Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Katrinic Nostalgia

I get a sense from the papers and the television that the proverbial Talking Heads are wishing for another Katrina. Maybe this is to be expected. The Heads make their living off of news. The bigger and splashier the item the better the ratings. This creates a classic imbalance of incentives. Since tragedy and misery love ratings as well as company, the Heads have an incentive for such things to be--and therefore a natural inclination to perhaps inflame what they are charged with simply reporting (does anyone else remember the reporter-in-canoe-in-four inches of water?).

Katrina was bad enough all by itself. Still, the hyperbola persists as we are barraged by reports on the "One Year anniversary of the Greatest Disaster in American History." Greatest Disaster? Hardly--not by any measure that I can think of. Still it was bad and it was the biggest story of last year. What is worse, there has not been a bigger story (In the media sense, that is. I would argue that the proxy war with Iran is a more potent drama, but the fact that it is a "proxy" war dims the headlines. But I digress).

Ernesto? A mere blip of a rainmaker captures the imagination of all of the "Stone" wanna-bes hoping for a seminal event to make or brake their journalistic careers. We are left to sift through this drek and egotistic pandering and play-acting. Nothing short of another "Real" disaster will satiate the medias appetites--red in tooth and claw as it is. So they sit, haplessly waiting for tragedy to come to us again. Feeling glee when others face hardship and encouraging them to suffer more.

Monday, August 28, 2006




Hello. This is the first post of my new blog. There is not an author around that does not possess at least a bit of ego. Bloggers are no exception. Readers of this blog will accompany me as I attempt, on a daily basis, to "rise above the noise and confusion, just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion" (Kansas)--to bring some order to the media chaos--to shine a bit of my unique insight into the matters and issues that surround us. There is certainly a need for it, and I think that I am the right guy for the job.

I have chosen a crowded field to be sure. But I think that there is enough room on the Web for me as well. I welcome comments and suggestions--but be prepared for a response. I will generally be polite and fair, but that doesn't mean I will suffer foolishness easily.

Let's start, shall we?

Huckleberry