Saturday, August 8, 2009

Mid-Air collusion

I am watching the constant news feed on the mid-air collusion over the Hudson River in which 9 people died today. It's been nearly eight hours already and it's still wall-to-wall news cover.

It is a sad that it happened and it would be irresponsible to try and lay blame for the accident before all the facts are known.

What I want to rant about today is the level of coverage that we see for an accident of this magnitude; a national disaster it is definitely not. I mean, take the case of the 36-year old woman, Diane Schuler, who killed as many people when she drove on the wrong side of the free-way and hit an innocent on-coming car while stoned and hopelessly drunk. There was news cover at the time and the regular news analysis later, but wall-to-wall, 911-type cover there was not and correctly so.

But, why the hysteria and the repetitive, empty words of anchors to keep the clock ticking, dragging witness after witness and telephone interview with any Joe Soap and his room mate who happened to be in Manhattan today on the air?

I wonder what their motives are.

Just asking.
Posted by at 4:10 PM

4 comments:

  1. Hi Nico,

    Is "mid-air collusion" when you make seditious plans with someone while flying? ;-)

    I agree that aviation accidents receive coverage far beyond their severity. The sensationalistic media drives me nuts.

    /John
    ReplyDelete
  2. Nico! The blog is a great idea! I must have missed you posting about it. I've got to thin all the junk email I receive. I'm looking forward to reading what you've said. I can argue there, instead of here, but from the little bit I did read there wasn't 'nuthin to argue about yet!

    People die and are crippled right and left in our neighborhoods, but some poor shmuck goes splat in a Cherokee somewhere and its national news for days. Been like that for as long as I can remember.

    That corridor requires a very high level of attention. You self-announce position reports, but if you're not familiar with the area you don't know where the copter pilots are talking about. I always get a kick out of the copters calling out at the tunnel!

    Our traffic scope looks like a game of asteroids through there.

    steve
    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Steve,
    Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel. Yes, we can argue here instead of on the Commander list. Looking forward to your comments. It might not always be about aviation but I try to always be insightful.
    Thanks
    Nico
    ReplyDelete
  4. Nico: .......counterpoint........

    It obviously taps into our fear of another 911 invasion and the fact that we really don't feel we are protected or are protecting ourselves adequately from such potentialities. The Muslims have continually taunted us that it can and will happen again here, as well as in their intended eradication of Israel, and we have no valid reason to disbelieve them. We do next to nothing, while also now hampering Israel from completely defending her right to survival.
    The sense of impending doom that clouds the once serene aura of being an American is becoming all too real and visible. For anyone who had been touched, even remotely, by the events of September 11th, the irrevocable angst of that threat repeating is almost overwhelming, considering that New York suffered a similar terrorist attempt just ten years earlier. You would have had to experience something quite similar in order to be able to assimilate those feelings and emotions. It's like having a holocaust survivor explain to us the feelings that well within when they hear the sound of marching troops or violent pounding on their door in the middle of the night.
    This is not to diminish your outrage at the lady who acted so irresponsibly, or even wantonly. But her actions were not motivated by terrorism, which, like kidnapping, is the one horrible grossly overt act designed to take not only the lives of others, but their humanity and dignity. It truly is a crime far more heinous than that which this lady has committed and the trepidation that we, as a nation, constantly have to labor beneath, does need to be brought forth and made part of the cognizance of those we elected to lead, serve and protect us. For once, albeit, by mistake, out of their ignorance, or unknowingly, the news media finally got one right.

    Respectfully, Steve Lotto.
    ReplyDelete

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About Me

Just a regular guy whose mind never stops.