Sunday, May 2, 2010

News-ache

I spent most of today watching the news about the flooding in Nashville. It's terrible to see how much damage is being done all over the city. However, there came a point this evening when I just couldn't watch it anymore.

I'm not sure if it was the newscasters who are intent on getting the biggest story, or making the most insipid commentary, or who are just plain insensitive. I grew tired of them having reporters all over town and then telling everyone else to stay home. I was ready to throw something at the television if I heard them say the same thing over and over - "it's going to get worse before it gets better." There just came a point where I hated them all.

Maybe it was seeing the same video footage over and over and over. Even when new footage was shown, it was not fully explained. Was it fresh or taken a few hours ago? What happened to the people - was it the "possible" story reported, or something else? At some point, there were some men on top of Pep Boys - where the crap are they now?

Maybe it was the time they threw it to the weather lady and she had just had a bite to eat, and just kept on talking. I yelled at her to, "Spit it out!" Guess she didn't hear me and kept on talking.

Maybe it was the weather people and their predictions and opinions and analogies and their obvious excitement over it all. I couldn't watch their graphs and charts any more.

I guess there's a breaking point even for voyeurism. Once the warnings were over and it became a hodgepodge of "who can get the best ratings," I quit watching. I'll catch up tomorrow, probably by reading the newspaper, if it gets delivered (today's paper didn't make it to the house). Sure, maybe it won't have the "up to date" news of the television, but it sure will be a lot quieter.
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Things that make today great: Some of the flood news; getting out in the neighborhood and seeing some of the flooding; vegging all day in my pjs; the rain finally stopping

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