DC Cookie: Controversy Thursday: It's All Relative

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Controversy Thursday: It's All Relative

So the media has hyped up these "deadly northeastern storms" so much that you'd think a hurricane just hit Manhattan. Perhaps we lost one Mass-hole to a freak of nature hydroplane because he was driving far too fast in a downpour, or a Quaker who thought it would be entertaining to dive into the Schuylkill's rapids on a dare. And I'm sorry that a few houses in Binghamton have 7 feet of water in their basement. But up-staters are currently chilling out on their porches playing guitars and drinking beer. They're happy about a few days off from work.

Please don't call these flash floods "deadly." Have some respect. Katrina wasn't even a year ago.

18 Comments:

At June 29, 2006 7:34 AM, Law-Rah said…

Cookie, you stole my heart with this post. I expressed this sentiment yesterday and someone said "but, this was a hell of a lot of rain. Someone died!" I had to walk away.
At June 29, 2006 8:37 AM, Brian said…

I have a very good friend, a local artist, who had most of her possessions, the place she lives, and her home-based business pretty much destroyed by the flooding in this area. She isn't sitting on her porch enjoying the time off. She's effectively homeless, going through books, works of art, photographs, and everything else she owns trying to find what's salvageable, while having to figure out how she's going to replace the things she needs after losing her primary source of income. And I can only assume (and hope) that none of your friends are going through this, or own a house that had basement flooding, because the cost to get out from under something like that isn't always measured in dollars (although it's very high in that department as well).

This is not to say that this area, or the Northeast in general, has suffered like the Gulf Coast. Of course it hasn't. But it sounds like you're suggesting that anything less than Katrina is irrelevant, and that's also wrong. Is the media overstating by calling it 'deadly'? Probably. But you could be just a little less cavalier (UVA loyalty notwithstanding) about what people are going through.

Show some respect? Absolutely. You should, too.
At June 29, 2006 8:48 AM, Sharkbait said…

Very true.

I heard the same thing and work and let them know that it's not okay to compare the two.

Not.Even.Close.
At June 29, 2006 9:42 AM, Carrie Broadshoulders said…

Its perfectly okay to compare the two. The people who have lost their homes in the Northeast have lost as much as those in New Orleans. Sure, there aren't as many of them and not as many people died, but to them it was just as devastating. The only difference is the federal government isn't likely to bail most of them out. Or put them up in a hotel for a year. And tell that to the family of the little girl in Virginia who is still missing. She certainly did not have the warning those in New Orleans had that storm waters were coming. Or the 8 other people who are dead. Smaller scale than Katrina for sure, but to the people affected, no less devastating.

Though I will say I'm dead tired of hearing about the rain. It's not like flash flooding is anything new and people die every year from it, for sure. Frankly I just think the media has nothing much else to do. So if your disgust is with the media, at least be comforted in the fact the coverage won't last as long as it did for Katrina.
At June 29, 2006 10:00 AM, Phil said…

If only they could drown some of the Kennedys.
At June 29, 2006 10:36 AM, Carrie Broadshoulders said…

You can't drown a Kennedy. Ted proved that.
At June 29, 2006 11:07 AM, O-FACE said…

This is why you always live on the top floor..........Free heat in the winter, zero break-ins, massive tsunami floods.....
At June 29, 2006 11:27 AM, Anonymous said…

I'm sure that the folks in VA and MD who have lost their homes, and in some cases, their loved ones, will be happy to hear that we are now rating disasters by severity, and they don't merit coverage. To apply this argument to a different field, why don't we just stop covering the war in Iraq - I mean it's not WWII, or even Vietnam, so why bother?
At June 29, 2006 12:00 PM, Carrie Broadshoulders said…

Also with that logic, why cover Katrina when the tsunami in Asia was so much worse and killed so many more people??
At June 29, 2006 12:29 PM, Phil said…

Carrie - what about John, Jr.? does that count?
At June 29, 2006 12:40 PM, Jessica said…

I think the sad fact is that natural disasters are awful, no matter when or where they happen. I can understand being offended by comparing this disaster to Katrina, but I think any such comparison is unwarranted.

Bad things happened to individual people. These experiences are real, and personal, and maybe instead of deciding who has it worse, we could just respect them as real and personal for those impacted?
At June 29, 2006 2:02 PM, Carrie Broadshoulders said…

I hadn't even noticed the media necessarily comparing to Katrina as much as just harking back to the tragedy of losing everything in a natural disaster like Katrina. I don't hear anyone saying, oh this is as bad as Katrina. Clearly its not, so not sure the media is being unfair when talking about all of this.

As for JFK Jr...I'm sure he was probably dead before that plane ever sank into the ocean. I still think Ted would have made it out of that one alive though. :) All that hot air has to be good for something.
At June 29, 2006 2:03 PM, Anonymous said…

not controversial. just stupid.
At June 29, 2006 3:13 PM, Pagan Marbury said…

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I sat on my bed with my dogs and watched the water flood under the door and surround me. The water just kept coming and I was absolutely terrified, but in the end, all I really lost was carpet and some of my winter wardrobe. Katrina victims had to sit and watch the waterline overtake everything they loved. After my experience, I can only imagine how awful that must have felt.

Great post.
At June 29, 2006 3:54 PM, Anonymous said…

People die every day for all sorts of reasons, and they don't get coverage at all.

The media sensationalizes everything they can - tragedy is good business. I remember when there was "horrific flooding" in New Jersey last year, according to the reporter in her canoe going down mainstreet. A horrible scene for all to behold, until a few guys in shorts walked by, and the water was about mid-shin.

It's horrible that people lost their lives or their belongings, but it's no more or less media-worthy than someone who dies riding their bicycle or falling off a ladder.
At June 29, 2006 4:56 PM, Bad at Life said…

I totally agree. While I naturally feel bad for anybody who lost a home during these storms, I think such stories are few and far between. The scope of the destruction left by these few days of rain is simply nothing compared to katrina. Personally, I have not yet felt that the civil fabric of DC has broken down to a point where I need to protect my house with a shotgun.

And I disagree with carrie. I sort of suspect the safety net for anybody who lost posessions or a home will be much stronger here in the affluent northeast than it was down in states like Louisiana and mississippi.
At June 30, 2006 11:49 AM, DC Cookie said…

It's not the tragedy that I'm mocking, it's the coverage. I watched a morning show yesterday that showed images of pooled water, and then images of people drinking beer and being interviewed in a foot of water about enjoying their few days off work. It was pathetic.

That was my point...if the media is going to cover a tragedy, then cover the tragedy. Don't mock it by showing how much fun this rain has been...
At July 17, 2006 12:36 PM, Andie said…

I'm going to keep my mouth shut, as I'm new to reading this blog, etc. but I experienced Katrina. I was lucky enough to NOT get flooded. But many of my friends and family members lost EVERYTHING except for the duffle bag of clothes they took with them for an evacuation they thought would last only a day or two.

If those people got flooded and they still had power, phone, etc. and are ok, and the media sensationalized it to be as bad as Katrina, then I agree with you. No comparison. Especially when I had no power at my home for a week. and I was LUCKY.

But I also feel bad for anyone who lost their home, all of their belongings, etc. and have to start all over again. It's a real pain.

And I wish that the media hadn't STOPPED the katrina coverage. Because apparently everyone across the country seems to believe that New Orleans is completely rebuilt and revived and everything is back to normal when it's NOT. The levee's are not completely repaired. Many homes, neighborhoods, etc. still have piles of debris sitting in front of them. There are STILL some homes that haven't even been torn down or gutted yet. The media finds something else to focus on and completely ignore the lack of funding, red tape and aggravation the people in Mississippi and Louisiana are dealing with. And people think Katrina was the only storm. Rita was another one.

Sorry if I rambled. You just happened to touch a nerve that I am very familiar with.