Is it abnormal, or are we bored?
I was amused to discover that Eastland County Texas had made national news. Fires, apparently, are rushing over this area of the country and the "government spokesmen" is hoping to evacuate the entire county. This is tragic, for all those who have houses there. I need to ask my mom if there are any insurance concerns, but if I remember correctly, fire is always covered. It's hurricanes that get complicated. If the storm destroys your house, no problem. If it was flooding, though, then you have to have separate insurance. So, as as unfortunate as it is, hopefully everyone who has home insurance in these counties scouraged by wildfires will find adequate reimbursement on their property if it is burned down.
However, this has been a rather strange year. We started it out donating huge sum of money to Tsunami relief effort. Then Katrina came and we donated more. Then Rita came and I am almost certain there were several other large hurricanes or storms outside of those two. Now we have wildfires and flooding in the west. Have natural disasters been springing up rapidly, or has there been a sudden interest in the news consumer market for stories about natural disasters? I suppose we could be wearying of politics, controversy, and war, and therefore what something else to be miserable about that can't be solved. You are supposed to keep up with politics, because you are responsible for who's in charge. When something goes wrong, it almost like it's the citizens fault for not paying close enough attention. Nature, however, is not elected. It is the ultimate us verses them. We humans have to stick together if we want to survive the cruelty of the universe, regardless of the internal conflicts of our species.
I don't remember another year where so much of this stuff happen and with such violent force. I remember Andrew, but did several other natural disasters happen that year at the same time? Or is there something about human memory that makes us want to believe that whatever misfortune that exists right now is the worst that has ever happened, regardless if it is or is not? If that's the case, I wonder what that says about our perception of the situation in Iraq.
Hm... Well, I'm going to go play some more Zelda.
However, this has been a rather strange year. We started it out donating huge sum of money to Tsunami relief effort. Then Katrina came and we donated more. Then Rita came and I am almost certain there were several other large hurricanes or storms outside of those two. Now we have wildfires and flooding in the west. Have natural disasters been springing up rapidly, or has there been a sudden interest in the news consumer market for stories about natural disasters? I suppose we could be wearying of politics, controversy, and war, and therefore what something else to be miserable about that can't be solved. You are supposed to keep up with politics, because you are responsible for who's in charge. When something goes wrong, it almost like it's the citizens fault for not paying close enough attention. Nature, however, is not elected. It is the ultimate us verses them. We humans have to stick together if we want to survive the cruelty of the universe, regardless of the internal conflicts of our species.
I don't remember another year where so much of this stuff happen and with such violent force. I remember Andrew, but did several other natural disasters happen that year at the same time? Or is there something about human memory that makes us want to believe that whatever misfortune that exists right now is the worst that has ever happened, regardless if it is or is not? If that's the case, I wonder what that says about our perception of the situation in Iraq.
Hm... Well, I'm going to go play some more Zelda.
posted by Jesi E. at 1/01/2006 05:29:00 PM
2 Comments:
it's the apocalypse! repent now! actually, the incidences of natural disasters is abnormally high this year.
Some thoughts...
Statistics...well at least most of them say that there hasn't been an increase in storms over the last 100 years.
We do seem to be more aware of natural disasters this year. If I can make some observations...I can't see that we Americans care anymore about storms even in light of the ad nauseum war coverage.
Though we don't really "care" anymore about storms...the media has blitzed us with storm images making it difficult not to "focus" on those events. The images of Katrina's aftermath weren't anymore gruesome than a dozen other storms in the last 15 years.
The question to ask is why the media has chosen to focus on these things?
First analyze what the news media is composed of. The owners of the majority of broadcast and print media companies are far-left socialists who employ directors and executives who are the same. The news that is emitted from these companies is painted in socialist colors. Just as talk-radio has a right-wing bias.
It's unreasonable to think that news owners/directors unintentionally manipulate their news with no desire to achieve some purpose.
Katrina was especially an interesting case because it uniquely demonstrated a near complete break-down in government control and order throughout an entire city...and not isolated incidents along a 500 mile Hurricane hit coast. There was a unique concentration of looting and attacks in the heart of a major American city.
It this break-down in order that socialists despise. They also see it as an opportunity to use it for their devices. Exagerate the damage and then blame the Federal Government. Because poorer people are less mobile...and more apt to tolerate crime in their neighborhoods...it was poor people who were left in the city...preyed upon poor gangsters. This allowed the poverty card to be played.
The opportunity to make another case for the enlargement of Federal Government power appeared...and it was well taken advantage of.
I don't think so much that we tend to believe our situation is worse than what has occurred before...perhaps it's that we are told that it is so much worse and don't care enough to decide otherwise.
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