Sleep day. Laundry day. Plan-mini-trip-to-Saskatoon day.
Bum around the internet and find things worthy of blogging about day. Entirely accidentally of course.
Things you should know about me first: I browse using tabs. Meaning that I'm usually following two or more "threads" of the internet at any given time. For instance, upon discovering what I'm coming up to mentioning, I was also simultaneously playing the new point-and-click game from Minoto. Heck, right now I have four tabs open: Twitter, the thing I'm going to tell you about, the place I'm writing this blog, and the tab I just used to find a link to Minoto games. If this were third year of nursing school, I would probably diagnose myself with post-partum depression based on my inability to focus on/finish one task.
Anyways, point being, while cruising Twitter, I came across an article that Perez Hilton had posted about the Nashville Flood. "The Nashville-what?" you may ask. Well, as it turns out, there was this HUGE flood in Nashville last week. The river rose over 13 feet, dykes broke, 30 people are dead (mostly from flash flooding), the Grand Ole Opry is flooded out and loads of people are currently homeless. Pretty crazy, if you ask me. Reminds me of Katrina a lot. Thing is though: there's not a lot of news about it.
I actually can't remember where I first heard about there being a flood, though I have a strong suspicion it was on Twitter via Perez Hilton, etc. I DO remember that it was Perez who posted a link to a swack-load of photos taken from inside the Opryland Hotel post-flooding. There was water up to the doors! Covering the doors! It was like looking into the Titanic, minus the sinking, and everyone was already evacuated and safely some other place. Crazy stuff!
There is supposed to be a hallway there. And an emergency exit! Terrifying!
Okay, anyways, point is: without Perez Hilton, it would have taken me a while to find out about this. It hasn't really been in the news, and even on CBC.ca, there is scant information (oooh! Scant... using an nursing word for real world things!). I'm really disappointed. This seems like a pretty big natural disaster issue here.
But then again, I guess this isn't happening....
And neither is this:
I'll concede that the Gulf Oil spill is a crisis for the environment, and therefore the planet as a whole. But the bomb scare? Monger your fear! (I'm totally going to recant these statements later, I can just feel it coming on...)
A mighty big flood washes away homes, infrastructure, history and landmarks, yet doesn't get airtime equal to that of a near-miss and another natural disaster. I don't get it.
The point of all these pictures, is to direct you to "Why The Media Ignored The Nashville Flood". an article for Newsweek by Andrew Romano. Click here to find it. Mr. Romano speculates that the reason the Nashville flood didn't get as much news coverage is because:
1. It wasn't a politically charged story. No scandals, no name calling, no terrorists.
2. It didn't have enough follow up potential. It wasn't a developing story, it was over.
3. The other news outlets weren't reporting on it. Peer pressure: dumbing you down since elementary school.
I liked this article. It's short, it's sweet, and it makes me feel like I should be reading The Guardian way more often. Same with Feministing. What else in the world am I missing out on? I already know there are innumerable other causes never being reported on. Obviously I can't know them all. In this small town, I'm torn between choosing blindness or attempting to remain educated in current events.
Then again, why bother with them with I am clearly getting well-rounded news in multiple media formats via this guy:
Awesome.
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