Merijeek, I think you are right about the pumping estimate. I was remembering an earlier one.
I just think that the scale of this disaster is so great that it will not be pushed off the news pages by the disappearance of a white woman in a month. I understand how news cycles work, but this is the biggest news event since 9/11.
We’ll see, I guess. I’ll try to remember to ask you in a month and see if you agree with **Harborwolf’s ** assessment.
I don’t know… I seem to remember news about one of the Downing Street Memos being swamped by one missing white chick or another, but I could be wrong. We shall see.
And you think the two stories are equivalent? Was the Downing Street story the the main lead world wide for 6 days?
Were the two stories comparable in terms of importance? Absolutely.
Did they get the same airtime? No… that’s what I just said.
I want to play the Blame Game, sound like fun. Anybody know the rules? Is it something like
The name of who I wish to blame begins with the letter…B.
Who is it?
I’m confused. I’m arguing that Katrina is too big of a story to disappear in a month. You cite Downing Street as a counter example. Without having to go into whether the two were comporable in importance (I would argue not) I will grant that that they were. The point is not how fairly the stories were treated originally, but how they will be seen a month from first appearing. If the Downing Street story had been the main lead worldwide for 6 days, and if events were still unfolding, as they are with Katrina, and if more than 1 million people had been uprooted in one fell swoop by said memos, I daresay that a missing girl in Aruba would not have taken precedence.
Nice little TDS reference.
I hope what we’re seeing here is this:
Sept 11, 2001 - Press is shocked, but truly believe (or are told) they are doing the right thing by getting behind the President. Not sure if they believe this, or are afraid of appearing “anti-American”, but quietly fall into step.
2001/2002 - Press supports nation’s efforts to root out terrorism as a
Early 2003 - Are ambiguous about how to approach Gulf War II, but eventually buy into “embedded with the troops”, figuring that they can get the best view of the story from there. Unfortunately this has the effect of coopting their reporting, in a sort of journalistic Stockholm syndrome.
Later in 2003/2004 - Start to realize that there were no WMDs, are encouraging by what they see as emerging Democracy in Iraq.
2004 - Distracted by the election, try to appear even-handed. Many probably secretly want Kerry to win, but find JFK unengaging and unsympathetic. Bush is just a more likable kind of guy, by gosh. Besides, Rather looked like an idiot when he was duped by the forged documents (even if his facts were essentially correct) and nobody wants to look stupid.
2005 - Body count grows in Iraq; terrorists strike multiple times in London, which shows that Iraq has not had the intended affect. Purpose of the Iraq war has become muddier with each change of the administration. The economy is strengthening but the ever increasing price of oil is threatening to bring things back down to earth. More and more people feel Bush is not doing a job, despite the talking points.
Aug/September 2005 - Hurricane Katrina strikes and kills people in Florida, Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Media deployed in the central Gulf states see, first hand, the damage, but more importantly, the human cost incurred. Not just in bodies, but in people whose lives are destroyed, people who have died not directly because of the hurricane, but as much because of the lax response. This is not patriotic. This is not how America should work. It’s just purely, blatantly wrong. We’re not supposed to abandon the poor, young, elderly and sick – we’re supposed to take care of and protect people that are unable to help and protect themselves. No, most Americans don’t believe that people who are poor are entitled to endless handouts. But many also believe, “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do unto me”.
Here, at least at some level, we have failed. At least for a time. People want to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and they want to know why, when we’ve been told that POTUS is the one making America safe, that it’s not safe, despite raiding the public coffers and spending like there’s no tomorrow. The press can’t be made out as un-American for that, and hopefully they have seized the momentum. I, for one, would like to know why failure is so strongly rewarded in this administration.
Fair enough. My point was that right from the beginning, the DSM story was buried by the cute white girl story. As far as I see it, if it could happen to that story, it can happen to this one, especially given time. Again, we shall see.
You’re right, and in part, it’s a reflection of how bad the press has been in recent years. Still - and this is my reply to Yeticus Rex as well - this is one way in which the public 's grievances are relayed directly to the White House, and it’s a demand for accountability. You can’t talk to this President, it seems, so this is how they treat the press secretary. It IS part of why he’s there.
You go ahead and do that 30 days from now and we’ll see what happens.
Really, though, how many times do you think they’ll run “Still digging out bodies” headlines?
-Joe
strains to remember four years ago
As long as it takes, I guess.
I’m not happy about it, but it’s going to happen. All it takes is one story to knock the hurricane off of the top. It could be a new terrorist attack, or a high number of american deaths in Iraq, or a new supreme court justice nomination/Roberts confirmation hearing. After that it’s a long sad slide off the radar. There will be local stories from the areas housing the displaced for a good deal of time, but they’ll fade off of the front page just the same.
I’ll be glad to give you a major “You were right” if it doesn’t. I’ll do so very happily. I’m just very cynical when it comes to the media and the american attention span.
One side is going to be pushing like hell to get this off the news cycle, given how it’s going for them so far. But as long as I’m paying around $3 for more for a gallon of gasoline, it’s going to be hard for me to forget Katrina. Not that this is the important part, just that it’s going to be around as a persistent reminder even if the press is drawn off to cover the Next Big Thing.
I guess that is a false dilemma. This is the quote I was objecting to
Where Harborwolf is clearly suggesting is that the story of Katrina will be perceived to be of* less significance* than that of missing white women, and then affects a dismissive countdown. If 30 days after the Holloway girl disappeared she was headline news, then your comparison would at least be parallel.
I am not suggesting that 30 days from now the headlines will read “still digging out bodies.” What I am suggesting is that to state that the catastrophe of Katrina will be forgotten by America is insulting. Over one million people have been displaced. My city is accepting evacuees. I have offered my home if it is needed. Hundreds of thousands of evacuees across the nation will be living with people who have done the same, for much longer than 30 days. None of these people will forget.
Here is a story concerning the identification of perhaps as many as ten thousand victims. None of their relatives will forget.
They may well be digging out bodies a month from now. I feel certain that the rebuilding of the destroyed cities will have only just begun a month from now. None of the inhabitants of those places will forget.
That is why I was insulted. When I said I would get back to you in a month I did not mean it as a challenge. Perhaps you are right. If so, I will despair for our souls, if we have them, and I am not easily disappointed by human shortcomings.
It’s always so educational to watch one of these things and figure out which talking point the administration is trying to infect the media with each week. This time, it’s more obvious than usual. Snippets from the gaggle:
Yup, the meme of the week is definitely here. Soon to be playing at a FOX news outlet and right-wing talk radio station near you!
You forgot that they’re determined to figure out what went right and what went wrong. They’re problem solvers. They solve problems.
The BLAME GAME
Bush, Bush, bo - ush
Banana fanna fo - fush
Mee, My, Moe - mush
Bush.
Let’s blame Scotty!
Scotty, scotty, bo - botty
Banana fanna fo - fotty
Mee, My, Mo - Motty
Scotty!
Come on everybody!
I say now let’s play a game
I betcha I can find a dingus in the White House to blame.
Let’s blame Cheney!
Cheney, Cheney, bo - beney
Banana fanna fo - Feney
Mee, My, Mo - Meney
Cheney!
Katrina swept the Delta
and New Orleans is gone
It’s time for lib’rals to point the finger
And find a Pubbie to blame it on.
Let’s blame FEMA!
Fema, Fema, bo - bEMA
Banana fanna fo - EMA
Mee, My, Mo - MEMA
FEMA!
Whaddya know? It works!
I left work a bit late tonight, so was hunting for a news station that might be playing snippets from these exchanges. A couple of points:
Even though the press may be finally “growing a pair”, it does not necessarily follow that we’ll ever get to hear about it. Or more correctly, that your Average Jane or Joe will hear about it.
One talk news rightie outfit I did find (Hugh something-or-other? New to me) was
a) Chortling over the heat that Mayor Nagin and the Louisiana Democrats were going to take, because he had reports that Louisiana Homeland Security (not sure how this falls back on Nagin… whatever) had asked for food and water not to be delivered to the Superdome so that other refugees/evacuees/displaced persons would not head there AND
b) This is clearly all the big city liberal mayor’s fault.
c) Anything that was not the fault of the Mayor or any other non-Republicans, but was still wrong, was to blame on the LIBERAL MAINSTREAM MEDIA (BOO!) Their reports on violence and the chaos in New Orleans are CLEARLY to blame for the lack of early response to the situation. The rescue and help people, you see, were scared away and intimidated by these reports.
To summarise:
EXTRA BONUS QUESTION: Whatever happened to the “Plame Game”? Shouldn’t Libby or Turdblossom have taken the fall or at least been reprimanded for this?
For starters, I wasn’t dismissively affecting a countdown. It was meant to be more bitter than dismissive. Like I said above, I ain’t happy about it, but it happens. People will remember. It’s not as if they won’t care any more. It just won’t be a priority. The public will become used to it and other things will take precedence. The media, always on the lookout for attention, will try to find stories to keep the public interested.Part of it is the overexposure. Part of it is a short cultural attention span.
I’m sorry if you took it personally. I guess I’ve just seen to many news stories of various degrees of importance get swept away by a tide of crappy fluff stories run amok. I’d be thrilled to be wrong. I’m just too cynical to see it happening any other way.