Wednesday, we had an episode here with weather reports that sounded somewhat like when the tornado hit Tuscaloosa. Mom called and said that they had reported that those "in the downtown area need to get away from windows and doors." Of course, that's where I was at. I had just been outside. We were under a tornado warning and so help me, I couldn't find anything that suggested anything that would spin up into a tornado. There were no swirling clouds. Believe me, I saw those above my house years ago when we got hailed. Turns out that whatever they were concerned about over downtown blew and split and split again and dropped a few EF0 tornadoes just a few miles past my in-law's house. Some roof damage. Yards turned up with plants and trees. No one hurt. (The in-laws and their condo are fine.)
Thursday brought us the prison break of TJ Lane and his fellow inmates. Y'all, that is 2 hours away from our house and though I realize that they could have secured a car and all, everyone was advised to stay in with doors and windows locked. Bless the people of Chardon. They immediately sent security to the homes of those injured or to the families of the victims. But, we were 2 hours away. Cleveland news was pre-empted. They couldn't tell us anything more. They just kept saying the same thing over and over. By 4:30 AM, the three inmates were found and have all now been transferred to a high security prison in Youngstown. Still, living in Lima or in the Mansfield area? I could get all of those "lock your doors and windows" warnings. Where did they find them? Well, TJ Lane was 100 yards from the prison. His one inmate buddy didn't even make it off the grounds and the other guy didn't get very far away.
As we were walking the other day, Hubs and I were talking about the state of the world and my theory is that it is all made worse by -- social media. They were begging people not to give any type of updates on where the police were or whatnot the other night on social media because they didn't know if the escaped inmates had access to any of the updates and they didn't want to compromise the search. Governments watch each other, made much easier by -- social media. I told Hubs that I seriously doubt that world peace will ever occur again due to instantaneous coverage of "news." :shakes of the head:
How often have we found that "breaking news" was inaccurate? The Boston Marathon bombers were reported found by the AP and other news organizations far before it actually occurred.
The internet, news and whatnot can be a blessing. We do not, however, need to incite panic and worry over states. (Boston is not the story I'm talking about. That was necessary to keep everyone safe.) How do you feel about the saturation of news coverage? Kate Middleton is having it tweeted that her shoe is falling off before it even hits the ground. (A silly example that I don't know happened, but go with me here.) Do we always have to know everything "as it happens?"
