# CNN: Soulless vultures. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258 "2005-08-30T15:05:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/21 "2005-08-30T16:47:08Z")
> [@furt](#): > > On the plus side of the ledger, there’s this exchange, aired live: I heard that. I mean, really, what was he going to say? “I can’t afford a car so I’m stuck here?” Who’d say that on TV? ---
**Author:** ![Cynical\_Optimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Cynical\_Optimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynical_Optimist)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/22 "2005-08-30T17:12:01Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > Oh, and who can forget the overblown coverage of that one guy? > > You know, some media outlet has some phoned-in report from a man in his house who says he will ride out the rising water, since he has an aze and a crowbar and will break through his roof when it comes to that. > > Every media outlet I’ve listened to or watched has repeated this story _ad infinitum_. The head of FEMA was on TV, and mentioned “I know we have reports of people breaking through their attics with axes”. But he was basically saying that they couldn’t get to anyone for awhile, and anyone who ignored the evac order was Shit-Out-Of-Luck. > > I think that story is headed for Snopes. The best line was “I want to live”. Really? So why the fuck did you stay in the path of a cat-anything hurricane?!? Shit, here in MA we’ve heard all about it, and we’re not going to get anything more than a pleasant evening shower from this storm. Those of you at ground zero must be hearing about it 24/7 for DAYS ON END before it hit. Plenty of time to get the fuck out of Dodge, even if you don’t have a car. Fine, stay your sorry ass behind. Run for mayor of Atlantis/Vienna West for all I care. People like this make me think Tool could have written Aenema about them. _Learn to swim, see you down in Oklahoma bay_ ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/23 "2005-08-30T17:14:53Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#): > > L > CNN: you are vultures pecking at the dead and dying in the wake of Katrina. You disgust me. You’re watching. That’s why they air it. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/24 "2005-08-30T17:15:44Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Says the guy who started the thread. > > No different, dude. > > Most of us didn’t start threads bringing to attention “screams for help”. You did. Really? I’m no different from the guy shooting footage of people screaming? The guy editing it? Me (paraphrasing): “I think that’s bad!” You (paraphrasing): “Yeah, well by calling attention to it you’re just as bad.” It’s my fault if you lack impulse control and have to run off to watch this newest tale of suffering and tragedy, simply because you didn’t know about it before? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/25 "2005-08-30T17:28:13Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#): > > Really? I’m no different from the guy shooting footage of people screaming? The guy editing it? > > Me (paraphrasing): “I think that’s bad!” > You (paraphrasing): “Yeah, well by calling attention to it you’re just as bad.” > > It’s my fault if you lack impulse control and have to run off to watch this newest tale of suffering and tragedy, simply because you didn’t know about it before? The network is putting that shit out there because people are drawn to it. You’re putting that shit out there because people are drawn to it. To look like they’re above being attention mongers, they voice their concern. To look like you are, you voice your outrage. You want that shit to go away? Stop posting info about where we can go find it. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/26 "2005-08-30T17:30:51Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > You’re watching. I am? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/27 "2005-08-30T17:36:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > You may think it’s callous and perhaps it is, but it serves a purpose. If we see the people getting rescued from roofs, if we hear anguished voices of the trapped, then perhaps next time around people might take these evacuation seriously. If [the total destruction of an air raid shelter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Camille) can’t get their attention, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/28 "2005-08-30T17:41:10Z")
Jim Cantore, from the Weather Channel, is the worst ghoul of them all. His voice _quivers_ with delight every time he descibes the awful, total, hell-on-earth conditions. He eats it up. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/29 "2005-08-30T17:42:51Z")
May I complain about a related idiocy on the part of the media? Only tangentially related, but it’s not worth starting its own Pit thread for? I’ve seen it on three different New Orleans media websites in the past 24 hours, and it’s making me CRAZY. Morons, when a levee starts letting water through, it has a **BREACH**. Not **BREECH**. Breech is “the lower rear portion of the human trunk; the buttocks.” It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with a busted levee. Use your damn dictionary, or better yet, learn to fucking spell when you’re reporting from a town with a zillion miles of levees, two of which have **BREACHED**! :wally ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/30 "2005-08-30T17:48:59Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Stop posting info about where we can go find it. You’re right - if only **I** would stop complaining about what’s on CNNs front page, no one could find it and it would all go away. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/31 "2005-08-30T18:03:04Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Nah. It just means they’ll have to up the stakes for the next disaster. I figure we’ll see people on their roofs to escape the flood _while their houses are on fire!_ You joke, but this actually happened in 1997 in Grand Forks, North Dakota (where I lived at the time). The river had crested well above the levees and inundated both banks. Downtown Grand Forks was under about 10-15 feet of water but people who lived in upper levels of apartment buildings (a lot of whom were college kids) were staying in their apartments and refusing to obey evacuation orders. That night, downtown started on fire. I remember watching on television (as a refugee at my wife’s parents’ farm in Devils Lake) the bizarre sight of half submerged buildings blazing above the water line while helicopters tried to rescue idiots from the rooftops. On the bright side, some other helicopter were scooping up flood water and trying to douse the flames with them, which resulted in the soaking of those onthe rooftops. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/32 "2005-08-30T18:16:35Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > You joke, but this actually happened in 1997 in Grand Forks, North Dakota (where I lived at the time). The river had crested well above the levees and inundated both banks. Downtown Grand Forks was under about 10-15 feet of water but people who lived in upper levels of apartment buildings (a lot of whom were college kids) were staying in their apartments and refusing to obey evacuation orders. That night, downtown started on fire. I remember watching on television (as a refugee at my wife’s parents’ farm in Devils Lake) the bizarre sight of half submerged buildings blazing above the water line while helicopters tried to rescue idiots from the rooftops. On the bright side, some other helicopter were scooping up flood water and trying to douse the flames with them, which resulted in the soaking of those onthe rooftops. I remember that. I’ve also seen footage of burning, flooded-out buildings in New Orleans today. I hope no one is on the roof. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/33 "2005-08-30T18:25:56Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > The network is putting that shit out there because people are drawn to it. Speak for yourself. I didn’t watch to begin with because I figured it would be about like that and now that I find it’s gotten worst than I imagined (“Coming up…here peopel screaming!”) I seem to be controling the urge to see that pretty well. But it’s interesting to hear about what’s being broadcast…it is, sadly, part of my culture. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/34 "2005-08-30T18:28:43Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > Morons, when a levee starts letting water through, it has a **BREACH**. Not **BREECH**. Breech is “the lower rear portion of the human trunk; the buttocks.” It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with a busted levee. But it would certainly put an interesting spin on Henry V’s big speech :D. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/35 "2005-08-30T18:29:56Z")
If i remember correctly the CNN adverts on TV actually promote the site by saying something like: “See the most exciting news videos of the day!” ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/36 "2005-08-30T18:30:01Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#): > > I am? 😕 If not then you’re complaining about and criticizing something you haven’t even seen… ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/37 "2005-08-30T18:44:03Z")
Maybe I’m a vulture, but I’m watching every bit of footage I can because I’ve driven or walked those streets, I’ve shopped in those stores, heck, I’ve even lost money in those casinos. It’s very, very personal. For lots of us, frankly, they can’t show too much footage, especially aerial views so that we can see how neighborhoods look when they aren’t actually reporting responsibly by providing actual, y’know, _information_. I was able to tell one evacuated friend, for example, that I saw an aerial view from just a few blocks away from where she lives and her house may have minimal flooding, if any at all, as a result. So for some of us, it’s actually providing useful information. I do watch with the sound turned off most of the time, however. CSPAN-type coverage is my ideal; they can run a trailer with any actual news. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/38 "2005-08-30T18:48:09Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > Use your damn dictionary, or better yet, learn to fucking spell when you’re reporting from a town with a zillion miles of levees, two of which have **BREACHED**! :wally _“Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more into the breach. Or close up the levee with our New Orleans dead!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/39 "2005-08-30T18:49:01Z")
There is one CNNer at least who is truly touched by all the devastation and suffering. Jeanne Meserve’s beat is usually Washington, so maybe the stress of the field is getting to here, but in the midst of one interview she completely broke down in tears. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258/40 "2005-08-30T18:55:59Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > There is one CNNer at least who is truly touched by all the devastation and suffering. Jeanne Meserve’s beat is usually Washington, so maybe the stress of the field is getting to here, but in the midst of one interview she completely broke down in tears. Was that the one where the guy was describing trying to hold on to his wife, unsuccessfully? I thought I heard the reporter choke up when she said, “You lost your wife?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-soulless-vultures/319258.md?page=3)