People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Is Hurricane Irene less than promised? Media will be very disappointed if so

Posted on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 06:24 AM

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It's a funny business we're in. The media has gone stark raving bonkers about a storm that to date, as far as I can see has killed fewer people than a bad weekend of traffic accidents.

In the Bahamas when it was category three Irene as far as I can see killed no-one and destroyed all of 100 homes according to the BBC.

Make no mistake this is not Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 hurricane which slammed into New Orleans and destroyed the city.

This will be a category one when it reaches New York and a tropical storm when it gets to Boston.

Very bad yes, but hardly the armageddon of storms that has been predicted I'd bet.

Now I know nothing about the weather and can barely tell an isobar form an Irish bar but I know the amount of hot air I've heard on air these past few days would make anyone suspicious.

These weather maniacs can't wait for the worst so they can stand knee deep in surf, barely holding their balance and let us all know how brave they are.

Problem is 50 to 70 miles an hour winds are not exactly the worst case scenario they have dreamed up.

I'm prepared to be wrong, but I'll wager because all traffic will be off the roads there will be fewer deaths this week-end up and down the East Coast because of that more than from the hurricane.

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jamthecat | Aug 27, 2011, 10:09 AM EDT

What a despicable man you are, using a potentially deadly storm to bash the media because you...well, you just don't like what they do. If you're wrong and people die and damage is in the tens of billions, I seriously doubt you'll admit it. You haven't the ability or maturity to do so, let alone the simple human decency.

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GeorgeDillon | Aug 27, 2011, 07:40 AM EDT

Have to agree. This thing has been hyped and exaggerated. I know a thing or two about hurricanes, and I fear and respect them, but by the time this thing passes over Long Island it'll be just heavy wind and rain. On the other hand, even tropical storm winds can produce some damage, so there will be trees down, short-lived power outages etc. But on TV I saw people loading dozens of packs of bottled water etc. into their cars. That's crazy, the stores will stay open unless something very unexpected happens.

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sirpeter | Aug 27, 2011, 06:42 AM EDT

Tell me about it Patrick.It's not just the media.It's the Church.It's the Government.It's everything.If this kind of thing carries on we'll all end up a bunch of skeptics and have no conviction in anything we are told.

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