Am I the only one that blames the Media?
We here in Houston now have to deal with the aftermath of Rita, and the legacy that that entails. For the week prior to the Hurricane the entire nation was assaulted by images of Katrina, bodies floating down the streets, tales of how horrible conditions would be here in Houston by a direct strike, the deaths that would occur, and other obviously alarmist information presented in a calculated method to inspire the one thing that seems to cause TV News ratings to soar, Fear.
Government, at all levels, in fact did an FANTASTIC job at planning, executing, and communicating, but the news media inspired, skirting the edges of legality but in my opinion throwing ethics out the window, such a blind panic that the recommended evacuation plan quickly went out the window as 2.5 Million people PANICKED and fled the Greater Houston Area, all at the same time, on but three main roads, US 59, I 45, and I10, not to mention a host of Farm to Market roads.
The plan was simple ... everyone that is in a likely flood zone or a weaker structure, evacuate. Everyone else, shelter in place. If the plan had been followed, only about half of the people that evacuated would have been on the roads and lives would have been spared.
My family followed the local government's recommendation to shelter in place, being as we are 70 miles from the coast and well outside the 100 year flood plain. Some of my co-workers from the Beaumont area are in Houston until the power returns to their subdivisions, but they sheltered in place with almost a direct hit and survived quite well, many with no damage to their homes in fact.
34 people lost their lives, not including those poor people that burned to death in a bus right outside of Dallas, during the evacuation. Funny thing, most didn't evacuate during Ivan last year, or other hurricanes previously, but why, suddenly, did they change their minds and decide that the shelter that sustained them during previous hurricanes would suddenly not be enough to ensure their fate would not be that of a lazy news image of a body floating down a flooded street in New Orleans.
The Media is no longer in the business of discovering and reporting the TRUTH, but now have sadly been bastardized by another base emotion, GREED, and market their products, panic and fear, as well as any snake oil salesman that ever existed, ensuring that the public awaits breathlessly for the next installment of information to ensure their perception of safety.
Government, at all levels, in fact did an FANTASTIC job at planning, executing, and communicating, but the news media inspired, skirting the edges of legality but in my opinion throwing ethics out the window, such a blind panic that the recommended evacuation plan quickly went out the window as 2.5 Million people PANICKED and fled the Greater Houston Area, all at the same time, on but three main roads, US 59, I 45, and I10, not to mention a host of Farm to Market roads.
The plan was simple ... everyone that is in a likely flood zone or a weaker structure, evacuate. Everyone else, shelter in place. If the plan had been followed, only about half of the people that evacuated would have been on the roads and lives would have been spared.
My family followed the local government's recommendation to shelter in place, being as we are 70 miles from the coast and well outside the 100 year flood plain. Some of my co-workers from the Beaumont area are in Houston until the power returns to their subdivisions, but they sheltered in place with almost a direct hit and survived quite well, many with no damage to their homes in fact.
34 people lost their lives, not including those poor people that burned to death in a bus right outside of Dallas, during the evacuation. Funny thing, most didn't evacuate during Ivan last year, or other hurricanes previously, but why, suddenly, did they change their minds and decide that the shelter that sustained them during previous hurricanes would suddenly not be enough to ensure their fate would not be that of a lazy news image of a body floating down a flooded street in New Orleans.
The Media is no longer in the business of discovering and reporting the TRUTH, but now have sadly been bastardized by another base emotion, GREED, and market their products, panic and fear, as well as any snake oil salesman that ever existed, ensuring that the public awaits breathlessly for the next installment of information to ensure their perception of safety.
posted by Mark at 12:12 PM
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