A Quick Nod to how the Media Wants Your Fear to Kill You

Sitting down to read the news this evening, I found a number of articles regarding the summer heat I (and most of the country) am currently experiencing. Most of the country is dealing with temperatures well into the 90s, and topping 100 in numerous states. Add the humidity, and the heat index is expected to soar past 115 in parts of the country more accustomed to 85, 90 degrees of pain this time of year.

I’m from Florida originally, so I tend to look at these types of articles and just chuckle. Real heat is there, and it’s there for 9 months of the year, when it finally gives birth to psychotic, party-going child killers and hammer-wielding high-schoolers. Then, it’s cold for a week and nice for the remainder of the time, when all of the northerners are there to abuse the locals. Good deal, right?

Well, with the heat comes reporters who have to dish out stories on it, and with that comes a range. One end sees rational, interesting articles, written purely to inform and improve the public’s awareness. Others…well, here we go. From the AP, pillars of virtue (in comparison to News of the World):

Blistering heat wave stressing nation’s power grid

NEW YORK (AP) — A lengthy, blistering heat wave that is blanketing the eastern half of the United States is putting significant stress on the nation’s power grid as homeowners and businesses crank up their air conditioners.

Here’s where we all collectively shit our pants and remember catastrophic blackouts of previous years. This is where we openly weep as our older relatives slip into comas and die because they can’t keep their insulin cold. Here’s where people don’t just deal with the heat, but rather begin to fret about it. Most importantly, though, here’s where frantic folks light their sneakers on fire in running out their doors, holes burning in their pockets as they gear up to use the plastic cards melting in their wallets to buy a bunch of shit they don’t need.

First paragraphs are great in a news article; we’ve all been trained to look there for the 5 “W’s” and the “H” of a story, so that’s where we assume the most pertinent information is going to be found. Most times, we’re not even disappointed in believing that way. Unfortunately, I find more often than ever that this belief is being wielded as a tool against us.

“Read the first paragraph, asshole! Do you feel it? Feel the fear? Well, the only thing that makes the fear go away is a purchase! If a hole’s keeping you from feeling whole, go out and buy shit to fill it! Big shit! Buy a generator and a 50-gallon drum of premium Exxon gas, now with Techroline! That way, when your dumb ass dies because you didn’t factor in the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning due to running a generator in your garage because it’s too God-damned dangerous to leave it outside in your gated, lawyer-rich community…at least you’ll die with lungs that have also been ‘stripped of harmful deposits that can rob your engine of its power and vitality!’ Don’t wait! The stores only have ’3′ generators left, until the next shipment arrives in an hour! And for God’s sake, get all the water and canned food you can!”

I’ve lived in the wake of actual disasters, those being the twin girls Frances and Jeanne, two Cat. 2 or better hurricanes that squarely smacked my hometown in 2004. Each time, my family and I went without electricity at the house for 10 days. We had all the water and canned food in the world…now, if only we’d had a camping stove. You know, a little kerosene burner. Simple thing, in stock, dirt cheap.

So when Frances passed, we ate the canned food cold. That, at its most simple, means that we ate cans, because all of the food found inside cans has the taste of Can, until you cook it out. We learned one very valuable thing from this situation, and this is probably the best advice I can give to anyone in any emergency: order Chinese for dinner. Save the cans for when the rest of the world has resorted to cannibalism, because the Chinese food is somehow piping hot, gorgeously fresh and far tastier, no matter what you think the meat might actually be.

So we’re all perfectly terrified now, in a panic and burning essential fossil fuels to wait in lines to get other things, like more fossil fuels. One paragraph, and panic sets in, because this particular article broke the rules, told a shade of the truth in its first paragraph to set us up for a swerve in the second one, which reads

Utilities say they’re ready for high power demand and widespread electricity shortages or outages are unlikely. Lines and equipment are not fully taxed and there is more generating and transmission capacity available than usual because of the weak economy. Also, not many major storms are in the forecast, meaning fewer downed power lines.

So…wait a second…so it’s just hot? It’s hot, so more people are using their air conditioners? Isn’t that what you FUCKING DO when it’s hot in the 21st Century CE? Look back at that second paragraph and see how many levels of “not fucked” we have: utilities are ready. Lines and equipment aren’t fully taxed. More capacity available because the economy’s in the shitter (meaning you’re less likely to turn on the A/C in the first place!). Few major storms, leading to diminished worry about downed lines. I counted four.

Four levels removed from “not fucked” and we get a headline like “Blistering heat wave stressing nation’s power grid?” It’s a true statement they’ve made, but that headline, like the first paragraph, is designed to instill a fear that compels readership. Considering how few people have the time in the psychotic lives they’ve created to actually sit down and actually digest the entire article, the style of writing involved here quickly dips its feet in a pool of actually being dangerous, causing panic which can permeate every other facet of others’ lives. Imagine the nervous creep who reads the headline, catches that first paragraph in his or her RSS feed, and then drives like a maniac to the grocery store. Only one person was injured along the way in this hypothetical of mine, so don’t feel bad. She has to go to the hospital, but thankfully that’s something that stimulates the economy: no harm done.

Read if you want, read if you need, but don’t read for fear of what might be if you don’t. Should you be diligent in tracking down information, in verifying it before it becomes a golden bond that can not be broken in your mind and heart? Sure. Do you? Maybe, but “probably not” for a lot of people you might know.

I could probably check out my Facebook page right now and find 50 people who would freak the fuck out at the 1st paragraph and let the rest be damned as they speed off to injure my imaginary victim. I don’t have all that many friends, but that number is more than 10% of my total. How many people do you know? What’s your percentage?

Fear rots us down to crude caricatures of what we could be if we’d just read the 2nd paragraph. Sometimes, though, we just can’t get to reading it. It’s unfortunate that the world has been grafted and bound to work this way, but it’s also just the unavoidable way things are.

If you’re a writer, a journalist, consider most of your words forgotten. I have over 1200 words right now just to make this point, and how many will get read? And by how many people? If you’re about to have something published, and it could even be perceived as important information, just follow this quick question: “Is there enough intelligence in the world to counteract the stupidity I’ve just triggered?” If, for one second, your answer is “no,” write something else, write it another way, don’t write at all. In a world using words as weapons, lay down your arms if your aim is off the mark.