(no subject)

[changeyourstars8]

Well, after waking up this morning to news about what's happening in New Orleans, and flipping channels only to see the news-anchor nitwits "tsk tsk"ing over the looting going on, I was going to make a post about it--

But she says it all so much better.

I don't have any kind of rescue/medical training, so I'm not going to try and head down there and interfere with people who *do* know what they're doing, but I will be donating to the Red Cross.

This is completely surreal. :-(

Comments

You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

My friend, this is where we are going to butt heads. Quite a bit, I suspect...

Now, I am doing everything within my limited power to help the victims of the flood. I've donated food, I'm participating in KSN's phone bank tomorrow, and I'm going to write a check on payday.

BUT---

((Well, after waking up this morning to news about what's happening in New Orleans, and flipping channels only to see the news-anchor nitwits "tsk tsk"ing over the looting going on...))

These people have a job to do. They read a script that a producer gives them. They are reporting the news. Believe me, they too, are doing all they can to help the victims. It took KSN's "nitwit" anchors and reporters less than two days to set up collections at locations across Wichita and Kansas.

I'm sure you don't appreciate it too much when people call you a nitwit when you do your job, so please don't do it to the anchors, who--I might add--are keeping you informed on what is happening to those people in Louisiana.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Actually, no, I didn't know it was coming. Perhaps I should've been clearer. These particular nitwits were on Fox News, during a basic 'let's talk things over' opinion section of their broadcasting.

Anyway, perhaps you didn't hear them going on and on about how "I just don't understand how people could be behaving like this" with scenes of people 'looting' *DIAPERS*, for God's sake.

They are going after people who are desperate, in danger, and trying to keep themselves and their families safe while they're sitting pretty in their studio.

Now as I said, what I watched was from an opinion section, but even if the producer had given them a script, I don't care. If the people I saw today are actually setting up collections, great. They can use their precious airtime to publicize that instead of wringing their hands about people stealing. There's a time to worry about crap like that. It isn't right now. Turning your nose up at people in a crisis of this magnitude is immoral. If it really bothered them, they'd walk off the damn job. Since they don't, they can deal with me calling them nitwits in an lj entry that they'll never see anyway.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

Well, when you say it's FAUX news, then I see your point. I loathe FAUX...I don't even consider them a credible news source.

And I didn't hear FAUX. We have a tendency to ignore them here. We listen to MSNBC, for obvious reasons. I understand your anger toward them for being jerks, because I share that anger.

Just remember that all media personalities are not like that. And like our Columbine conversation a while back, they are probably just as shocked as the rest of us.

You try working in a newsroom all day, seeing all this bad stuff happening. And we see the un-edited versions, unlike home viewers, who only see bits and pieces. We have to separate ourselves from it. I write. Others drink. And a few creeps (unfortunately) state their opinion.

But...(there's that nasty little word again) Some of those looters weren't taking supplies. They were stealing electronics and beer. Now tell me, what in the world are they going to do with a television and beer?

So, some of what they said *is* true. They probably just wanted to piss people off.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

It wasn't only Fox. They were just the ones who were most blatant about it.

As for the ones taking electronics-- it's dumb, true. But it's also something that people do all the time in times of crisis, and it's utterly predictable. Therefore, not something that the media should be seriously focused on right now. Every news channel I flipped to was making a mention of the looters. Sheesh.

And, 'you try working in a newsroom all day'? Hah. I don't work in one for exactly that reason. I couldn't deal with some jackass basically telling me, "Here, insult these poor people on the air in the midst of a natural disaster" and then do it and try to cover for it by saying, "Well, it's my job, they told me to."

Re: You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

Like it or not, the looters are a part of the story, and they do need to be reported on. We have to report on everything that happens, anywhere.

Whether you like or not, those people are doing their jobs. Just like you are doing your job serving donuts to jerkwad customers. They are just like the person behind the deli counter. They have feelings like everyone else does. And they get to see so much more than you do. They (and this does include me) get to see the un-edited footage that you don't see.

Believe it or not, my "jackass" boss is just as disgusted about this as you are. Not to mention that in about three months, I will be one of those jackasses that is telling the anchors and reporters what to say.

And to quote a very popular phrase in the news business...

You have a remote. If you don't like it, change the channel.

Forgive me if it seems like I'm taking this personally. I am. I am the media. And it really ruffles my feathers when people group all media personnel into the "You all are heartless bastards" group of people. Because we aren't.

And when you go to sleep tonight thinking about the images of looters and the anchors stating their opinions, just remember that I have to go to sleep tonight thinking about the images I just saw of ten dead bodies floating in the water.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Then quit.

I did not reference *your boss* specifically.

I did not reference *you* specifically.

I will make exceptions for some people in the news industry who do not kowtow to the lowest common denominator. I am willing to make such exceptions for you because I know you, and your boss because I'll trust your judgment there. But unfortunately, from what I've seen of TV news, people like you two are few and far between there.

Now let's see . . . out of the people who are actually *in the disaster* or the ones who have to look at pictures and footage, who am I gonna have the most sympathy for? Tough question.

Yeah, I'm just doing my job behind the counter at the donut shop. But if my boss said-- "Hey, that lady who just came in asking if she could go through our dumpster because she has no money for food? Go outside, yell out what she did, and then laugh at her", I would say eff off and die. And then I would be out of a job.

But it'd be better than the alternative. You make a lot of comments about 'just doing the job', but there comes a point when you have to decide, "Fine, this comes with the job. And if *I* don't even like it, I know a lot of other people won't". And either do something about it-- such as find a different career-- or stop complaining about the things that you knew full well you were getting into.

And forgive me if I'm taking this personally.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

Does it look like I'm complaining? No. I'm defending perfectly decent people who are doing their jobs. And it doesn't matter that you referenced me specifically. What matters is that you are stereotyping a group of people based on one or two individuals.

Now before we get into a screaming match and rip each other's head off, I'm stopping. It's going to be just as easy for you to change my mind as I know it will be to change yours.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Having slept on the matter, I will say this.

It's not just one or two individuals. And when I say 'news-anchor nitwits', I have not ever been and will not ever be talking about you. Or the ones who work the job who are good people. Or Jon Stewart, for that matter, who makes me laugh.

I am talking about *nitwits*. Their job just happens to be news anchoring.

You know full well that I have problems with many of the trends in the mainstream media. When I grump about the fact that a lot of the reporting about missing people focuses on young white women, do you automatically think I'm calling you racist? Not that I've ever heard, and you shouldn't, because you're better than that.

When I made a quick complaint about people with a public soapbox making an obvious judgment on those who're trying to get food and drinkable water in a disaster area, I definitely wasn't putting you or anyone else who hadn't made on-air comments like that into their category. So honestly, it startled the hell out of me when you came in here acting like I'd just personally insulted you.

I was never talking about the 'decent people who are doing their jobs'. I would've thought that the 'nitwit' qualifier I put after news-anchor got that point across, if not for the entire world, then at least for *someone who knows me*. For you to talk to me like I'm some sort of moron who doesn't understand what 'exceptions' are hurts pretty damn bad.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

I never was talking to you like you were a moron, and I sorry if it ever came across that way, that was never my intention. I was talking you like I was defending a position, and yes, to some extent, myself.

How in the hell am I supposd to act when 95% of the people who bitch about the media blame me because I'm accessible? I feel like I'm being attacked from every damn angle here. Ever since this whole flood started I've had to hear "Well...you're in the newsroom. Why haven't you done anything about it? How can you be so heartless? Don't you feel sorry for these people?" It's bad enough when I hear it from one of my own family members...

Well, of course I feel sorry for them. The entire newsroom ground to a halt when we saw that footage. One person even had to make a dash for the bathroom.

You think I like seeing all this raw footage? No. What do you think I do at night when I go home? But it's not going to make me quit my job anymore than Canadian Bacon Lady made me quit my job at Dillons.

What scares me now is that this may have become between us. I hope it hasn't.

Re: You knew this was coming...

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Apology accepted. And I'm sorry if it came across that I was attacking you, or pulling some kind of 'how can you be so heartless' on you.

But I will warn you that when I see certain news-anchors showing heartless behavior on the air, I'm going to complain about it. It will not be aimed at you and people like you, so please don't worry about it, okay?

Re: You knew this was coming...

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

Cool.