Natural Disaster or Media Disasters?

Having gotten my degrees in both Creative Writing and Journalism I have heard all sorts of paranoid delusions and slanderous things about the media. I tend to disagree and think that they are simply doing their job - what they're told to report on - and do it factually. That being said there has always been one aspect of the news that 90% of people rely on and I have a personal grudge with.

The weather.

I love when people tell me "Well the weather isn't a science." Perhaps they need to get to researching because it is a science! It's called Meteorology people!! Now perhaps it's not exact but it is indeed a science!

My personal grudge is that I use the forecasts to plan my outfits the night before. When I lived out west, where admittedly there aren't many weather patterns, I could count on it. But after moving to Boston and now New Jersey I absolutely can't. There aren't three days in any given week where the forecast is actually right!

So When pictures and results for the path of Irene came up, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. Especially when the path of destruction continued to change. It was a mess listening to people freaking out one day and then sighing in relief the next!

Yet as the week went by and the reports kept spilling in with estimated force and damage reports I admittedly got nervous. I posted on fb letting people know there was a chance my power would go out and I wouldn't be around technologically for a few days. I sent my husband to Walmart Friday at like 8am to stock us up on food.

So how do you think I felt Saturday and Sunday when all that blew through was a tiny bit of rain and some strong winds? Like an idiot. Here's the part where a lot of people would go on to vent. I won't do that. The media in this instance, in my eyes, went overboard. But I understand the behind-the-scenes and I know it wasn't some intentful propaganda to scare the masses. But all in all I will give it to the little guys this time when I say I think the media overplayed.

This is not to say Irene didn't cause a path of destruction. Where I am temping at Torcon, plenty lost power for a few minutes. And lives were sadly lost, and trees and poles downed. So I am not saying the reporting wasn't needed - just that it was over kill.

But really? Who am I to say that when underkill measure caused the disastrous effects of Katrina?