My local weekend news anchor just said something that outraged me...

[XOKCowboy]

My local CBS station had a mini-newscast during halftime of the Broncos game. The first item of course was about the rescue effort in Galveston. The cute little talking head flippantly reported that the people being rescued were "those who refused to leave". She had a big smile when she said it also.

I've already called their comment line reminding them that many had no opportunity to leave. I was so mad I hope was coherent.

Rant off. Thanks for listening.

[EFerrari]

1. That seems to be the talking point.

Only @ssholes need help in a disaster.

[XOKCowboy]

2. It was said like it was total fact. Only the stupid need help

Pure pablum for people who only get their news during halftime of a Broncos game I guess... :shrug:

[EFerrari]

4. One word for it is "de-sensitizing". We are being taught

that other people don't deserve help.

[Union Thug]

8. You are dead on. This is how it is done. The message is

being delivered 24/7, while we are paying attention and while we are not. This demonstrates very well how propaganda is delivered in the 21st century. I've been watching the subtle word play in the coverage of labor disputes over the past several years and it is precisely this kind of subtle messaging that delivers the punch.

Good on you for pointing it out.

[EFerrari]

10. if they're going to do 24/7, we have to do 24/7.

Game ON.

[lligrd]

3. I've Seen The Same Thing On DU

It seems blaming the victim is all the rage these days.

[pitohui]

11. i've seen it too and it really pisses me off

in southwest louisiana people did not "refuse" to leave, they were given shitty information!

people are being rescued in terrebonne parish who could not AFFORD to leave for a second mandatory evacuation, after spending all of their small resources to leave for gustav, they had nothing left for ike

i'm confident the same is true of cameron, but have heard no news from cameron parish as of yet

the estimated cost for a family to evacuate for gustav was $1000 -- a sum of money that may sound like nothing to many middle-aged DINKS but which is incredibly hard to come by for working poor families in rural louisiana -- this might represent every bit of discretionary savings for a year

we need better weather forecasting and we need politicians to base evacuation orders on SCIENCE not on election year politics

to hear the media would talk you would think everyone in texas is filthy rich, somehow i strongly suspect this not to be the case and imagine that any number of working poor saw what happened with gustav and simply couldn't AFFORD to spend that kind of money just to jump when a politician says how high

if they want people to comply with evacuation orders, they need to be accurate and not based on hysteria or politics

gustav was NOT the "mother of all storms," nor was ike -- too much hype, too little truth, and people simply can't afford to buy into it

[lligrd]

14. Exactly, Add Up The Extreme Inconvenience And The Cost

of evacuating and filter in the fact that governmental agencies often won't allow you back in after the storm to start cleaning and protecting your property along with the number of storms and exaggerated forecasts and you have a recipe designed to make people ignore the orders.

What is really scary is that these were not the "mother of all storms" (God, how I hate that term.) and look what occurs. What will happen when the big ones really do hit?

[RoyGBiv]

12. Indeed, and it sickens me ...

It started before the storm even hit.

It was like all the talking points for post-Katrina, all the rationalizations for disposing of fellow human beings, of thinking of them as nothing but pieces of the herd to be culled had been pulled out of cold storage with only the place names changed. And, it seemed to be worse, more shrill, more utterly pathetic in its complete lack of decency the more horrific the potential eventual death toll seemed to be.

Furthermore, it amazes me how people sitting safely in their comfortable chairs, sequestered from the real world outside, are capable of presuming to know, with precision, the circumstances of others, right up to their politics and world view. One sees a guy walking along a beach that's about to be under water, and, well, of course that is just some "moran" who voted gladly for Bush twice and deserves to drown.

Or ... it could be someone who has $10 to his name (he was getting paid Monday, but Monday may never get here) and realizes that's about enough gasoline to put him in the middle of Houston, where the storm is going to follow him, after which he has nothing to do but sit out in the open air and let it come after him, and he decided that if he's going to die, he's at least going to see the ocean one more time.

People don't know shit about what goes into the thoughts of others, but they think they do, because by-god if it were them in that situation, well, they'd be absolutely perfect with every thought and action they carried out.

Feh.

[lligrd]

15. Well Said nt

[Democrats_win]

5. Do they know for certain that they "refused" to leave? MSM editorializes instead of just the facts.

What they do know for sure is that some people did not leave. The reasons for this may not be that they "refused."

[EFerrari]

9. Their job is to make those people look like bad guys

not to report the "news".

I hope I can ask for help or even offer help without the corporate media trying to tell me or my neighbors what to think about each other when we need something. :grr:

[sandnsea]

6. That and "neighbors helping neighbors"

Oh yeah, the hurricane coverage couldn't be more scripted. It's sickening.

[XOKCowboy]

7. Thanks for the 7 recs for my rant

I guess a few other people are seeing the same thing. Luckily I have the internet and alternate news sources.

Still wishing for the best for those folks stranded. Whether they decided to stay or not.

[RagAss]

13. why not share the # of that comment line....

[XOKCowboy]

16. I'd be happy to...

It was News4 Denver. 303-830-6449

[EFerrari]

17. Skeletor probably sent out a fax because the Houston station did it, too.

I emailed them about it.