*gah*

[piranha]

i almost wish i hadn't looked at the news today; yesterday was nice and calm because i didn't. that's how come i didn't know that more than 13,000 people have been killed by an earthquake with associated tsunamis in south and southeast asia, and that many more are homeless.

oh, btw, i recommend google world news to americans who want to quickly find out what major events are happening in the world -- it's one US news source that won't relegate top world news to the back burner.

i can't tell whether it's just my renewed anger at the US, or whether mainstream news coverage really has gotten worse there by means of consolidating more and more sources under the umbrella of just a few corporations. not that it ever was that good; i still have the shortwave radio i bought because i couldn't stand the commercial-strewn, plastic-smilingly presented, and US-centric news when i first lived there.

elke_tanzer is collecting relief information links.

Comments

[mayaknife.livejournal.com]

Well, it's currently the top story on the CNN web-site and has been since yesterday.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the third story from the top is "U.S. begins tsunami relief; 3 Americans among dead". 20,000 dead (and counting) and of course it's important to point out that three of them were Americans.

Mind you, this isn't just an American trait: I've seen the Canadian news do the same thing and it always annoys me.

The fifth item from the top? "'Oprah' regular survives tsunami devastation"

*phew* Glad he made it. Now I don't have to start phoning the hospitals.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

google news is good stuff. it's my primary news source.

[firecat]

I confess my news source is LJ (it used to be rec.humor.funny), but as soon as I heard about it, I googled "tsunami" and the results took me to many world news sources.

to follow the news, or not

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*nod*. i go through phases like that. currently i am in a "must acquire news all the time" phase.

which is sort of interesting. after the last US election i went into withdrawal, and actually almost resented even LJ news. this time i am all revved up, and can barely contain myself from starting a weblog cataloging all the shrubward inanities.

[huaman.livejournal.com]

ObDisgust: "And here are pictures of decimated Phuket. Fortunately, most tourists have been able to make it out and to areas where the hotels are still operational, and are planning their remaining vacations around not going to the heavy-hit areas."

...

I'm paraphrasing, but seriously -- I actually, honest-to-god heard that on the news last night.

most tourists have been able to make it out

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i always find this "extended tribe" stuff fascinating, because i don't really grok it. i've got my chosen family, and my friends, and that is who i truly care about in the sense that i'd be grieving in a personal sense if something happened to them, and i'd worry myself sick if they were missing in a catastrophe such as this one.

all these tens of thousands of people -- i feel a sort of shock about it, and if i let myself go deeper, i can get a sense of the horror it must be on an individual level, and i want to help because on that level i feel related to everyone who suffers. but i don't feel a single bit worse that there are canadians affected too, or OMG, western tourists in general.

and wow, that extra piece of "planning their vacation" is callous, eh. if i were there, i'd be working my ass off to help the locals; fuck that vacation.