Do you have no sense of the scale of the oilpacalypse, sir? (a rant) by Cenobyte

[kpete]

Do you have no sense of the scale of the oilpacalypse, sir?
by Cenobyte

Wed May 05, 2010 at 10:27:33 AM PDT

This is more of a rant, more a reaction to people pouting about their loss, personally, due to the volcano of oil currently blasting crude into the gulf.

...................

From CNN.com: "Does the oil spill put seafood restaurants at risk?":
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/05/oil.spill.seafood.restaurants/index.html?hpt=C1

The "single best bite of food" in Louisiana, according to Tommy Cvitanovich, is the charbroiled oyster soaked in butter, garlic and cheese. Then the tough little mollusk is grilled to a smoky perfection.

His two restaurants, both named Drago's, served 3 million of these delectable oysters last year.

Seriously?
more:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/5/863802/-Do-you-have-no-sense-of-the-scale-of-the-oilpacalypse,-sir

[rudy23]

1. So talking about possibly losing your business b/c of the spill is "pouting"?

Do you know how many businesses are going to be crippled as a result of this. Think Drago's is going to serve anywhere NEAR 3 million oysters in the next decade?

[tbredbeck]

2. it's called a human interest piece

CNN is essentially useless, but this rant is just obnoxious. Seafood and other related industries are a huge part of the economy and are facing potential devastation.

I see plenty of other news pieces about the potential impact of this spill. I don't see how a few stories about potential losses to a big part of the economy in the region is pouting.

[LiberalLoner]

3. Studies have shown that people are affected more deeply by personal stories like

this one rather than the big picture sweep of facts and figures and statistics.

For some reason we are set up neurobiologically speaking to care more about individuals than about large groups of people.

I don't really understand why that is, but if we want to tell a story that moves people emotionally and perhaps prods them to action, we need to tell a story that includes a lot of stories about individuals along with the bigger picture of statistics.

I think this reporter might be aware of that (we are taught this in journalism classes, or at least I was) and was probably just trying to tell the story in a way that would get through to most of us.