Ya’ll, I’m worried about George Clooney. Can someone issue an Amber Alert for Matt Damon? We need to put Leonardo DiCaprio’s face on a milk carton? Let’s distribute “Have You Seen…“ flyer with photos of Angelina Jolie & Susan Sarandon. Has ABC, NBC, & CBS lost their broadcast signal? Why am I so concerned about the celebrities and major networks? Because they are nowhere to be found in the wake of the disastrous flooding in Tennessee.
The whole time I was reading the reports and watching footage online of the ruinous floods in Nashville and surrounding area, I waited for the big fundraiser. Knowing how the entertainment world -- actors and musicians from all genres -- came together to help the victims of the Christmas Day Tsunami Hurricane Katrina, and the recent devastating earthquake in Hati, I was certain that it was just a matter of days before it would take over the airwaves…and I’m still waiting. Country music stars held fundraisers within days…even before the waters had started to recede. And there is a concert planned…a great one…to be broadcast on GAC. Not ABC. Not CBS. Not NBC. ONLY on GAC.
The network coverage have been virtually non-existent. Yes, Anderson Cooper did come to Nashville and that attention was welcomed and greatly appreciated, but where are the news teams covering the destruction? Where are the volunteers from all over the country donating their time to help the residents recover from a natural disaster that hasn’t been seen in this area in centuries? For the most part, people don’t know the magnitude because it’s not being talked about. Why should the major media outlets care if the President doesn’t seem concerned. Why do I say he’s not concerned…where was President Obama? Has he done a PSA to be nationally broadcast urging people to help & donate? If he has, I haven’t seen it. He hasn’t been to Nashville. He didn’t even do a flyover. President Bush was vilified for ONLY doing a flyover after Hurricane Katrina and Obama hasn’t even done that much. Why hasn’t he been called to the public carpet for his lack of interest or concern. Wait…he did call Brad Paisley. What compassion. There was the attempted bombing in Time Square, he was focused on the oil spill in the gulf. Living on the Gulf Coast my entire life, I’m thinking about that too. Was this not as important? Forget the history and culture that are part of the very roots of America that’s been damaged and lost in Nashville, but people have lost everything, even their lives.
Larry Elder, a columnist with the Orange County Register, said in his column on May 14th (http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/floods-248910-people-hale.html), made a couple of points that came to my mind more than once;
• The media's beloved Obama failed to carry Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. Those states, alien (if not enemy) territory, are simply of minor importance. It's just hard to feel those folks' pain.
• One Bush critic argued that the president didn't care about New Orleans because it is "black" and "sexy." Perhaps the media's indifference to Nashville is because that city is "only" 25 percent black, and therefore "white and redneck."
You know what's missing? The blame game. The residents of Nashville and other cities & towns in the area that were underwater, some that have never flooded, have yet to point fingers, complain because there not enough being done for them. That there’s no belly-aching because there’s not a government agency there with an open wallet. Why? Because, for the most part, they’ve got it covered. Those who didn’t loose everything are helping those who did. Even people who suffered loss of home and property in varying degrees are taking care of their homes and when they’re done at their home do you know what they’re doing? Going to their neighbors and saying, “What do you need? “How can I help?”, Storme Warren of GAC’s “Headline Country” said it best in this weeks show, “Friends, neighbors and even strangers statewide literally went door to door to help people clean up.” I’m not a Nashville resident, and though I'm a lifelong country music fan, I’ve never been there, but watching this episode, I was so proud of the folks who just got in there and did it. One guy they interviewed on HC said “We were looking for somebody else, but we couldn’t find the address so we just stopped at the first house we pulled up to.”.
I think I’ve answered my own questions, and maybe even your's as to why the news coverage is almost nil and why the Obama Administration isn’t overly concerned. The victims of the flooding aren’t acting out. They’re not committing crimes and blaming it on the situation. There’s no looting. There aren’t people bemoaning their misery or how long it’s taking to get things fixed and back to normal. The local businesses aren’t shutting down because their shops, nightclubs, and other tourist attractions that bring in a large percentage of the cities revenue for an undetermined amount of time because they were under 10 feet or more of water. What are they doing instead? When the water left, they cleaned up. THEY cleaned up. They didn’t wait for someone else to do it…they did it. Mr. Elder spoke with WSMV general manager Elden Hale and he quoted the WSMV news anchors, "'Volunteerism is in our DNA.' When the Red Cross came in they were surprised because so much had already been done.". It seems that people who take care of themselves and their neighbors aren’t as big of a news story as folks who ignore warnings and then sit and complain because someone isn’t there doing it for them. Well, if God forbid, I’m ever involved in a natural disaster, and I’m at a loss for what to do, I’ll just ask myself, WWND….What Would Nashville Do?
If ya'll want to help, here's a couple of ways. If you know of ANY other, please feel free to post them
http://www.gactv.com/gac/pac_ctnt/text/0,,GAC_26058_98169,00.html
www.cfmt.org
http://www2.grammy.com/MusiCares/NashvilleFloodRelief/
