I am getting fucking tired of the hyperbole from New Orleans

[Rabrrrrrr]

What is with fucking reporters that they can't just report?

But they have to say it's "hell on earth" and "apocolyptic" (Which is a totally false use of that word to begin with, but let's not even bother ourselves now with that bit of brainlessness),

Thankfully, I can't remember much of the logorrheaic hyperbole I've heard so far, except for:

the especially offensive "Looks like Hiroshima".

FUCK YOU!

JUST FUCKING REPORT!

[rfranklin]

1. Here's a solution....

Pick up remote.

Press "off."

Relax.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Especially the Hiroshima comment coming from a governor no less.

Agreed Rabrrrrrr...it's making me ill. It is what it is.

[ContraBass Black]

54. A nuclear explosion and a flood produce completley different results.

Except for the death.

[GOPisEvil]

3. I'm with you, my friend.

Just say the water is rising and 80% of the city is submerged, etc. I'll attach my own adjectives.

But, if all they did was report, they wouldn't have a chance to bloviate and make their parents proud. :eyes:

[crispini]

That's a quote, you know, the Hiroshima thing.

The mayor of Biloxi said it, (I think) It's hyperbole, but I can't really blame him.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Didn't realize that was the mayor (or some official) who said it.

It's fucking bullshit.

Really pisses me off.

You, sir, have a lot of WET houses as well as quite a few demolished ones. Hiroshima had GONE houses, and 100,000 people with flesh dripping off their bones and worse.

Dumbass ignorant racists.

[crispini]

13. The human cost isn't the same,

but most of Biloxi is just gone, and they by no means have found all the bodies. Supposedly 70% of the people in Biloxi STAYED because they didn't think it would hit them.

It's hyperbole, but it's understandable. I find all of the Monday morning armchair quarterbacking here on DU to be pretty sad. It's so easy to do everything right and say everything right when you're thousands of miles away in the comfort of your living room.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. My real wrath is directed toward the reporters who feel sensationalism is

an appropriate method of reporting.

I can forgive a mayor saying something stupid, though I will still call him on being stupid.

But at least in this thread, the wrath really is directed at the reporters. And not just in this case, but it's a very much general trend all over the board to sensationalize in their reporting and resort to high levels of hyperbolic logorrhea.

[crispini]

19. yeah, I've mostly been watching wdsu.com streaming over the web.

Far superior coverage.

[tigereye]

62. actually I think it was Haley Barbour

the current Gov of Mississippi and former evil head of the RNC.

[William Bloode]

15. Bwahahahahahaha!

I would recommend 1gm of the finest indica/sativa hybrid, or a good valium, and turn the telivision off. I never could understand folks complaining about something they have full control over.

Write them a nice little e-mail, or letter(letter has more impact)turn off the t.v. and chill. No use to get worked up over something like this, does you more harm than good.

[crispini]

18. Did you mean to reply to me?

Just curious.

[William Bloode]

30. No it was to Rab.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. And this is precisely why I never watch news on TV except

when there's a major catastrophe that I know they will have lots of good video and images of. Not that I'm obsessed with disaster, but I like to see just how bad something is, and TV is the best way to get it.

But for anything else, national news (even local news) is worth shit, so I don't watch it.

[William Bloode]

31. I can dig what yer sayin'

I can even dig your disgust, i have been there. It drove me to just to just ignore most of the national media. I just got to the point where i knew it was fruitless to scream at the television.

I know how ya feel on wanting to see the damage to. I have at times in the past day or so even felt guilty for seemingly getting some sick twisted thrill(not a good feeling thrill, but a twisted thrill none the less)from looking for damage reports videos and photos.

Anyway, hope ya feel better later in the day.

[GOPisEvil]

7. Slightly off-topic: Have you heard from your family?

Is everyone at least physically ok?

[crispini]

17. Yes. I am so relieved.

I think my grandma's house is gone, which means I've lost a lot of the family scrapbooks and my momma's china I had stored there, but you know, it's just stuff. As far as I know all of my family is OK.

[GOPisEvil]

23. I'm glad to hear that.

I'd be beside myself just from the "not-knowing". :hug:

[crispini]

26. Oh, I was.

Much, much calmer now! :hug:

[GOPisEvil]

28. Now if we can just get all the DUers accounted for.

I'm sure they're all fine, but I'd like to KNOW. :)

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

22. Actually I think the Hiroshima quote came from the mouth

of Haley Barbour, former Chairman of the RNC and now Governor of Mississippi.

Apparently he told "Little Boots" to stay away as well, but I'm convinced "Dumbya" will show up sometime over the weekend for a photo op.

[crispini]

25. Ah, I wasn't sure who it was.

[Roland99]

4. DUMP CABLE TV!

I've been watching the WDSU and WWL streaming video feeds. Much better info from people who live down there. Not the rhetoric and sensationalism that the cable networks use to bolster ratings.

[SheilaT]

6. From what I've seen

on TV, the hyperbole seems appropriate. The views of the Mississippi coast line really do look a lot like the coasts all along the path of last December's tsunami. Total destruction.

Because there was good advance warning, many people were able to evacuate, so the loss of life here is nothing like it was in the Pacific last year. But many thousands have lost absolutely everything, and I know I can't really begin to imagine what that's like.

My bigger complaint is the lack of real organized substantive reporting, such as showing me what I-10 looks like, along with a map showing just which parts of it are wrecked. But Keith Olbermann seems to be doing a better job than most. And Nightline last night was pretty coherent.

The other problem is that this is still a developing story. And so the narrative arc just isn't there.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. I don't mind the lack of narrative arc - I can live with that -

what pisses me off is the bullshit hyperbole.

"Lives shattered by Katrina" - just heard that one from a guy in a helicopter looking at destruction.

[theflyscotsman]

11. Racists? Stop the hyperbole!

...If you think the mayor of Biloxi was exaggerating to say his city looks like Hiroshima, you haven't seen Biloxi. The place is a litterbox. If it weren't for the flooding, they'd have been stomped harder than NO. It's flattened, some of their neighborhoods are sawdust. Yes, it looks like someone set off an atomic bomb.

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. Very ironic of me, wasn't it?

I still think it's an inappropriate reference to compare storm damage to Hiroshima.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. And ABC's graphic is "Katrina's WRATH"

emphasis mine.

Katrina had no wrath - it was a STORM. It was not a thinking life form. It brought destruction, but it did not bring wrath.

FUCK, people.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Naaaah....you got it wrong, she was just passing through on her

way to a honeymoon with Andrew. The other day, I heard the storm called "The Bride of Andrew". WTH?

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Are you serious? The "Bride of Andrew"?

Cripes.

[theflyscotsman]

14. well that's just...

stupid.

Next month: Night of the Living Hurricane!

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. and "Attack of the Killer Hurricane"....

it's really sad. Rabrrrrrr is right.

[samplegirl]

44. Bush's wrath

Global warming is alive & well.

[TK421]

24. Before this thing hit, some reporter said something about a disaster

of "biblical" proportions...I can't remember who, but that pissed me off!

[Rabrrrrrr]

29. That's stupid, too

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. Oh,Christ - now they're calling it "America's Tsunami"

FUCK!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!


AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[underpants]

33. Lauer used "Like Hiroshima" this morning

See this about the Mayor of NO
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4523299

[Deep13]

34. devil's advocate

N.O. and much of MI, AL and LA are completely submerged. The water in question contains sewerage and toxic chemicals. Soon water borne diseases will start. Most structures cannot be fixed simply by draining them. It is doubtful if N.O. will ever be habitable again. This was one of America's favorite cities and it is just plain gone. The comparison I heard with Hiroshima was that it "looked" like it, not that the death toll was the same. When I say the photos, I have the exact same thought. Sometimes a little hyperbole can tell the truth better than a mountain of facts, especially when the audience has limited attention span and is composed of people who are emotional as well as intellectual.

The reporters can be excused for seeming cliched when discussing one of the worst if not the worst natural disaster in American history.

[SoCalDem]

35. CNN "promised" this morning to "bring you the stories"

of survival..

Gee thanks,but no-thanks.. Oprah can do that..we need the "news" organizations to report the news...not the sob stories.. There are as many 'survival stories' as there are survivors....millions

The media's job is to INFORM us of necessary information..

starting with, but not limited to:

1. what are the plans now?
2. reminding people why there are few national guard available these days
3. perhaps some investigative reporting about WHY so many felt they could not evacuate/..money??pets??transportation??lack of infrastructure to help them leave??
4. why communications between responders is non-existent (9-11 ring a bell?)
5. serious discussion about 'sensible' future use of coastal land (hint: not for private homes or housing of any kind)
6. insurance gaps that are always talked about immediately after a disaster, and then pushed back under the rug


those are for starters.

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. I like your list!

[moez]

37. The hyperbole is all over

I just saw a DU post that compared the SuperDome to a concentration camp....

I didn't quite realize that they had begun cooking the refugees just yet.

[Rabrrrrrr]

52. Unbelievable.

Yep, just like a concentration camp. Filled with refugees waiting for the government to help them find new housing while they're being fed and watched over by the red cross and other caring organizations.

Yep, just like Auschwitz.

[Catfight]

38. The Hiroshima comment disgusted me. I turned off the radio after

that comment. Also the lady on AM radio who was saying, send MONEY MONEY MONEY...not food, not water...MONEY...as if they can go to the local market to buy food and water. I just turned off the radio in complete disgust this morning wishing 'little w' would be impeached for being a complete failure abroad AND at home. This is his breeding and greeding ground of hate and greed. He perpetuated this world of division, he broke it, he should be held responsible to fix it or get the HELL out. We are under an evil dictator and most american's don't even see it...or at least 20% of them that listen to that hateful propaganda all day. The rightwing media whores are completely out of control with SHRILL!

[LynneSin]

39. I hate this "It's our Tsaumani"

No it's not - it's a nightmare but at least you KNEW the hurricane was coming to town! Those people in Southeast Asia had no clue.

If a tornado or major flood ripped through downtown Wilmington I would never refer it as "Our Katrina". Major disasters in life are not something we hope and strive to have one day.

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. That pisses me off, too. I heard that this morning and thought I'd puke.

Fucking idiot asshole fucks.

"This is our tsunami" - yeah, the deaths of 250,000 along thousands of miles of coastlands with, maybe, a couple hours warning for the lucky ones, is EXACTLY similar to a couple hundred miles of damage and 100 deaths from something that they had days worth of warning.

At least, when that destruction and death occur in America it's just like the tsunami, because one American life is worth, like, 2500 brown-skinned lives.

Fucking useless fucking fuck assholes.

[southlandshari]

40. MS Gov. Hayley Barbour = "looks like Hiroshima"

That one is ridiculous, I agree, but not a concoction of the MSM.

Maybe I'm just a big sap, and naive, and too willing to find some way to believe that there is still good in most of us mere mortals (even those who work for the MSM).....

But honestly - I think a hell of lot of the "sensational" claims they are making right now are accurate. Or understatements. Not hyperbole. Every now and then, things really ARE what they seem. As loathe as I am to trust anything the MSM reports - though I keep on watching and reading waiting for some sign of life - this time, I think those on the ground are doing their best to call it as they see it.

Despite all the corporate garbage, the intentional bias, the misuse of language, the pre-planned talking points that I have no doubt are rampant in cable and network news arenas these days - in spite of all that, the reporters on the ground are human. And there is just something about the kind of overwhelming suffering and flat out heart-breaking reality they are seeing that I've got to believe touches many, if not most of them.

The gulf coast of Mississippi DOES resemble a war zone in terms of physical devastation. In fact, I doubt one of our nation's insidious Daisy Cutter bombs could wreak more havoc on an area than has this hurricane. New Orleans and surrounding areas are still flooding, the waters are still rising. People have no food, no potable water, conditions are rapidly deteriorating - and many more people will die, I'm afraid, because of the horrible public health problems that are coming than died in the actual storm. And the victims will, of course, come largely from the poorest part of the population of this obscenely wealthy nation.

I went to journalism school decades ago because I believed that reporters were one of the last bastions of truth-telling in this world. I have been so bitterly disappointed and angry over the past several years that I'm disgusted I wasted those education dollars on such a meaningless degree.

But today, I'm cutting these reporters some slack. They aren't embedded with any government agency or troop platoon. There is no centcom in New Orleans or Biloxi. There are no press releases or carefully scripted tours of the areas. These folks are out there with the rest of the lost, wounded, scared and overwhelmed men, women and children who have no fucking clue what they are going to do in the next hour, much less the rest of their lives.

Sorry. Rant off.

[Taverner]

42. Honestly I think everyone there is shocked beyond words

I've seen several journalists lose it on national TV, breaking up and shedding tears.

When pushed to the limit, we use the words that best describe how we feel - despite our need to be objective...

[crispini]

45. Great rant!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[fluffernutter]

47. ITA.

good post.

[Redstone]

48. I agree completely, (with the exception of Fox, of course);

Many of the reporters I've seen seem truly stunned (cf. the Weather Channel guy in Gulfport).

They're doing the best they can, I agree.

I don't think they need too much criticism, unless the criticizer has been in the same situation.

Though I'd sure like to see some of those news helicopters picking some people up instead of just taking videos.

Redstone

[imperialismispasse]

57. I agree completely.

[hnsez]

41. looks like "Bush's America" to me

[samplegirl]

43. why dont they call it what it really is??????????

Operation Global Warming Aftermath!!!

[redqueen]

46. I don't think they know how to "just report" anymore...

I can't watch.

[SOteric]

49. I'm not sure they know how to do that Rabrrrrrr.

They have no examples to follow, and it's been the better part of 3 crops of newbie reporters since we heard anything resembling an evenhanded, balanced news report.

I do feel your pain, though. It's been vexing me for a while that reporters, - and even the population in general, seem to rely so heavily on hyperbole to pursuade.

I have a Turkish friend who made the comment that she felt "no group in the U.S. could print a political tract that would pursuade anyone who didn't already agree with them." In large part due to pervasive hyperbole and sound bites, we've forgotten how to elaborate our thinking process in a rational way.

Errr....uhm...Except your hyperbole for artistic purposes in mid-rant. That's just charming. :hi:

[Gormy Cuss]

50. " But would people watch if we just reported?"

I think 'devastation' and 'disaster' convey the message effectively, but that's just me.

Without the overblown comparisons perhaps they'd have time to report on W's detached response to a major disaster yet again.



edited for spelling

[Lydia Leftcoast]

56. I don't know--the pictures alone are pretty compelling

especially to those of us who have been to New Orleans.

This is a disaster unprecedented in American history: a major city made uninhabitable. I don't think even San Francisco in 1906 or Galveston in whenever was as completely devastated. As I recall, San Franciscans who weren't actually under the rubble were able to leave for undamaged areas pretty easily. Even the people in the bombed cities of Europe during WWII were often able to camp out in the rubble and find functioning water taps and salvage canned goods and blankets from their homes.

The only analogy I can think of for the New Orleans disaster are the effects of some of those cyclones in Bangladesh.

The reporters are falling back on cliches or inept comparisons because they literally do not know what else to say. But I wish they would remember the saying, "If you can't say something apt, don't say anything at all."

[Gormy Cuss]

58. "if you can't say some apt...."

Too true. Reporter blather is something we should be used to by now. When public officials start breaking down or raging, it's a bad sign. In the first press conference Haley Barbour gave he looked like he was suppressing tears. When Gov. Blanco said everyone would be moved out of Orleans Parish, I knew that it was much worse than they were letting on.
We are planning to house people in a sports arena for Pete's sake. We are not prepared for a disaster on this scale. That is certain. I have no idea if we should have been prepared to handle it (I'll let experts hash that one out) but I do know that our president thought it was important to keep to his appearance schedules with only brief asides mentioning the hurricane. Would it have hurt to stay in Crawford nearer the scene and run a command post? It would have been disruptive for him to go on site, but even window dressing in Texas would have been better than acting like it wasn't a priority.

I haven't been to the Mississippi coast so I don't relate to the visuals there, but I have been to NOLA and I am stunned every time I see a visual of an area where I've been. The aerial photos are a Waterworld. I agree this is nothing like anything most Americans can understand. The best analogy to SF 1906/Galveston is that people are completely cut off from news and have no idea how long they will be expected to fend for themselves. I am glad the officials are finally biting the bullet and moving out everybody.

[miss_kitty]

51. Rabrrrrrr, You might find this link very interesting

http://www.colorado.edu/IBS/hazards/qr/qr117.html

I've killed two looting thread posting quotes from it...It backs up your anger on this with a study of disaster 'reporting' and its effects on our outlook and mythology regarding human behaviour in the aftermath of a major disaster-Hard news v Soft news.

[2bfree]

55. I wonder what words we would use to describe NO if we were there right now

Reporters get on my nerves as well but of course that is easy for me to say sitting in my dry home watching TV. :(

[SocratesInSpirit]

59. Right on!

Snarky cartoon squirrel Foamy has a good rant regarding reporters and Hurricane Katrina, thought you might be interested:

http://www.illwillpress.com/
(link to video is direct center of page, can't link directly, unfortunately)

[Rabrrrrrr]

60. That's fucking brilliant!!

"Stop stealing shit and help! I find it disturbing that people are looting while other people need help!"

And "stop reporting, and go fucking help people!"

[SocratesInSpirit]

61. Glad you liked it...

...I would have posted it as a discussion topic, but of course I am too new to start threads yet. :)

[WildEyedLiberal]

64. That was great

I, too, find it disturbing that a cartoon squirrel cares more about the human aspect of this tragedy than most media talking heads and hand-wringers on blogs. :P

[SocratesInSpirit]

65. Me too!

I enjoy Foamy's rants, he's spot on about a lot of stuff.

[crispini]

63. That guy from LSU was estimating 30,000 dead

from his storm models.

Do you still think they're being hyperbolic?

[Rabrrrrrr]

66. Hyperbole is hyperbole. Doesn't matter how many die.

[The empressof all]

67. People experience, express and cope with grief in different ways

The MSM folks there are not immune to what they are seeing. How can they be...many are surrounded by it. It's perfectly understandable to use hyperbole in these kinds of situations. You hear it at funerals all the time.... It's just as understandable to hear denial and anger.

I think to some extent the MSM focus on the looting is a mis-directed coping reaction....Crime they can understand..... Observing Total devastation is not something one can prepare yourself for. The unfortunate by-product of this though is that it demonizes and de-humanizes the victims. I'm not justifying the ethics of this just observing.

But I know for me, I've been experiencing a wide range of emotions over the past 24 hours and if using some inaccurate language in the process is one of my sins....Well then so it goes. We're all trying to understand this event in the best way we know how.

Thanks for your Rant Rabrrrr.....I don't know if it made you feel better. I know my own screaming at the TV set hasn't helped me. Hopefully time will.