Y'know

As the tragedy in Japan plays out, I grow more and more disgusted with people, and especially the MSM.

Total people likely to die from direct or indirect issues with the nuclear power plants will be .01% of the already dead and missing that we know about from the earthquake and tsunami which precipitated the incident. Yet they harp on the "pending meltdown" with a gleam in their eyes, as if such a disaster would be a good thing for anyone, were it to happen,

And it appears that if you say "nuclear" or "radioactive" to most people, and especially a reporter, they immediately go into this wild eyed pants-shitting hysteria. If you say the word "contamination" then they immediately add a puddle of urine to their already messy pants.

And it isn't like there is no information available about radiation. For gods sake, folks, use those wonderful tools we have available on the Internet: Google, Yahoo, etc. For quick information, and at least a place to start, you can use Wikipedia. It's not like there is any cost for their use (assuming your Internet access already exists....if not, go to your local library or Starbucks).

'Take an hour to learn to understand what the numbers mean. The background radiation in most European cities is higher right now that it is in most paces in Japan, even close to the plant.

I realize that most reporters are not chosen for their high level of intelligence, but rather for their ability to look handsome in a suit (or to fill out a blouse) in order to be more attractive to their viewers, and to be able to read a teleprompter without squinting, but for chrissake, take a little time to learn enough about your subject to be able to speak intelligently.

I understand that if you have no training in anything besides speaking and your main goal in life is to look good, not actually be more intelligent than the average dachshund, that the science parts can be hard, what with all those confusing numbers and units like microsieverts (which sound an awful lot like, you know, millisieverts) rads, millirads, microrads, grays,  becquerel, curies, etc.

Perhaps you should have someone just convert the units and measurements to the Banana Equivalent * so you can more easily understand.

Unless, of course, you really just want to either look stupid, or just breathlessly sensationalize what is really not that big of a deal.

If instead, you spent some time generating real sincere sympathy for those funny looking yellow-skinned slant-eyed people, you'd actually do some good instead of wasting airspace and oxygen.


BTW, where are the fund raisers and demands for the US to send billions of dollars of foreign aid to the Japanese people.....you know, like there were for Haiti.....

*thanks to Og for reminding me