This morning on the radio there was a story about the latest hurricane to strike the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia. At the end, the broadcaster informs us of one American tourist who is reported missing and presumed dead.
Next story.
In fairness, it’s radio. It’s also Canadian radio so why do we care about this faceless American whose family is likely in a panic wondering about their whereabouts of their daughter, mother, sister, niece or aunt.
But the same thing happens in local traffic reports.
Someone is dead due to an accident on Hwy. 401, which means traffic is stopped and won’t improve until long after the rush hour.
How rude of that person to get into a car accident, die and inconvenience the rest of us trying to get to work that day.
I realize it’s the traffic report and that is why people are listening, but it often doesn’t become news either.
And to me, it just seems cold.
Someone is dead. Dozens of other people will no longer be the same and we glazed over the end of their story for headaches about our morning commute.
It just seems cold.
9 comments:
I'm not sure if it is an age thing (not calling you old...) but I have a much harder time brushing over things like that, just as you're saying.
When we watch a disaster movie as a family the rest of them are going on about excellent graphics and CGI and I'm calculating the loss of life.
We need to retain that tenderness.
I think it's good that you aren't cold and calloused. Sometimes we just get too used to hearing about this stuff.
It is cold. I was travelling in the summer and there was a highway accident in which 6 people died. Some people were actually complaining about the delay. The delay was considerable, yes, but a whole family DIED.
Unfortunately, bad news sells. It seems people want to hear bad news. And, if your realistic about it, wouldn't it be boring to just hear good things on the news. Think about it.
Yes, I feel for people who have lost someone or people die in horrible disasters. I feel for lives lost in a war that is becoming another Vietnam.
And NO, it is not an age thing with me, but unfortunately that's what makes the world go round.
Sick yes, the truth yes.
Sorry if I offended anyone.
I have to say, this post kind of surprised me coming from you, seeing as how you're in the media business yourself and have a better idea than most of us about the inner workings of it. The part that you feel it is cold doesn't surprise me though. You've always been such a warm, caring person (which is why I'm so glad we're friends after all these years!)The way I figure it is that so many people die everyday, so really, reporting more about those stories would probably get redundant, not to mention bog up the amount of stories and news to read. I think you're right, people just want to know about the fact that traffic is bad, and why.But maybe if they did report a little more about who these poor people were, or what lead them to have an accident, maybe we'd be more inclined to take more care ourselves.
expillEagedia
[URL=http://moon.cs.uh.edu/trac/WiserAnalyzer/ticket/16650]free online dating site[/URL]
NescreemTrake
That makes me feel weird too - when all I hear is that a fatal accident has caused a jam. And I think, how can you just mention it in passing like that? Makes me sad.
Hey,
This is a question for the webmaster/admin here at thisandthatday.blogspot.com.
Can I use part of the information from your post above if I give a backlink back to this site?
Thanks,
Thomas
I suppose it would be colder if nobody bothered to put it in the news...it seems the older I get, the more differently I view things...
Post a Comment