 | | Ron Raasch | | Weather disasters |
|
By Scott Staats
If you turn on the TV and see a weatherman or reporter talking about any kind of weather condition, you'd believe that nobody goes outside anymore, or at least that person. I'm starting to believe that all weather reports should be on Comedy Central.
"Oh my God, there's snow and wind out here," they report. "We could be looking at death and destruction of epic proportions," they continue with a slight smile on their ruddy face. Imagine, snow in winter. Who would have ever thought?
The other day all the mainstream media news stations covered a "huge" snowstorm back east. And by huge they mean a mere nine inches. One reporter stood in a freshly plowed parking lot in front of a four-foot pile of snow. Oh no, I thought, please don't tell us there's four feet of snow on the ground.
Instead he leapt into the pile like a two-year old, grabbed a fistful of snow like it's the first time he's ever seen the white stuff (which is probably true) and proceeded to tell us of his difficult time getting to this place yesterday. The news station flew him or drove him all the way there to stand in a pile of snow and tell us of his difficult travels?
Now this is sensational reporting, not to be confused with good reporting. The real news should be that it's only nine inches of snow and not the usual two to three feet the area would have got 20 to 30 years ago. That liberal media just doesn't report much on global warming.
It won't be long until some idiot will be on our TV screen standing in Phoenix and reporting the first 100-degree temperature of the year. The headlines and catch-phrases are always something like "Nature's Fury" or "Winter Havoc" or "Terror in the Heartland," something to frighten people and get their attention.
I think all reporters have some secret competition to see whose coverage will be the most sensational or who can use the most negative words in their clip. If you had a counter and kept track of all the negative words used by reporters, it would sound like a Geiger counter at a nuclear meltdown.
Of course their goal is to keep people watching in order to sell ads to corporations. "Stay with us," they report during some kind of disaster, "this is most likely going to get a lot worse." The only thing likely to get worse is their coverage.
The evening news is a good excuse to do something else for 30 minutes. The 24-hour news is a good excuse to do something else for an entire day.
The cause of most incidents is usually man's wrath and not nature's wrath. Those washed away while trying to cross a flooding road blame their ordeal on the flood. I saw where a plane ran off the runway during a snowstorm and "experts" said it could take a year to determine the cause. Are you serious? I could do it in a few seconds. The plane couldn't stop on the snowy, slippery runway and slid off-the end.
Have you ever noticed that most disasters, natural or otherwise, strike in areas where residents have a deep southern drawl when interviewed on TV? For example, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, mine collapses or explosions, NASCAR wrecks, etc.
I live for the day when all the mainstream media stations give the following report:
"There is really no bad news to report today. No plane crashes, wars, murders, pandemics, scandals, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides, domestic spying, hanging chads, Martha Stewart, Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, Britney Spears-nothing. Hmm, maybe we'll actually have to seek out some good news. Back to you at the desk."
|
