Things I'm Tired Of (I) - Emphasizing Survivors as Looters

Dear news media outlets,

While I understand the technicality of the legal term, could you please refrain from portraying victims of natural disasters as criminals by highlighting their "looting?" It was offensive in 2005, when African-Americans were "looting" while white people were "salvaging" in New Orleans, and it's offensive in 2010 when Chileans are "looting." What do you want? That people remain hungry and without water for an indefinite period of time until the infrastructure is developed enough for the Chilean government to give these things out? That would be fine, except that the infrastructure has just been demolished, and aid wouldn't exactly arrive quickly anywhere that just endured an 8.8 earthquake. People need supplies to survive, and the expectation that capitalism cannot be disturbed, even in the event of a massive natural and human disaster, is absolutely absurd. I would hope perhaps you media outlets could focus on more useful narratives than "let's portray the criminality of everyday individuals who are merely trying to survive," but apparently, I'd be wrong. This was a devastating event, and we're still only learning about how horrible it will be. Chile is facing a long road here; it doesn't need you portraying people trying to survive as base criminals. Please focus on other things.

Thanks.

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John Feehery. Because, now that the Democrats have 60 voters, of course the metric system is the first item that Democrats will impose on an unwilling populace.

"Swine Flu" - Definitely Worth the Fuss!!!

As of now, what is the global (non-Mexico) death toll from H1N1?

Five.

Yes - five whole people, and the latter two fatalities had "underlying health issues." There's a lot one could say here - the obvious complete freakout spurred by the media not being worth 10 seconds of the attention it got being the most obvious one, but also the characterizations of Mexico and Mexicans in the wake of the disease's spread, or the bizarre faux-sensitivity of some orthodox Jews who felt that they were being prejudiced against by calling it swine flu and felt that it would be totally acceptable to slander Mexico rather than Israel by calling it "Mexico flu."

Instead of spending time on that, though, and snarking away, it's worth being serious. While I have no doubt that a decent percentage of people will eternally be spooked out by these stories, one can't help but think we're being set up for some instance down the road where it really is a serious and threatening disease that spreads quickly, and yet when the media says "wash your hands, protect yourselves, etc. etc.," a lot of people will just say, "yeah, yeah, I've heard it before - bird flu, swine flu, whatever." I know I'm asking for the impossible, but it would be nice if, at least on health issues, media took a calm, rational, informed approach, instead of the "OH MY GOD WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!" narrative that just ends up leading to another instance of the media crying "wolf!"