Liberty and Hazard
I am personally astounded at the behavior of supposedly rational meteorologists, leaders and emergency service personnel. A week that began with hints that a hurricane was considering a rare northern track turned to what I can only call yellow journalism.
Turn to the weather to track a fascinating and unusual storm, and instead of actual projections, I get screaming-colored panic. So everyone is under extreme threat and has been all week. That's nice. How is this useful to me? Especially since, for most of us, the threat really isn't all that extreme, not if you latch your windows and check the batteries.
As a free adult of sound mind, it is my right to choose what hazard is acceptable to me, and to make that choice on the basis of the most accurate information available to me. If I want to stand outside in the eye of a hurricane just to watch the clouds spin in a twister a whole state wide, I'll do that. If I want to find what those wind speeds really feel like, I might do that. If some fool wants to surf on a twelve-foot wave as in breaks over boats and docks, you may as well let him do that. (It is NOT my right to endanger anyone else, nor to expect that in a time of emergency I will be rescued from the consequences of my choices.)
Delighting in the opportunity to fear-monger while appearing socially responsible, the newscasters have spoken of nothing else for days. Under the guise of "warning" people, they've provoked terror entirely out of proportion to the threat. My friend's daughter isn't interested, she's practically terrified. Rational adults are near panic as well, just from the constant orders to be afraid.
Give me the facts, and let me choose how frightened to be. Tell me how high the storm waters will rise, and I will gladly open my doors to my neighbors. But it is my life, and it's my right to choose my risk.
The fact is, Katrina's devastation and the subsequent failure of the emergency services network left scars on all our minds, as well they should have. Thousands of people died not by an act of God but because they were abandoned by those whose sworn and sacred duty was to protect them, and it must not be forgotten.
The fact is, the Northeast is not Louisiana. The inhabited coastal flood zones are far less widespread, and the number of flood zone residents with no way to evacuate or place to evacuate to is much smaller. We also have a more resilient infrastructure and emergency management capabilities. Even when Irene was forecasted to hit as a Cat 2 with the high spring tide, this storm was still unlikely to cause major loss of life.
When I was not quite five years old, Gloria hit. My mother took me out walking in the eye, showed me the clouds whirling overhead and the fallen branches rushing down the street as the rain drained away. I was more fascinated than afraid, even when she took me down to the beach and we saw the boardwalk in splinters. Lesson learned, when the ocean comes for you, you don't fuss, you don't fight back, you get out of the way. And then you watch the wonder and the glory.
In the words of Jimmy Buffett, Breathe in, breathe out, move on.
Turn to the weather to track a fascinating and unusual storm, and instead of actual projections, I get screaming-colored panic. So everyone is under extreme threat and has been all week. That's nice. How is this useful to me? Especially since, for most of us, the threat really isn't all that extreme, not if you latch your windows and check the batteries.
As a free adult of sound mind, it is my right to choose what hazard is acceptable to me, and to make that choice on the basis of the most accurate information available to me. If I want to stand outside in the eye of a hurricane just to watch the clouds spin in a twister a whole state wide, I'll do that. If I want to find what those wind speeds really feel like, I might do that. If some fool wants to surf on a twelve-foot wave as in breaks over boats and docks, you may as well let him do that. (It is NOT my right to endanger anyone else, nor to expect that in a time of emergency I will be rescued from the consequences of my choices.)
Delighting in the opportunity to fear-monger while appearing socially responsible, the newscasters have spoken of nothing else for days. Under the guise of "warning" people, they've provoked terror entirely out of proportion to the threat. My friend's daughter isn't interested, she's practically terrified. Rational adults are near panic as well, just from the constant orders to be afraid.
Give me the facts, and let me choose how frightened to be. Tell me how high the storm waters will rise, and I will gladly open my doors to my neighbors. But it is my life, and it's my right to choose my risk.
The fact is, Katrina's devastation and the subsequent failure of the emergency services network left scars on all our minds, as well they should have. Thousands of people died not by an act of God but because they were abandoned by those whose sworn and sacred duty was to protect them, and it must not be forgotten.
The fact is, the Northeast is not Louisiana. The inhabited coastal flood zones are far less widespread, and the number of flood zone residents with no way to evacuate or place to evacuate to is much smaller. We also have a more resilient infrastructure and emergency management capabilities. Even when Irene was forecasted to hit as a Cat 2 with the high spring tide, this storm was still unlikely to cause major loss of life.
When I was not quite five years old, Gloria hit. My mother took me out walking in the eye, showed me the clouds whirling overhead and the fallen branches rushing down the street as the rain drained away. I was more fascinated than afraid, even when she took me down to the beach and we saw the boardwalk in splinters. Lesson learned, when the ocean comes for you, you don't fuss, you don't fight back, you get out of the way. And then you watch the wonder and the glory.
In the words of Jimmy Buffett, Breathe in, breathe out, move on.