I live in New England. That means that in the winter months, my neighbors and I expect it to snow, as do most of the people I know who are familiar with climate and North American weather patterns. Howeve, for some reason, over the past few years, the anticipation of a “snow storm” has become major news. I find this a bit disturbing.
After our first snowfall this year (A whopping inch or so od the white stuff), I actually heard a news reporter refer to it as “the biggest storm so far this season”. And, no, the newsperson was NOT being funny (at least not on purpose). True, this was technically acurate reporting -it WAS the biggest storm so far in the season. Of course, it was also the FIRST storm of the season. By using grossly overblown presentation, the reporter turned a piddly little nothing snowfall into a “newsworthy” event. This bugs me because by using this extreme hyperbole, the newcaster is, in effect, lying to the listeners. Does anyone out there remember studying “Yellow journalism” in school? It is when a journalist intentionally misrepresents facts to try and present something in a way that is technically acurate, but conveeys a completely innacurate message.
So now, a couple of weeks later, we have another snow storm coming in. This time, the hype started a whole week before the storm. Newspapers, radio, TV, and pretty much every media channel I know of was raving about the “Huge snow storm” that was going to “hit the Northeast”. I’ve got new for you guys: a “huge snowstorm” implies something that will have huge effects. Up here in the great white north, a foot or so of snow is no big deal. Schools might be closed for a day - two if the timing is right, or the snow is mixed with a lot of ice, but that’s about it. This is not news. It’s normal life in New England.
Of course, with the media hype, the public responded as only true sheep can. In anticipation of this “killer storm”, the great unwashed masses flocked to grocery stores buying up everything that they could cram into thier carts. People were going to be ready to hunker down and endure the horrible tribulations of living through a (que dramatic music) HUGE, KILLER SNOWSTORM! A REAL NORTHEASTER! (with huge gnashing teeth……). Of course, what these people do to prepare is kind of funny - I saw one woman with a shopping cart full to the top with bags of ice - in case the power went out, she was going to fill her freezer with ice so the food wouldn’t thaw and go bad (Clue for ya lady: If its cold enough to snow, just put your food on the back porch, and it’ll stay frozen). People were buying batteries by the dozen (for flashlights, I suppose), piles of frozen food (wonder how they’re gonna cook it if the power goes out), and generally panicking.
Of course, now that the storm is here, everything is (justifiably - the roads are crappy) closed. I wonder what all of those “prepared survivors” are going to do tomorrow when they realize that everything is back to normal, and about all the preparation they needed was to make sure that they had enough chips and beer to sit in front of the idiot box and watch the weather channel tell them how bad the storm is. Of course, a glance outside would tell them that it’s just another normal snowstorm, but then they wouldn’t have any reason to panic….
Every time I go through this, I have to wonder what is going to happen if (when) there is a real snow storm or hurricane here. People are so used to getting hyped up by the stupid normal weather that they think they actually know how to prepare for a real event. I mean something that really would be news. A storm that shuts things down for a week or two. No power, roads closed, national guard, the works. Last time I dealt with a storm like that, the answer was simple: the vast majority of people simply curled up and waited for rescue. A few knew how to be prepared, and actually had rational emergency stores, heat supplies, and knew how to shut down their house so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze, but the vast majority of people simply waited for the national guard to come rescue them, and left everything they had behind. I can’t tell you how many contractors I know that cleaned up replacing ruptured pipes, soaked (and frozen) drywall, etc. I guess the general public really is stupid enough to believe what the media tells them. After all, despite a complete lack of evidence, the general public bought the hype about Iraqi WMDs, association with the Taliban, and all the other crap that Bush made up. Given that, why SHOULD I be surprised that these same people are too stupid to look out the window and realize that snow is a normal occurrence in New England.