Hurricane Irene and American Self-Centeredness

[cali]

When will we be able to see ourselves as others see us around the world? In a year that has seen the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, with entire towns of thousands of people being swept away in minutes; a famine that is killing thousands of people, particularly children, daily; and genuinely world-historic scenes of extraordinarily brave protesters willing to die for their principles across North Africa and the Middle East , the U.S. media is literally showing round the clock pictures of rain, trees blowing in strong wind, flooded storm drains, patches of minor debris, a few downed power lines, and, I kid you not, moved benches on the New Jersey boardwalk. Headlines blare the number of "fatalities" without telling us that every hurricane or major storm always, tragically, causes car and boat accidents, heart attacks, and trees falling on houses.

At times it almost seems like a caricature of disaster coverage, with swelling music, grim-faced broadcasters (all in bright rain jackets and baseball caps with the requisite network logos), and dramatic pictures sent in by viewers that turn out to be ... wait for it! ... a cracked telephone pole. Anderson Cooper, who after all made his name reporting live and honestly from New Orleans during Category 5 Katrina, at least looks uncomfortably aware of the ridiculousness of the situation and is beginning to point out that perhaps it's really not so bad?

When I sent out a tweet expressing similar sentiments with the tag line "what must the world think," I immediately got back the following selection of responses:

From England: "rest of world doesn't care are watching Libya coverage on Sky or AJE or BBC or RT, what is CNN!!?"

From Serbia: "I cannot speak for the whole world, but I think, nobody outside takes 24/7 US 'news'-media serious. We study you like ants. ;-)"


<snip>

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/hurricane-irene-and-american-self-centeredness/244239/?google_editors_picks=true

[Warpy]

1. Yet, the hurricane led on French news last night

because a hurricane, even a minimal one, that hits NYC is newsworthy world wide.

I don't know anyone overseas who pays a whole lot of attention to news media in general. They only turn into CNN-I when there's a natural disaster or revolution going on somewhere. Otherwise, it's pointedly ignored along with their own media.

Americans seem to be the only people obsessed with news 24/7. Ironically, they're also the ones who are least informed when it comes to knowing actual current events.

[October]

2. 24/7 U.S. News has been ridiculous since its inception

Why people are suddenly upset by it being focused on a storm that affected many states along the Eastern seaboard is interesting.

We've had a small earthquake (we're in brick and glass skyscrapers here), tornadoes, floods (and more to come), winds, damage and fallen trees along with power outages for hundreds of thousands. It doesn't need 24/7 coverage, but it's not nothing either. On top of that, our little corner of the world here in Bucks County, PA had a lone gunman on the loose in the midst of it all.

I've been too busy to watch 24/7 news, as have most of my neighbors and friends -- especially since many were without power. I'm still working on my flooded basement and preparing for the Delaware River surge in our area, expected tomorrow. And we weren't even a direct hit.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1833866

[malletgirl02]

5. PA

I was watching MSNBC, and there was a story about flooding in a PA. I had no idea the hurricane would affect PA so much. Stay safe, and I hope the water recedes soon.

[October]

6. Thank you. I think the media isn't telling the "water" story.

It's not sensational enough, I'm sure.

The storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, but it was huge. Because it was so slow-moving, the water just doused us! Roads are torn up everywhere, and I just read that Philadelphia was the hardest hit city. (We are a suburb of Philly.)

The Delaware River will swell... and it will flood our little towns. We have evacuated those closest to the river, and are prepared as much as we can be...but expect the water to rise fully 3-4 feet above flood stage.

Thank you for the good wishes!!!



Edited title.

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. This is such utter drivel. n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Its a victim-off

The news most important to anyone at any given time is what is happening to them locally.

Nothing going on locally, I'll tune into Libyan coverage, but when a quake happens and a hurricane is on its way to me, Libyan rebels slide WAY down the need-to-know-now scale.

[Lorien]

7. Americans are addicted to infotainment, not news

the MSM ignores real news stories-especially those that don't happen here in the US. We have a global economy without having a global community.

[HubertHeaver]

8. That hurricane is aimed at the Center of the Universe.

How can it not be worthy of "All Hurricane All The Time" coverage?






for the impaired :sarcasm:

[jwirr]

18. What other warning system do we have? When the sirens start blowing

it is too late. We have always used the media - usually in local news but this storm is not local. What media would you have used?

[TwilightGardener]

9. I haven't watched any of the coverage. But it's a big storm, lots of people affected--

even if there isn't mass death and destruction, there are still effects. Nothing wrong with paying attention to that.

[Fumesucker]

10. It's eye leet est to notice that our media is moronic at best..

You just think that you're better than Real 'Murkins.

;)

:hi:

[saras]

11. "Nobody outside takes 24/7 US 'news'-media serious"

This should be the subtitle of EVERY thread reposting corporate media stories.

[cwydro]

12. Rec nt

[XemaSab]

13. How dare the US news treat a potentially deadly storm

IN the US with more attention than they've treated storms outside the US? :eyes:

[malletgirl02]

14. The Hurricane was important

It was very large and had had the potential to affect many states. Sure the media hype stories, but this isn't one to complain about. You know what was a waste of time? covering the royal wedding. The same day tornadoes devastated areas of the south, you know what was the front page of the Washington Post? The damn royal wedding. I will never forget that.

[Retrograde]

15. I've been outside most of the day

Away from radio, TV and the internets. So, what happened? Is NYC still there, or are just the tops of the skyscrapers sticking out of the water?

[jwirr]

16. This isn't any thing new. When I want to college in the 70s, when we

had journalists like Walter Cronkite, the foreign students laughed at what we called news. When asked why they told us we should watch the BBC because it contained news from all over the world not just our own country. They said that if it had not been for Vietnam we would not have known there was another world out there. Nothing has changed.

[itsallhappening]

17. Imagine that.

The US media covering something that happened in the US. Where do we get the nerve!?

Maybe that person in England who said "rest of world doesn't care" might have had a different attitude if this had been another Katrina? Or maybe that person wouldn't. Would we see a post from you castigating the rest of the world for not caring?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. We believe that our stubbed toe hurts more than their broken leg.

Not to mention that all the bug-eyed coverage of it sells a lot of beer and lipstick.

[OwnedByFerrets]

21. Its all about ratings

[Zanzoobar]

20. I wonder if she drives around to find weddings and barges in.

"Don't you know what's happening in the world you self-centered morons!"

[BiggJawn]

22. Bread and Circuses.

Face it, there's just not enough shit happening to easily fill a 24/7 news wheel.

I said EASILY. There's real news out there, but it's easier and cheaper to cover the Kardashian wedding hoping her tits pop out of the dress on camera.

[October]

23. A video showing what the storm brought...

http://vimeo.com/28268912

[ZombieHorde]

24. If I don't like a TV show, I don't watch it.

If I do like a TV show, I try to watch it. I did not watch any TV news yesterday. I watched Tru Blood and Breaking Bad. I enjoyed my television experience, and then I did other things.

If the news reports are hurting people with lies, then I understand the concern, but this is not the case.

[ClassWarrior]

25. Wow, who are the friends of the media whores who are unreccing this?

NGU.

[BlueMTexpat]

26. Well, with all the cancelled international flights, etc., and the fact that

Hurricane Irene could adversely affect some 65 million people or so who were on the ground - at least some of whom were foreign students working at vacation jobs in the beach areas - I believe that this is one time that "American Self-Centeredness" may have been justified.

My principal email address is through a Swiss ISP and whenever I have logged in to my net-based account, the first headlines I have seen (in German) relate either to Libya or to Hurricane Irene.