Some Still Don't Know About Katrina's Rath - Cable TV Choices & Communication

With all the graphic and vocal news about Hurricane Katrina, a person might think that the entire population of the USA is attuned, aware, informed, and so forth. Not so...for our choices of TV stations can isolate folks from what's happening.

With the hundreds of TV stations, and the "blabber" that is on so many, there are folks in our country that limit themselves to a steady diet of "Spike", or "Comedy Central", or "HBO", or...well, you name the channel that caters to a specific audience and has eliminated news from their offerings.

I spoke with my daughter today, and she brought this very situation to my attention. I'd helped her move to her college apartment (in another state) a few weeks ago. In our conversation about "how did the first week of classes go"...and etc., she said, "Mom, what's the price of gas down there? Its $3.49 a gallon here. I heard there was a hurricane or something that made the oil companies raise the price of gas." She then suggested that she didn't know why, other than it was "something about New Orleans."

I told her about the devastation, the people stranded, the people dying, the chaos, the anarchy, the loss of shipping ports, etc. etc...(you know the details if you've had "mainstream TV on"....) I decided to bring the picture to her mind by stating, "Think of New Orleans as 'the lost city of Atlantis'." She said, "Its under water? New Orleans is under water?"

How could she not know? Well...she watches "Comedy Central" when she watches TV. She mentioned that she'd listened to jokes about New Orleans, but she just thought they were jokes. She didn't have the "background understanding" to connect that there was a bigger than life situation in our Southern USA.

So...I've concluded today that there is a chunk of our USA population that really doesn't know that people are dying along the Gulf, that there are streams of "refugees" being tediously moved out of Mississippi & Louisiana, that gas prices are rising because of serious problems cutting supply and production, as well as other things that are happening. Why? Because:
A. They don't have TV because they can't afford Cable. (Think about it, it could be a possibility).
B. They don't watch or listen to TV stations that have news....and associate with other people that don't watch/listen to news.
C. They don't listen to radio stations that have news, or detailed news.
D. Their media use is primarily CD's and DVD's...no outside sources.
E. Etc....you might think of some more reasons...I think there are many.

When thinking about those hours before the hurricane hit, USA practice is that anyone who was watching any TV station or listening to a radio would not have missed the evacuation announcement because of our Emergency Alert System. The emergency sirens would also sound, and so forth. Was everybody listening?

Regardless of all of the above, I guess today opened my eyes that a person could, this day, not know that Hurricane Katrina has, is and will effect all lives in the USA, and most likely the world. WE live in an interdependent economy...and as the next few months unfold, the economic impact on everyone's daily life will also unfold.

I was looking at what the price of heating oil for my home will be come winter.....200 gallons at a likely $3+/gallon = $600+ for about 2 months of warmth. Anyone reading this may also begin doing the math and cost projections....what we all need to remember is that it will be EVERY ONE OF US, including schools and industry and ALL consumers....everything we know in our day-to-day lives will be struggling (yes, I said struggling) with the costs. (An older person said to me, "This could be the depression-like event that wakes us up.")

I am taking personal steps with all this in mind. No, not panic, but conservation and smart choices. Panic will not serve us. Smart choices will. Remember...think Globally, Act Locally. Let us all join together during these times.