Wolf, Wolf, Wolf
So hurricane might hit Houston late Friday evening. But it may miss it. Definitely makes sense to me to be concerned, raise awareness, and even get educated about what you should do.
Makes sense to me. As a new owner of a house that could with this even get its first taste (as me as owner) of the stiff 100+ mph winds, I would say I even worry a bit. I really like our jalousie windows in the porch and don't know how to even protect them. I think about how a limb might come flying on to our roof that desperately needs to be replaced...but we are holding out as long as possible while we save some money. But you know our house has survived 70+ years here just 60 miles from the gulf...why won't it last through another?!?
So like any concerned homeowner I watched the news. now as a concerned person...watching graphic after graphic demonstrating Houston in the worst case scenario, how much water would flood the city, the winds that would tear down buildings...you could say I got a tad bit FREAKED! So as a TV news producer I see that a hurricane has a slight (I think it said 8%) likelihood of hitting our area, and decide I need to "inform" the public. Isn’t this in a sense yelling FIRE in a crowded theater? oh wait...then I remember something I had heard (sorry no real source) that in order for the public to feel they NEED the news...you have to scare the crap out of them in order to get them to feel they can't miss a second!
We prosecute people who yell fire in a theater...but we as a public are so dense that we fall into this trap again and again. There are stations like CNN, Fox NEWS, and MSNBC that just give you the "news". That just satisfy that craving that THEY have initiated. In a previous post on the cult of personality I suggested that people create power for themselves by convincing a public that they have the power as they worship the despot who continues to hurt them. Why have we given this power to the local news?!? I am not one of those media is bad and liberal guys...I just think that they really have no morals or ethics. I would even suggest from so many of the New Orleans people I have met while helping out here...that they just didn't really believe it could happen...because of 2 reasons...first those kind of things just don't happen here in the US...and second (and more on point) they had been through hurricanes before. They had heard the warnings before.
it is almost silly how helpless I seem to be during a hurricane...but this hurricane is not natures...it is a swarm of correspondents and cameras desperate to get a story that is slightly different than the one they just did 20 minutes ago, swirling around a series of talking, perfectly combed heads with their fingers touching their ear, at the center is truly nothing. Like the onion they have peeled and peeled informing us each layer how it is different, exciting and life-changing. Anxiously, we board up our homes, get radios with batteries, and huddle around the box that is busy crying wolf. How did that story end? That is right he became the CEO of my local news station!
posted by raj at 12:10 PM
2 Comments:
I don't think the problem is a liberal or conservative news. The problem is that the news is corporate. Their goal is to make money, not inform or help. Sometimes, the side effect of them making money is that some people are informed or helped. We need to see the news for what it is. The problem is that if we believe what the news tells us about itself, we fall victim to it. It is almost more like entertainment. It is probably just as valid to watch the news with the most attractive newscasters as it is to watch the one you think informs you the most if they are both in it to make money. We are sheep, so crying wolf definitely makes us depend on them.
i don't normally watch tv much at all...less than 1/2 hour per week, probably. i wanted to stay informed about what was going on, but i kept getting more and more pissed at the local news. those sorry s.o.b.'s were hopping around in light gusts and minimal rain in some kind of bizarre voodoo news dance, trying to will the hurricane to unexpectedly turn and hit us (and to pick up strength, last a long time, etc). they looked like complete fools. but i don't think most of the viewing public noticed because they were too busy running around in circles like their hair was on fire. (or they were already stuck in traffice because they were evacuating areas not needing to evacuate, four freaking days before it might even possibly hit anywhere near here.) excuse me while i fume.
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