Life as a Spectator Sport

All day long on Monday, on the way home from Alexandria, I listened to CNN's coverage of the coal mine explosion in West Virginia. I haven't done any inspections in Upshur County, but I've spent many an hour in adjacent areas, and I felt as though I knew those people.

Last night, just before going to bed, I checked CNN's website again, and was overjoyed to read that 12 of the 13 miners were alive. And now, this morning, the news is that only one survived. There was a "miscommunication."

Anderson Cooper of CNN, and a lot of the bloggers, are lambasting the coal company for not telling the families immediately that they had made a mistake. The president of the company has admitted that they knew within 20 minutes that the information was incorrect. I'm not so certain it's fair to condemn them for not running right up to the church and saying, "Well, gosh, folks, we were wrong, but we don't know for sure how wrong we were. One of you good people who is celebrating can keep on celebrating, but the rest of you might as well just wrap it up and go home, Only trouble is, we can't tell you which ones."

Once the mistake was made (and the coal company didn't ever make an official announcement that 12 miners were alive), I think it may have been best for them to make sure of their facts before they said anything else at all. The coal company's real liability here is in their safety record, and they're going to have enough dirt thrown at them over that to way more than make up for any mistakes in how they handled the misinformation. Someone ought to point out to CNN that a friend of one of the miners was the one who was quoted as saying 12 of them were found alive (as CNN said themselves on their website last night).

Enough grief to go around for everyone. I confess to some faint joy that it is Randal McCloy who still lives. His story seemed particularly poignant--an electrician who wanted to make a better living for his wife and kids, and therefore went into the coal mines. His wife's crying face has been plastered all over the news; she deserves a break for that, if nothing else.

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002