What the… Okay, this is getting out of hand. It says here that the other day the governor of MD declared a state of emergency. I can’t believe what a big deal people are making about this “hurricane”. It must be a really really slow news week. Okay, I can understand for maybe coastal North Carolina or even Virginia – but inland Maryland? C’mon people! Are our lives SO boring that we have to make such a big deal of a little rain and wind? Frederick County schools are closed… what the heck for? Frederick County is like 75 miles inland! See, this is what sensationalism in our media gets us. People were talking all day yesterday if they were going into work or not today. Why? Because the news is telling you to fill your bathtub with water and stock up on canned goods? And the stores… people are stockpiling like there’s going to be a nuclear winter or something. It’s a freakin hurricane (actually, tropical storm). It’s not going to hang out over our state until Thanksgiving.
You know, I think that it’s a conspiracy. I think the major grocery stores have something going with the local news stations to get rid of its stockpile of toilet paper, batteries, and canned food. I mean, really… toilet paper? How much toilet paper could you POSSIBLY use even if there were ten hurricanes hitting us sequentially? If you really need that much, I hope you never have to go while you’re over at my place.
Man, this is so like the sheep mentality that we are all really prone to. The TV shows us pictures of coastal Florida after Hurricane Andrew and we think that it’s going to be just like that in the ‘burbs. Images of the roofs of our houses blowing away like a napkin off a picnic table occupy our thoughts as we fill our bathtubs with chlorine treated water… all the while saying, “Better safe than sorry.” I disagree. If our actions are so easily dictated by mass hysteria, I think this is a really bad thing. Don’t just do what everyone else is doing for no better a reason than everyone else is. Are we SO EASILY manipulated by our media? Why am I even asking… OF COURSE we are.
Remember Y2K and the doomsday that never was? People stockpiled 2 to 6 MONTHS worth of food and built underground shelters. Honda made a windfall selling tens of thousands of portable generators. Some people actually MOVED to less populated areas and set up mini-fortresses for the chaos that was sure to ensue. All the while people were saying, “Baaaa Baaaa, better safe than sorry.”
Well, not me. If I don’t go into work tomorrow it will only be because my work will give me a freebie day off. There’s actually a partially dead tree hanging precariously over my house that a strong wind could knock over onto my house. That’s really the only thing I’m even remotely worried about.
And Saturday will eventually come, and people will drain their bathtubs, eat their canned pork and beans and try to find someplace for that 48 pack of toilet paper they bought… maybe they should stick it in the same place where that generator they bought three years ago is collecting dust. The whole time they’ll be telling each other, “That wasn’t really any big deal. I don’t know why everyone got so worked up about it.” Oh I don’t know… maybe stuff like this on our TV screens every 15 mintues…
i agree. they’re only talking about maybe 40 mph winds tops. eh…no roofs gonna blow away..maybe couple branches might come tumbling down…and trash cans running aimlessly into the streets. Other than that, i don’t understand why the fed gov’t decided to close and why all of the public school systems are closed.
But today, i wish i was either a federal gov’t employee or a school teacher.
I will not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. I will face my fears and let them pass through me. (and repeat as necessary). well, it worked in the Dune movies…. hehe
hahaa.. made me laugh out loud (in my office) about the toilet paper comment. thx for the laugh.
is your airplane ticket still up for grabs??
btw, the federal gov’t closed due in part to the mass transit shutdown. Metro is not running above ground stops, Marc is not running south of DC, VRE is either not running or running on a very limited basis. Having ton’s of extra auto’s on the roads in weather that is hazardous, when ppl around here can’t even drive when it’s dry is a recipe for complete and utter chaos.
Okay, all I’ll describe the context of Tom’s last comment. I was talking to him on the cell because the power went out at my house. He was just gloating that I was ‘inconvenienced’ by this ‘hurricane’.
Julee, I don’t think you could use the ticket if you wanted to because you have to fly out of either Baltimore or Washington DC.