The Real Thing

[mamculuna]

I was thinking about the differences in how we perceive natural disasters as opposed to man-made ones. A terrorist act like 9/11, etc., is set up for maximum public exposure--the images that appear on TV and online all over the world are the real point. Since we get those images so clearly and so immediately, the event seems real to us. But the natural disasters aren't set up that way. The news leaks out, a little at a time. No one was filming the waves that hit during the Tsunami, and only now are we beginning to get some visual images that make it seem real to us.

But it is real. This is a site about one refugee camp before the disaster and the people who lived there. It makes it real to me:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ceret/52383.html

Comments

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I see that. I guess the point I meant to make was terrorist vs accidental, perhaps. Just seems that the photo ops for 9/11 were so very excellent. And even King and Gandhi admitted to playing to the media...but hurricanes and earthquakes don't seem quite that calculated.

My own experience of political action maybe formed that theory--who would stage a protest with no chance of media coverage?

[hfx-ben.livejournal.com]

"... who would stage a protest with no chance of media coverage?"
*looks around*
*raises hand*