Flipping through the propaganda channels last night I came across an anchorman interviewing a scientist who spent five hours flying through the eye of Rita:
Anchorman: “So is Rita a stronger storm than Katrina?”
Scientist: “I wouldn’t say it’s stronger. It’s definitely shaped differently.”
Anchorman: “So wouldn’t the different shape make it a stronger storm than Katrina?”
Scientist: “No.”
Anchorman: “Oh.” (disappointed)
Then they went on to show a “Worst case scenario” graphic that wipes out the entire city of Galveston, TX. Oh please, please! That level of human suffering would put us on top of Nielsons for weeks!
So they have no soul - this is nothing new. Even still, I don’t think they are seeing the big picture. On that graphic, just a few miles north of Galveston was a little place called Texas City. This is where most of my actually cool coworkers live and I talk to them daily. Just off the graphic is another city call Houston, where another one of my not lame coworkers is currently boarded in to her house with her kids and eight dogs.
The reason she is there and not running north is because the chemical industry does not sleep. Even if you are anti-big business or anti-chemical companies, I defy you to go a day without using them. Chemicals and plastics are used in *everything*. Phones, computers, fabrics, paper, paint, roads, metal coatings for bridges and buildings, medicine and food. And guess where the majority of it is produced? The Texas Gulf Coast.
So when the media’s worst case happens and everything is wiped out, they will gleefully raise their commercial spot rates only to find their advertisers disappear because they can no longer afford to make the products they are trying to sell.
To quote the anchorman: “Oh.”