The Dawn Treader

I agree with the Tim Challies when he says,

"I have watched far too much coverage of the Katrina aftermath. In fact, I don't think I have watched so much news coverage since 9/11. ... What I began to notice yesterday and this morning is that the media is quickly and perhaps subtley changing their focus and are now desperately seeking someone to blame. They are quickly putting a negative spin on even good news."

I really began to notice that with Fox coverage last Thursday night.  The Geraldo/Shep fiasco on the O'Reilly factor kind of did it for me.

I read Joshua at Razorkiss this morning.  Joshua lives at ground zero in Gulfport, MS.

"I was completely apalled by the national media's feeding frenzy on politics, while people were dealing with the aftermath of the largest national emergency this country has ever seen. It made me ill. It made me physically, utterly, ill.

..snip...

I've seen 98% smiles, here in Southern Mississippi - 2% frowns, 2% bad moods, 2% bad tempers, and 2% despair. 98% of the time, someone has a friendly wave, a cheerful greeting, and a smile to send you on your way.

THAT is what is REALLY happening here. Anyone else who tells you differently is out of their ever-loving mind. I'm here. I'm down on the coast as much as I can get down there, and where I am JUST got power back TODAY. So don't even think about telling me I'm not in the middle of it. I have been. The media is scavenging horror stories - which, in most cases, are probably true. The other 98% of us - the people who can smile, laugh, wave, and still keep our temper…"

So, I have shut off Fox and CNN.  I ain't watching the televised coverage anymore.  I am looking to Razorkiss and my relatives in Mississippi to point me to local coverage to see what is going on.

I am also going to resume regularly scheduled posting on this blog -- interspersed with reflections on Katrina and what is taking place in our country.  I see a lot of positive things happening in our country as a result of Katrina.  The church has an unbelievable opportunity to minister to the hundreds of thousands impacted by this storm.  We need to raise the banner of Christ high.

Watching Foxnews coverage tonight was a blend of hope mixed with some incredibly angry reporters.  The story of what is taking place in Houston is inspiring.  Juxtapose that with Geraldo and Shep coming unglued and angry.  A truly bizarre night.

I am thankful at the outpouring of support.  I think we are going to see an unleashing of kindness, generosity and mercy on a vast scale in the weeks and months to come.  As bloggers, we need to highlight this.  The MSM will focus on who is to blame, and why the help was so late in coming, and why the government is lousy, yadi, yadi.

Bloggers can offset this depressing and angry coverage.  I will tell uplifting stories as I hear them.  I hope you do as well.

Have a good Labor day weekend everyone.

The universal reaction to looting* is the same.  Outrage.

I am glad about that.  Not about the looting -- but about the moral outrage being felt and expressed by those watching the looting from the outside.

It is an encouraging thing to know that most people still have a moral conscience.  Imagine how disturbing it would be if the general reaction to the looting was indifference.

The magnitude of this disaster is difficult to comprehend.  The anarchy in New Orleans is especially hard to stomach.  If one ever doubted the doctrine of the depravity of man, doubt no more.  New Orleans is a perfect picture of why God ordained governments: to promote justice and to preserve order (Rom 13).  New Orleans has neither. 

Maybe it is just me ... but as I read through bloglines this morning, the things people are blogging about strike me as down right trivial and banal.