5 minutes in the car listening to The World on NPR gave me two sad thoughts.... [View all]

[NRaleighLiberal]

both stemmed from an interview with someone regarding conditions due to the devastating typhoon.

The first - that BIG NEWS has a shelf life of - what? - a week...no, day...no hour....because short attention span theater makes people need to be repeatedly stimulated with something new. we move on to the next shiny object before the problem that spurred the BIG NEWS is even digested, never mind fixed. Those of us who follow weather at all, once we saw the radar images, knew that this would be unimaginable in the damages done (just as we knew watching Katrina approach NOLA). The damage is so bad that it takes a long time just to figure out what happened, due to loss of so much infrastructure, access - and people. And by then, we've moved on - the media has moved on - to the next big event.

The second - that people who wish to open their hearts and wallets and bank accounts with generosity have to be so careful as to where the money goes - the interviewee made a plea for help, but also a warning for corruption - of the victim government itself. And we've all been through local challenges where the scammers come out at once.

I am normally an upbeat person - but am amazed at how quickly I can become disillusioned these days. Just 5 minutes is all it took.

I know that this is a generalization and of course there are shining exceptions....but it does seem to be the trends...to me, anyway.