Why do networks send national correspondents to California who apparently know nothing about the place? Or prefer to perpetuate stereotypes about those who live here that telegraph such an embarrassing level of ignorance?
I am speaking in particular here of CNN's Rick Sanchez. Last night, while watching CNN's coverage of the wildfires engulfing Southern California, I happened to catch Sanchez's curious report from one of the fire zones. Sanchez appeared to be dumbfounded by the idea that Californians, whom he breathlessly described as most familiar to Americans as "laidback, Chardonnay-drinking, quiche-eating" hedonists, were helping each other through perhaps the state's worst natural disaster.
By then nearly half a million Californians had been forced to evacuate their homes. "You had better call your brother," my husband phoned to tell me at around 3 pm on Monday, as the Witch Creek fire began to merge with the blaze raging in Rancho Santa Fe, where my brother and sister-in-law live. By then 12,000 San Diegans were camped out at Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley, San Diego State University and the University of San Diego had been closed, residents were being told to stay home, to keep the freeways open for firefighting crews, and the damage in San Diego County alone was edging toward $1 billion. By then the fires raged from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border and the smoke was so heavy in the Los Angeles air near where I live, where miraculously there were no fires, that the skies were gun-metal gray.
"It hurts when I breathe," my daughter said yesterday afternoon, standing out on our driveway and surveying the bleak sky. "I'm going back in."
Only four months before, I had watched flames licking up the verdant, heavily forested hillsides of Griffith Park during that devastating fire. My daughter's school happens to be adjacent to the park, and all afternoon I anxiously watched the fierce winds, praying for them to die. Her school was not evacuated, but because Los Feliz was blocked off the 5, it had taken me nearly two hours of maneuvering on surface streets to get to her.
My point is that Californians are conversant in the ways of fire, in how we manage it or not, in ways that tourists like Rick Sanchez are not.
But Sanchez is hardly alone in the media in his ignorance, or in his callous exploitation of a tragedy for professional gain. Conservative radio host Glenn Beck apparently has never set foot in San Diego County, one of the most staunch Republican strongholds in the country. Otherwise, how could he have declared on his show Monday: "There is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing homes in a forest fire today."
Where do they get these notions? Is it something in the rarified East Coast air?
To be fair, the coverage of the California fires hasn't been all mindless stereotypes and stupidity. The best and most sophisticated coverage has come from local reporters who actually know the territory, can speak authoritatively of the Santa Anas, can compare the Cedar Fire of 2003 with the Witch Fire of 2007, who know that Julian is in San Diego County and that the 5 is the major artery connecting Mexico to Los Angeles. Who know the people of this remarkably diverse state.
Last night I also happened to catch a local reporter's moving interview with a young Hispanic woman who had fled the fire in Lake Arrowhead. She and her husband had started walking down the mountain strolling their baby when a car pulled up. Did the woman and her family want a ride? asked the driver. At this point in her story, the young woman looked at the reporter and smiled. "I said, Oh, yes! Thank you!"
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Actually, they need help just like everyone else does. I just wish they would admit we ALL need help now and then.
It's not that hard to build homes that won't burn, but it IS more expensive to begin with. In the long run, it would be cost-effective were burning happens often, as it does in that area.
Perhaps the Latino/Mexican way of building stucco homes is very practical after all. They won't burn, you can stay in them protected from the fires, and they are cool in the heat.
We don't just have fires in California, we also have earthquakes. You hear on the news about devastating earthquakes around the world, with major loss of life and property damage. Then there's a quake here, same magnitude or higher, with nowhere near the level of devastation. Why? Because of our building codes. Construction here has to comply with very strict building specifications. When they don't, you get what we had in the Northridge quake. Remember the photos? Two identical apartment buildings, side-by-side. One stayed up, the other collapsed (and where most of the fatalities occurred). The difference? One of the builders' violated the building codes, cheating on the specifications to save a few bucks.
Now, if you know of a way to build that will withstand earthquakes nor burn to the ground, I'm sure we'd all like to hear it.
San Diego, Santa Barbara, Malibu, etc are a scenic tragedy. Not that I’ve been there, but seeing it on TV like everyone else, you can’t not empathize with the loss of belongings, animals and habitat. I, for one, feel badly for those who have lost homes and prized possessions, but they chose to live where there is a “view†no matter the consequences…which are many. Developers and scenic hungry people have increased the probability of being in the way of the fires – both natural and man-made, which one or two of the fires have been estimated to be. The loss of wild animal life has to be overwhelming compared to now three human fatalities, but so little is said about that. I tend to worry more for the horses left in corrals, cows left in fields, wild animals not fast enough to out run the rapid moving flames. Call me mad (and some do), but they are the real victims who never had a choice where to live.
So, that’s the update from the bowels of hell. The good news is that the winds have died down and many of the fires are contained. There are still fires that pose concerns so it isn’t over by a long shot. Oh, and some sub-human scumbag has already been arrested for allegedly starting one of the fires the last I heard.
News from the bowels of hell.
water table
public corruption
bad planning
????
Don't know; but I attended the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the same gang of media idiots was there, with the same 'don't bother us with the facts' attitude.
I do hope they stayed sober more often in California this week than they did in Atlanta, though that wouldn't require much more than, say, drinking 15 hours a day rather than 18.
So, for his little political show, more people will be damaged.
Amazing just how damaging and ineffective he is.
Everything about the fires reeks of hubris, and the expensive homes that burned to the ground are symbolic of that. Now who in their right minds would want to build a house in an area that is obviously prone to fires and other natural disasters?
Hubris, sheer hubris.
Every time we've had a major earthquake, there have been stories of transplants fleeing the state because they can't take it.
It's not hubris to be able to take the bad (fires, earthquakes, floods) with the good (spectacular scenery, supportive neighbors and friends). It's strength of will and determination and good old-fashioned pioneer spirit.
Some day maybe I'll be able to move back. Northern, CA would be my choice. In my experience the people who "flee" California and those who constantly dis all things Californian are not the kind of people who you want to live with anyway. Personally, I think California should secede from the Union.
as a 2nd generation californio
i couldn't agree more.
i just wish the people who "flee" to California would "flee" back out.
a population of 38 mil is about 30 mil to many
Count me in on the movement for secession... let's see: CA--big tax donor state that gets screwed by Washington constantly.
Cheers...
Americans are WONDERFUL. It's America I worry about.
Southern California is a well-watered desert (Almost nothing would grow there if it wasn't watered daily) that receives around 13 inches of rain in the LA area and around 9.90 inches of rain in the San Diego area PER YEAR. Compare these rainfall totals to cities like Washington DC – 38.63 inches, Seattle - 38 inches, and Orlando, FL - 48.11 inches. Even with drastically lower amounts of rain this year - only 2 inches of rain in LA - the conditions are ALWAYS ripe for fire between March and October when the average rainfall for that period is around 1 inch of rain. (Statistics from http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/wx/climate/normrain.html )
With that said, this natural disaster should not catch anyone by surprise and state and local officials should be continuously prepared for it.
What should also come as no shock to many is the fact that the media have nothing better to do than make a spectacle out of this terrible thing that is affecting the lives of so many. I've watched countless news reports that make the claim that the conditions are just so bad this year...well, that may be true, but it happens almost every year, therefore, it is more common than they will admit. But, then again, if they admit that they would have to go back to reporting on Ellen Degeneres.
Global warming is a problem, but the fires are a natural cleansing process that have been around forever.