indeed.

It is better. But sorry, Mark, you’ll still be hearing from my lawyers. Gotta protect that trademark. . . .

UPDATE: John Podhoretz is crediting Rudy Giuliani. Does Rudy’s influence reach to Cleveland and Detroit?