Friday, September 23, 2005

Tell It Like It Is...A Disaster or An Unfortunate Incident?...

What is it about numbers or individuals that makes a thing either a disaster or just an 'unfortunate incident'?

Here comes Rita and what is happening is already a disaster, even though she hasn't even reached land yet.

Twenty four people died when a bus exploded and burned on I-45. It was people from a nursing home in the Houston area headed for the Dallas area to escape from Rita. Another disaster.

It looks like New Orleans is in for it again. Rain has already started there and some of the leeves have breached again. Homes will be inundated and folks will have to move out again. Another disaster.

Leavander Johnson died as the result of being knocked out in his last prize fight several days ago. Another disaster? Not hardly. Just an unfortunate incident. There is a notice of his death on the Drudge Report but I had to research it to find a news report anywhere else. I finally found one in a Boxing web site.

What is it that makes the deaths thousands of people as the result of a hurricane a disaster and the death of one person either an unfortunate incident or a disaster, depending on who it is? I guess it's all in the way it's packaged.

You don't think so? Well, here's one for you:
Evander Johnson (one person) died as the result of injuries he received in a fight he had recently. An unfortunate incident.
Look on page nine of the sporting section. It will run for one day.

Princess Dianne (one person) died as the result of an automobile accident. A disaster.
Look on the front page of any newspaper in the world or look at all television reports by all news stations in the world. (it stayed on the front page for about a year).

I think I've made my point for any objective, discerning person. I don't watch the news much anymore because there's nothing more I can do for those unfortunate folks affected by the hurricane.

However, my sister and her husband have left Liberty, Texas, (near Houston) and are headed for Marshall, Texas to escape the wrath of Rita. If, by the will of God, she and Herman were to lose their lives in some manner, since there are only two of them, to those of you who do not know them, it would be an unfortunate incident; for me,(even though there are only two of them) it would be a disaster.

Later...

1 Comments:

Blogger Stratu said...

You've just illustrated why it's important to look beyond the mainstream media.
I can look at any news broadcast to get an update on those stupid hurricanes, but how many of the prime time news agencies reported the death of Bob *Gilligan* Crane, huh?
Same goes for your boxing friend.
The media LOVES sensation, and you can't get much more sensational than a big kickass hurricane that wipes out entire cities.

9:23 AM  

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