Keep Calm and Carry On

Another winter storm came and went in early December and, other than having to dig out my winter boots for the first time this year, my life was unaffected. Despite the evening news’ dire predictions and pictures of beleaguered Midwesterners weathering a storm that newscasters assured us would plunge 40 million Americans into life-threatening conditions, everyone I know made it through safe and sound, inconvenienced only by the need to clear walkways and drives.

Weather forecasting has become a major ratings driver for news programs and the emotionally laden language used, starting with “weather alerts” and rising to “winter storm warnings” are designed to engage us and keep us coming back for more. We are assured that we need not miss an update about the latest historic storm because we can follow it from anywhere thanks to the app we downloaded to our pocket computers (cleverly disguised as phones).

All of this is intensely irritating to me. I am a New Englander, born and bred, and snowstorms are part of normal existence for northerners. The back-to-back news coverage of every snowflake that flies is irksome and the constant cuts to reporters standing in the storm, describing drama that doesn’t exist, is ludicrous—as are the interviews with everyday residents who describe with blasé indifference shoveling out a sidewalk.

This dramatic interpretation of normal weather phenomena has become standard procedure in the US media, not just in the winter but all year round. For the Weather Channel, CNN, and local news stations, every tropical depression has the potential to be a historic hurricane; every nor’easter promises to dump unprecedented amounts of snow and every high tide is an imminent danger to seaside homes.

And it is not just weather forecasting that is guilty of hyperbole. If you wander onto CNN on any given afternoon, Wolf Blitzer will have a red banner emblazoned across the screen proclaiming “breaking news.” It’s designed to convey a sense of immediacy, of urgency, of importance. Often, it is no more than a mundane update to a story already well reported. The news, in general, focuses solely on the challenges facing the American public—economy woes, the failure of the US education system, the problems of health care, among others—but rarely puts us in perspective by giving an overview of what is happening in other societies. The result is the impression that the country, as a whole, is failing to thrive.

I have a couple of objections to this kind of psychological manipulation of the public for a ratings advantage. First, I believe it creates constant anxiety in a time when Americans are already stressed. It creates a constant drumbeat of unease in the recesses of our minds, an unneeded tension in lives that already offer too many challenges.

Secondly, hyperbolic news reporting invites us to see ourselves as weak, vulnerable to forces we cannot control. Instead of seeing ourselves as competent to meet any challenge with equanimity, we are told to be fearful, to wring our hands and wonder if we can persevere. I was stunned, for instance, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to hear and read comments questioning whether New York City could survive the terrible loss of life and property experienced on that brilliant fall day.

In all, six buildings were destroyed in the attack and six more were damaged. New York City had more than one million buildings, with some 28 skyscrapers in 2004. When I heard the “can we survive this attack?” comments, my mind instantly conjured up images of London, Dresden and Hamburg during World War II.

While the 9/11 deaths were tragic, unnecessary and heart-rending, London somehow managed to survive the deaths of some 40,000 citizens during the Blitz and the destruction of 1.2 million houses. Across the Channel, Allied bombing operations over Hamburg and Dresden killed 40,000 and 25,000 civilians, respectively, and the city centers were obliterated—yet they all managed to rebuild. I was appalled to think that the “can we survive this attack?” speakers would sell American resilience so short.

Americans have always prided themselves on being an innovative, can-do, kind of people. We have seen ourselves as a bold, courageous crowd—indeed, the very “home of the brave.” We must reject these subliminal messages that encourage timidity and fear and believe in our well-demonstrated abilities.

So, fill up bottles of water and buy a generator if you think you will lose power in a storm; put snow tires on your vehicle and use caution if you have to drive in bad weather but also remember the British motto from World War II: “Keep Calm and Carry On.”