Five Fingers On The Hudson Plane Crasha plane crashed into the Hudson River today, here are some thoughts...
1. Do we want intelligence from our journalists? Watching a couple different channels as they break this news and I'm shocked at how careful the talking heads want to be with their language. It's understandable, but you can't help but wonder how/why/what we're training journalists/reporters for. Do we want them to just be a lens/observation machine? No interpetation. No editorial. Or at least, as little as possible. Do we have those who just "document" in detail, and then "intelligence" people who give us comprehensive analysis/opinions and specialize in that? Sort of how blogs and MSM/newspapers like to position themselves; one's just the facts, the other is trying to crack the case. Is this dynamic an evolution? Doesn't feel like it when you hear intelligent people wasting time and energy picking over semantic packing-peanuts.
2. When Keeping It Real Goes Right! this will surely be the top takeaway of the day, all day: "you know, Jim, we so often we overlook the airplane safety schpiel ... and look, here, the safety schpiel put to good use! The irony of life, that which we choose to ignore and gloss over saves us!!! Yay!!! Back to you, Jim!" The thing is, it's true. We do have a problem with not hyping success at this fundamental human level. For most of us here in the USA, reading blogs and planning Inauguration parties, the fact is that good happens to us a lot more than bad. Even when Bush was in charge. Disasters are averted. People are saved. Lives keep on living. This accident gone right is a brilliant reminder of that.
3. Geese???!?!?! seriously, who knew? I don't know whether to hate them or love them. peep these facts from NBC NY:
Experts said that Canadian geese are one of a pilots worst nightmares.
A 4-pound bird exerts more than 6 tons of force if hit by a plane traveling 200 mph -- some geese weigh up to 15 pounds.
A U.S. Air Force plane crashed during takeoff at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska in 1995 after a collision with geese. Twenty-four people died.
Birds caused another Air Force plane to crash during its approach to a runway in the Netherlands in 1996, killing 34 people.
GEESE??!?!?! Geese have bodies on their conscience! At least 58 of them! There's a corny hip hop slang-as-spoken-by-geese line/joke to make here, but I demur because some geese might jump out and snuff me, yo! I don't even have a plane to protect me, I would be helpless.
4. Good stuff happens in January. Someone needs to do the research on it, but I swear all the good humanitarian stuff happens in January so that we forget about it by the time we start talking about all the cool things that happened this year. My best example of this is Wesley Autrey, the father who jumped on the tracks to save a stranger from an oncoming train. When did that happen? January 2007. Paging Gladwell!! My theory is that the beginning of January is so friggin' cold that everyone is on their best behavior, and/or willing to go the extra mile just to get their blood flowing/get home asap. Or something like that.
5. It's Cool To Be A Survivor of a Plane Crash. Not only does it mean you're alive, but you have a cool story. And it's fairly one-upmanship proof, i.e. you tell about surviving a plane crashing into the hudson from geese attack and even the most obnoxious a-hole can't follow up with, "oh, you know that happened to me too!!!"
That's a cool feeling when you have a story like that.
More Hudson Plane Crash Coverage:
NBC New York
Gothamist
images: twitpic, gawker, gothamist
I thought squirrels were badass, but it turns out the geese are the stealth Destroyers of Life. Add in the injuries from people slipping on goose poop and hellhounds have got nothing on geese.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was "they did it again!"
ReplyDeleteIt is MLK Jr.'s Birthday. They would try to rebrand the day!
as far as fair and balanced journalism....
ReplyDeleteI wish that would go out the way because at least if we know a reporter is biased and clear about their bias then we know where they stand on the issue and it cuts out the middle man of deciphering and decoding various word choices and voice inflections. This whole unbiased crap just provides networks like MSNBC or Fox plausible deniability to their own biases.