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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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It didn’t take long for social media outlets to start buzzing about the tragic fire in Kansas City Tuesday night. Updates and prayers and questions about the cause filled Facebook and the Twitter-sphere within minutes and continued throughout the night.
And it didn’t take long for some of the commentary and banter to turn snarky, insensitive, and down-right mean.
But that’s the nature of tragedies, isn’t it? It brings out the best and worst in human nature. We all deal with heavy situations differently – some with denial, some with anger, and some with an attempt at humor.
I read for myself in wonder and disbelief as some people started complaining about the local news coverage pre-empting their favorite shows – episodes of NCIS, New Girl, Raising Hope, and The Bachelor.
“NCIS is more important than a fire on the plaza. Buildings catch on fire every day,” wrote one indignant tweeter.
“I don't care about the stupid ass fire on the plaza I want to watch the bachelor!” tweeted another.
Seriously? NCIS – a fictional show about solving fictional murders – is more important than the death and injury of real people in your home town?
And you better believe that the parents of the wait staff and the sister of the sous chef and the friends of the patrons and families of the fire fighters still care deeply about that fire and don’t give a rip about your "reality" TV shows and the inconvenience you’ve experienced.
I certainly agree that when local stations had exhausted the reporting of new information and started to repeat footage and facts, they could have resumed programming and updated viewers periodically. But, folks, that didn’t happen.
And, in life, sometimes things happen beyond our control, like shows getting cancelled and snow storms and…I don’t know…unexpected explosions that level a restaurant and kill a neighbor, a friend, a daughter, an aunt – a real person.
When you put things in perspective, the pettiness and entitlement and selfish behavior are really sad and mindboggling.
My wife posted something on Facebook the next day about Mayor Sly James and his message at the pre-dawn press conference to be sensitive and remember the victims.
“The main thing we’re focusing on is taking care of people,” he said. “We’ll get to the blame phase later.”
And this initiated a great exchange with a dear friend of ours who reminded us that some of the anger and frustration that was vented on social sites may have been because there is an imbalance in media coverage over what is considered tragic. Many in the Black and Latino community may wonder why, when their loved ones are killed in the hundreds in and around this city, there is no wall-to-wall live media coverage.
“There is no press conference called to discuss and express concern when people of color and lower socioeconomic status are killed,” she wrote. “When you live life in brown skin, or at a different economic level of society, your life is deemed as worthless, and not worthy of press conferences.”
That kind of frustration, I understand.
Even after the smoke clears from this fire, please remember that people suffer every day from tragedies. And when someone in our community hurts – no matter their skin color or education level or perceived value – we all hurt. We’re all affected. And the only way we’re going to begin the hard work of healing is by starting with civility, sensitivity, and respect.
We had our eyes glued to the television, watching the tragedy unfold-I have a hard time understanding how people can care about what new show they are missing while something so horrible is happening-and Kansas City has seen its fair share. Your friend is right and all of these things need to share the same screen time, the same hurt and horror from others, because maybe if we all shared that compassion there would be less of that horror going on.I've wondered why some people make such mean remarks. In need of attention? Selfish? Foolish? Just plain mean? All of the above? I vote 'all of the above.' I try to ignore them and not interact, tempting as it may be. In the 'comments' section for stories and letters to the editor on the Star's website, you can report abuse and watch the mean remarks disappear (though it may take a while, it does happen). I don't use Twitter, but I would hope they have a similiar feature. You may want to stay away from the online version of letters to the editor, they can be esp. vicious. Even in the normally hospitable midwest, we have some immature people masquerading as adults. Thank you for another great post!
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