Blizzard of '05....
Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of hearing the news reports make this out to be some kind of end-of-the-world type shit. We got a foot of snow. And, yes, it's cold. So what's the big deal? Just stay off the roads until the DPW has had the time to plow the streets. And take it slow when you are driving. It really irks me when all the newscasters are using scare tactics, telling everyone "It's going to start snowing at noon. Once it's been snowing for an hour, you had better rach your destination or terrible things will happen to you." Ok, that's not word-for-word what a newscaster would say, but you get the point. Maybe that's why I don't like watching the news.
posted by Matt Dabney @ 1/24/2005 08:07:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I couldn't agree more. The problem is that there are too many news stations and not enough news.
They tend to sensationalize just about everything, in my opinion, because they are competing with so many other sources for your attention that they do anything to grab your attention by shocking you.
Hence, teasers like this: "Could you be slowly killing your own children?!? Details at ten, on Fox."
All we can do to protest is not watch in masses. Come on, people, protest sensationalized news!!!
Actually, Lisa and I have discussed this at length. I laugh at it all the time, how they name these things: "Winter Wallop '05" or "Winter Blast '04", etc... but when I watch I'm responsible for it continuing.
I think back to when Matt Guiney and I got stuck in the Blizzard of 1995 (96?) We went to a high school basketball tournament at MSG on a Saturday, where the top three schools from NJ played the top three schools from NY in basketball. The Super Six, I believe it was called. Tim Thomas played for Paterson Catholic. Anyway, I had a pager then and all morning long my parents and Matt's kept paging me. I kept saying, "Ahh, fuck it, whatever it is it can wait. I don't want to miss any of the games!" Finally we went and checked and our parents were like, "A blizzard is coming! There will be feet of snow! Come home!" Reluctantly, we did before the tourney ended. The ride home was literally an adventure, with its own funny anecdotes. We seriously could've gotten stranded in Fort Lee, and almost did. It was good we left when we did, in other words.
The point of the story? Fast forward ten years. We probably wouldn't even have gone to the tournament. They might have even postponed the tournament. I would've checked the weather before I left.
Am I just older, and more in tune with stuff like weather predictions and driving safely? Have times just changed?
The blizzard of 1996 was like 35 inches of snow. I don't ever remember having that much snow in this area. Also, everyone knew it was coming except for you and Guiney, apparently.
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