Saturday, January 22, 2011

Pet Peeve

This one is based on a pet peeve of mine that I'm sure many people share. I admit that there are far more important things in the world to worry about but it's Friday and this has been bugging me for a very long time. I assume most of us have enough imagination that even if we haven't lived through a terrible disaster be it man made or natural that we probably already have some idea of what it would feel like. Of course I'm assuming here, so for a moment let's pretend I have some idea what I'm typing about. That being said why do Reporters continue to ask the obvious? We know that the victims feel terrible that their house was burned to the ground or destroyed by a storm, that their loved one being murdered has left them in a pit of hopelessness  and despair or that the abduction of their child or the death of a loved one in a war is so painful words can not express their true feelings. I understand that human interest stories are meant to engage the sympathies of the viewer and in many instances help the victims to work through the shock which is part of the healing process. They're not bad for ratings either. Case in point the endless coverage of the horrible shootings that took place at a Safeway in Tucson. I suppose the lack of creativity and almost mechanical aspect of the Reporters delivery is what bothers me the most. I'd love to see it handled in a way that doesn't cheapen the magnitude of the event without using tired old cliches and hack questions. Ask them anything just stop asking them how they feel. We already know. Then again I tend to over think everything. That's how I feel if anyone is interested.

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