It really is crazy how questionable the general news media reporting actually is as we move further into the semester. It seemed to me that nearly every other sentence raised questions or skepticism as I kept reading.
For instance the reports that “none of its cargo of crude oil was leaking, though there were patches of oily sheen in the area” reminds me of examples we learned about in class in which oil companies had previously done their own field studies to determine how much oil had reached the bayous. It would appear from the picture that if the oil that caused this fire wasn’t directly related to this exact tug boat crash there may be a bigger problem that allows oil to leak into waters.
When I read that a “plume of smoke rising from the site could be seen from downtown New Orleans Wednesday morning” it reminded me of the film we watched in which New Orleans was once surrounded by cypress forests that served as a protective barrier.
The thinly populated area that had no evacuation order raises flags to me as well. Who are these people that are in the area? What is their occupation? Standing in the community?
Am I just a skeptic or do these dismissive reports seem to be debunking more than proving and assuring?
I agree completely that the reporting on this is questionable. There is no blame placed on anyone, it’s as if this is a natural occurrence in itself. As if the price of wanting oil is that this will happen and we should just live with it. Maybe if our habits changed and our reliance on oil changed we wouldn’t see this happening. Another thing that reminded me of what we spoke about in class was this quote “The 92,000 gallons the Coast Guard says was being carried by the barge is a fraction of the millions of gallons that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.” It reminded me of the philosophy many of the oil corporations had; that the ocean was this big space and an oil spill wouldn’t is not to be worried about. This quote is basically saying “well we had worse before.” News articles regarding oil spills should not try to play a middle ground and not choose one side of the argument over the other, when clearly this is a major issue with major effects. With all the profit made from drilling oil you would think corporations would take more care, or forced to take more care by effective government intervention, in preventing oil spills.
I completely agree with previous comments made by my classmates. I believe that the media should be reliable, but from what we are learning they sometimes don’t provide enough information or at times false information. If the coast guard knew that the tug boat had an accident they should have checked it properly, to be sure that the oil wasn’t leaking. However they let it slide. People didn’t get hurt but I’ m that many people had to spell the spoke from the oil in the near by neighborhoods. It could have been dangerous. As I read through this article it reminds me of Black Beaches and Bayous, specifically the part about geography of trouble. New orleans is in this geography of trouble and they can’t do anything about it. Many “normal accidents” occur and this puts many people at risk.
The Titanic couldn’t avoid the ice berg and the tug boat couldn’t dodge the gas pipeline. It is hard to believe that accidents like these have become “normal”. Like the previous comments have taken the words out of my mouth, the media has become way too lax on subjects like these. As I was reading the article I was thinking, “Oh third degree burns, a bunch of oil spilled in the wreck that they are trying to say was already there, no big deal”. However, my reaction stemmed from the media not taking this as serious as it should be. Just because these are considered normal accidents, doesn’t mean that they should be reported as just another event. The media controls what information we hear and see, and how they present it, affects how we perceive the information. When these events will be reported in a more serious fashion, maybe they will not be considered “normal accidents” anymore.
Environmental Sociology 
It really is crazy how questionable the general news media reporting actually is as we move further into the semester. It seemed to me that nearly every other sentence raised questions or skepticism as I kept reading.
For instance the reports that “none of its cargo of crude oil was leaking, though there were patches of oily sheen in the area” reminds me of examples we learned about in class in which oil companies had previously done their own field studies to determine how much oil had reached the bayous. It would appear from the picture that if the oil that caused this fire wasn’t directly related to this exact tug boat crash there may be a bigger problem that allows oil to leak into waters.
When I read that a “plume of smoke rising from the site could be seen from downtown New Orleans Wednesday morning” it reminded me of the film we watched in which New Orleans was once surrounded by cypress forests that served as a protective barrier.
The thinly populated area that had no evacuation order raises flags to me as well. Who are these people that are in the area? What is their occupation? Standing in the community?
Am I just a skeptic or do these dismissive reports seem to be debunking more than proving and assuring?
I agree completely that the reporting on this is questionable. There is no blame placed on anyone, it’s as if this is a natural occurrence in itself. As if the price of wanting oil is that this will happen and we should just live with it. Maybe if our habits changed and our reliance on oil changed we wouldn’t see this happening. Another thing that reminded me of what we spoke about in class was this quote “The 92,000 gallons the Coast Guard says was being carried by the barge is a fraction of the millions of gallons that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.” It reminded me of the philosophy many of the oil corporations had; that the ocean was this big space and an oil spill wouldn’t is not to be worried about. This quote is basically saying “well we had worse before.” News articles regarding oil spills should not try to play a middle ground and not choose one side of the argument over the other, when clearly this is a major issue with major effects. With all the profit made from drilling oil you would think corporations would take more care, or forced to take more care by effective government intervention, in preventing oil spills.
I completely agree with previous comments made by my classmates. I believe that the media should be reliable, but from what we are learning they sometimes don’t provide enough information or at times false information. If the coast guard knew that the tug boat had an accident they should have checked it properly, to be sure that the oil wasn’t leaking. However they let it slide. People didn’t get hurt but I’ m that many people had to spell the spoke from the oil in the near by neighborhoods. It could have been dangerous. As I read through this article it reminds me of Black Beaches and Bayous, specifically the part about geography of trouble. New orleans is in this geography of trouble and they can’t do anything about it. Many “normal accidents” occur and this puts many people at risk.
The Titanic couldn’t avoid the ice berg and the tug boat couldn’t dodge the gas pipeline. It is hard to believe that accidents like these have become “normal”. Like the previous comments have taken the words out of my mouth, the media has become way too lax on subjects like these. As I was reading the article I was thinking, “Oh third degree burns, a bunch of oil spilled in the wreck that they are trying to say was already there, no big deal”. However, my reaction stemmed from the media not taking this as serious as it should be. Just because these are considered normal accidents, doesn’t mean that they should be reported as just another event. The media controls what information we hear and see, and how they present it, affects how we perceive the information. When these events will be reported in a more serious fashion, maybe they will not be considered “normal accidents” anymore.