I'm suffering from Tsunami fatigue---The Spanish flu was worse

[candy]

and there was no media frenzy about that. Admittedly there was no destruction of infrastructure but the death toll was far worse.

Approximately 500,000 Americans died(and the population was much smaller then) and approximately 40,000,000 worldwide.

The 24/7 tsunami media frenzy is driving me nuts.

[ProfessorPlum]

1. Yeah but at least they aren't reporting on the ACLU finding

that Bush himself authorized torture. Right? Right?

[Worst Username Ever]

2. Doesn't lessen the tragedy of 155K dead

although I see your point. Hiroshima had 150K dead, and this has surpassed that...

I will say that your post reminds me a little of the talk I get from republican friends who say that 1400 americans dead in Iraq is not a big deal because we lost 58,000 in Vietnam... Worse, yes, but no less tragic.

[Jesus H. Christ]

3. The Spanish Flu was ninety years ago.

The tsunami happened last week and there's still people dying.

Jesus fucking Christ. That's like on 9/12 saying you were tired of hearing about 9-11 because the holocaust was a lot worse.

[bostonbabs]

5. Its called compassion...I can't believe your complaint! n/t

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bostonbabs]

8. sorry ..not yours...

[MsAnthropy]

4. That is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever read on this site

If you're tired of the coverage, turn off the TV.

[indigobusiness]

6. The depth of your compassion

is as shallow as George Bush.

Blechhhh....

[Maple]

9. There was indeed a frenzy at the time

even though there was no television or internet. They relied on newspapers and word of mouth, but it was very bad indeed, for a very long time.

[Bridget Burke]

10. I'm sure the people in Sumatra, Thailand, etc. are even more tired.

So sorry to hear about your suffering. Where should I send a contribution?

[riverwalker]

11. I hope it never stops

I hope we have continous non-stop coverage of this and every other disaster across the globe. I hope they show bloated, blackened bodies and corpses in close-up zoom lenses on every television in America. I hope they show grieving, weeping families and orphaned children 24/7 on every network. I hope they show ruined lives, homes, and destruction, and record the wails of mothers in surround sound stereo.
Maybe then, just maybe, they will realize what death, war and destruction looks like. What "100,000 dead" looks like. Maybe, just maybe, they will at least have a discussion about going to war before tying yellow ribbons on their trees and singing country songs about it.

[Stephanie]

12. Turn it off, and please turn off your computer too

so I don't have to read any more of your posts.

[candy]

13. You can avoid reading my posts by turning off your computer---

the way you suggested that I avoid tsunami news by turning off my TV,which is a good suggestion-----I'll turn the TV off!

Your turn!

[Jesus H. Christ]

15. That's OK.

I like watching racist assholes out themselves.

[candy]

17. Racism? What the hell are you talking about? I didn't

know a giant wave had a race.

It's the media frenzy----nothing more,nothing less.

Good Lord!

[Jesus H. Christ]

19. Oh, I'm quite sure that if it happened in the US...

you'd be saying how everything is different now, and be flying a large American flagfrom the back of your truck next to your God Bless America flag, and be clamoring to blow somebody up. And glued, of course, to your set.

[candy]

20. Tell that to my Asian daughter-in-law and my two beautiful

grandchildren-----and I never drove a truck or fired a gun in my life and I live in Massachusetts in a liberal suburb of Boston.

Is calling someone a racist something you do when you run out of intelligent things to say?

Cheap shot!

[Jesus H. Christ]

21. Yes, yes, yes.

I'm sure you have plenty of black friends.

[Skittles]

14. with all due respect

this is one of the few times I can agree with 24/7 media frenzy; you need to figure out why it bothers you so much and believe me, comparing it to another disaster is really not a good answer.

[Bluebear]

18. After all "more people died here then on 9/11"

as Jeb and Colon are trumpeting on their Grand tour.

I prefer the old saying...

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (John Donne)

Why are people always ghoulishly comparing numbers to make one tragedy "better" than another? :(

[Skittles]

23. I don't know

if is very common among conservatives who like to say oh, more people are murdered in Detroit than have been killed in Iraq or other such nonsense - I fear to understand their motives for making such ridiculously dehumanizing statements. And for Jeb and co. to bring 9/11 into the mix - well, that's probably an order from Karl Rove.

[REP]

25. Not Speaking For Anyone But Me

There are two things about the coverage that are getting to me:

1. It's so horrible and there's so little an individual can do to make it better. Most of us can only send money, which is needed, but it doesn't really feel like enough.

2. Just as with any terrible event, the media finds a way to make its coverage mawkish and maudlin, as if the actuality of what happened wasn't enough and the viewing audience of cattle needs to be manipulated into feeling the right thing.

As for comparing one awful thing with another; to me, that just seems pointless. The devastation of the earthquake/tsunami does not diminish the terrible suffering of the 1918 flu pandemic.

[meisje]

16. Wah

Fucking Wah!

[nemo137]

22. the Spanish flu was also spread out over weeks and months

the tsunami, only a few hours. That makes it more shocking, because one minute you have islands, the next you don't.

[fujiyama]

24. And your point is?

Yeah, a 155k is nothing. I suppose it doesn't matter because it's a bunch of brown and Asian people that died.

What did you think of the 9/11 media frenzy?

[Solly Mack]

26. Nothing that happened in the past diminishes the horror people are going

through now.



Besides, the media is getting other stories out as well as they ever did...so it can't be the lack of diverse news causing your fatigue.

[CWebster]

27. After all, it pales next to 911

Right?

[kcwayne]

28. There was enough of a media frenzy for people to remember after 90 years

I have been guilty of saying things without my brain fully engaged, and I would hope that on reflection, you would think better of showing your ass to the world. If not, your complaint is incredibly uninformed and petty.

How do you possibly have a media frenzy when most people throughout the world did not even know what a telephone was? There was no radio, television, AP wire, or any of the means of instantaneous communication we have now. The news cycle was measured in days or weeks, not in minutes. That time dampening effect suppresses the whole notion of frenzy.

Millions of men were slaughtered in the trenches of France and Germany while this epidemic raged. And idiotic generals kept sending men into artillery zones and machine gun fire to face certain death for non-sensical reasons. That didn't create a news frenzy either. Imagine what it would do today.

[Steve2525]

29. As I am not old enough to remember the media frenzy or lack of

in 1918 with the "Spanish Flu", which was not Spanish at all, but probably got its start at Ft. Levinworth, Kansas from what I've read, it isn't really possible for me to compare.

My grandmother remembered it well and talked about it.

There was no 24 hour news media and it didn't strike all at once.