What would we do without the media? Plenty! I think we would be much better off without most of those nitwits who call themselves journalists, reporters, anchors or whatever they want.
I try to avoid the news, both print, radio and TV, but today I saw a headline that read, “The pandemic winner: Will It be Sweden or New Zealand?”
To be fair, credit goes to the author – Dr. Steven Phillips, who published this piece in The Hill. I will admit that the article had some interesting content, but I’m more interested in slamming the title. From what I see, the media is looking for rating, so they either hype stories or make up facts. And as far as calling it a game, that’s over the line.
More interesting than the article, are the 1,000+ comments from the readers. This is their moment to share their sarcasm, intelligence and/or stupidity. I would rather read the comments and ignore most of the article. It makes for great entertainment, but I digress.
The idea of sensationalism for the ratings is nothing new. The did it during the Viet Nam war to give body counts, and they are doing it again posting the number of deaths due to Covid-19. Their reports are incomplete, so, therefore, useless, IMHO.
We wonder why people are hoarding toilet paper, wipes, paper towel, bleach, etc.? I am certainly not condoning stockpiling and hoarding. It’s selfish, self-centered and apathetic, but fear created, in part by the media, is causing a large percentage of the hysteria.
The solution might be to become a prepper. For those who don’t know what a prepper is: a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.
In the meantime, I am following the CDC rules, am sequestered in my home and hoping that soon things will be “somewhat” safe. Yes, I am an optimist and intend to stay that way.
I learned to prepare for disaster when I was seven. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an interesting time to live in a community surrounded by 18 Titan Missiles in underground silos. Maybe that’s why I’m just fine with stay-at-home orders: because avoiding death doesn’t necessitate building yourself a bomb shelter and making sure your bottled water and other supplies could last for weeks after the blast, assuming you weren’t near a “ground zero” point: which we were. And assuming your neighbors weren’t clawing at your door, screaming for you to open it so they could come in: which they would have been. We were warned to be prepared to hear that. Dad had three cyanide pills for us, in case the best-laid plans for survival failed, or incoming missiles caught us away from home.
These groups protesting the stay-at-home orders, marching shoulder-to-shoulder, exposing themselves, their children and pets to the virus–what would they do if they knew that any minute, they could all INSTANTLY be annihilated? The Covid-19 stay-at-home order was a piece of cake: we already had thirty days of food in freezer and pantry, much more than that of TP, cell phones and COLOR television with hundreds of channels instead of four–not to mention, 2300 more sq ft to roam around in than we would have had in 1962 in our interior 10 x 10 concrete storage room. It’s been luxury sheltering, compared to any bomb shelter! Take a deep breath and wait it out. We’ll be JUST FINE.
Before you call out, “Okay, Boomer,” just imagine: unlike many in the previous couple of generations, your kids and grand-kids will learn patience, helping out around the house, creative self-entertainment, self-reliance, the importance of family, and how to prepare to survive about anything. Or…they’ll learn to whine, argue, and cry until your take them out against the stay-at-home order and expose them to a deadly virus with no known cure yet. Your call.
Diana, you certainly have had an interesting life. My father-in-law participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis. That’s about as close as I was to that incident, but of course he wasn’t my f-in-l at that time, LOL!. Your comments are well said. I agree with you.