Everyday, I come across a new YouTube video of the tsunami wiping out a harbor or a village. Every new video brings about the same level of sadness and horror as the ones before. I simply cannot even begin to really understand the scale of destruction of life and property and, even worse, how people will gather the needed energy to put one step forward at a time and move on to rebuild.
And, yet, the overwhelming news coverage is about the nuclear power plant. I do not mean to minimize the complex problems from that plant, for Japan and the rest of the world. But, to ignore the tens of thousands who are dead, and the hundreds of thousands who are shellshocked and homeless?
Brendan O'Neill deplores this sorry state of "navel gazing" journalism that is always so keen on hyping up versions of doomsday scenarios:
The coverage of the Japanese disaster confirms that, given the choice between reporting what we know (that thousands of people have died in an historic catastrophe) and speculating about what we don’t know (what exactly will happen at Fukushima), journalists will choose the latter. In an era gripped by a culture of fear, where everything from children getting a bit chubbier to a small rise in global temperatures is presented as the harbinger of a future hell whose parameters we cannot precisely predict, journalists have descended on Japan not to report its tragic truths, but to get their rocks off about the apocalyptic promise lurking within Fukushima. It’s not journalism.
Screwed up, we are!
Meanwhile, the rest of
Japan is reeling from electricity shortage--homes and businesses alike, and estimates are that it might be more than a year before supplies can get anywhere near the demand.
The places most affected are not only in the earthquake-ravaged area but also in the economically crucial region closer to Tokyo, which is having to ration power because of the big chunk of the nation’s electrical generating capacity that was knocked out by the quake or washed away by the tsunami.
Besides the dangerously disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, three other nuclear plants, six coal-fired plants and 11 oil-fired power plants were initially shut down, according to PFC Energy, an international consulting firm.
By some measures, as much as 20 percent of the total generating capacity of the region’s dominant utility, the Tokyo Electric Power Company — or an estimated 11 percent of Japan’s total power — is out of service.
I have always wanted to visit Japan ... I am now all the more convinced I ought to, sooner than later, and get a real feel for the daily lives and ethos there.
BTW, watch this video of the tsunami slowly wiping out the entire harbor front--make sure the sound is on, so that you will hear the tsunami alert sirens and the sound of the furious ocean waters and car alarms ... will make you shudder at the horror:
