Japan's Earthquake & Tsunami and Oversensationalizm

This is not a child's toy box. There are so many images like this one, that defy understanding. My heart goes out to Japan.

What a horrible tragedy. I was looking at footage yesterday when I found out about what happened and it made me cry as it sunk in how much life was lost and how much devastation was caused. This video did a very good job at showing footage and describing the disaster's scope. (This link also brings you to an enormous collection of images and videos if you are interested.)

I have a friend (HI LAURA!!) who is currently traveling in Thailand and just arrived at Laos. When I found out about the earthquake and tsunami, I immediately searched the news and was relieved to find that those areas were not affected. As horrific as the damage is in Japan, it's good to know that the tsunami had a minimal effect on the rest of the world.

It is truly disgusting how far the media will go to oversensationalize a disaster for its own benefit. If you believed every report you read, you would think that the entire coastline from Mexico up to Washington was destroyed. Literally, I was reading report after report of "MASSIVE DAMAGE" up and down the coast, but when I took a closer look and found nothing to back up the stories, I became suspicious. Why weren't there millions of pictures of this destruction on our coastline? Why wasn't I reading stories from countless people recounting what happened?

For the most part, the US was unaffected. We got 1-2 feet swells. There was some damage to boats bumping into each other, and a few boats pulled free of their moorings and caused some damage. There was some harbor damage and a few boats sank.

I was very alarmed to read stories about people being swept out to sea, but that was more about people being stupid than the minor swells that were caused by the tsunami. Without reading what actually happened, your mind would picture huge waves ripping the people off a high cliff and dragging them away to their doom. They stood too close to waves and got pulled in. The event of the tsunami brought them to the edge of the ocean but that's the only connection.

Now there's a threat of a nuclear meltdown at a reactor in Northern Japan. While the threat is real and there has been an explosion, I refuse to be drawn into stories screaming in so many words, "JAPAN'S CHERNOBYL IS HAPPENING NOW!!!" Media in all countries is blowing everything out of proportion, so I'll watch the news with a jaundiced, critical eye.

The media has been oversensationalizing news and events from the dawn of time, but it seems like it's worse than ever now. The internet turns news into a version of "the telephone game": you start with a story and call someone to tell them about it. That person calls another person and tells them. And so on...until, for example, the fifth person calls YOU to let you know about the story, but by that time it's turned into a story that isn't even remotely similar to what you originally said.

Keep this in mind when you are reading about this terrible disaster. It has affected so many people, so many lives. But read reports with the understanding that if it sounds incredible, you may want to read more accounts to get the true facts. Information is more accurate regarding stories at the epicenter of the earthquake and tsunami and begins to skew as one gets further away. Every news agency wants to be in the limelight and they will do anything to get attention, which means it's up to you to read between the lines.

The worst hit harbor in the United States was in Crescent City. This is terrible but as you can see, it's not a total disaster. If you look up images in Google, you'll find this spot photographed in different ways and called a total disaster. It is misquoted many times as being in Southern Oregon. There is one prominent picture of a sunk boat, and a few other submerged vessels shown at a distance.