Some random thoughts to help dispel common misconceptions

But I'm not holding my breath

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FAILURES

There have been a number of aviation incidents lately that have been in sharp public focus. From the Army helicopter collision with a commercial passenger jet near Reagan National Airport. To the tourist chopper that broke up midflight over the Hudson River near Jersey City. To the most recent computer failures at Newark Liberty International Airport which caused air traffic controllers to lose radar and radio communications with aircraft.

To his credit, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is promising to launch a three-year plan to upgrade those systems and replace computers that run on floppy discs. To many who read this, a reference to floppy discs may be as foreign as dial telephones. That’s how antiquated the system that’s supposed to assure our safety when we fly is.

But in making the announcement, Duffy blames the previous administration. Pointing out that President Biden should have upgraded the systems but did not.

He is correct, of course. But neither did Biden’s predecessor, and we all know who he is.

I do not mention this as a partisan jab. But as an example of how we tend to think and how government works, or, in the case, doesn’t work.

The fact is, government tends to not fix problems, even if they’ve been pointed out, until forced to. Complaints about the ATC system did not just begin with these outages. But it took the outages to force someone to do the right thing.

Think 9/11 and enhanced airport security and cockpit intrusion deterrence systems, i.e. fortified, closed and locked cockpit doors. They, too, were not fully addressed until after tragedy struck.

We are in an unfortunate cycle of being Pavlov’s dogs. We have a reflex of defaulting to blame the other party for whatever problems we may have. Thinking that electing folks from our party will solve all our problems. I suggest considering that government is often more reactive than proactive no matter which party is in power.

WHERE DISASTERS STRIKE

Someone suggested to me today that natural disasters only strike low income areas. This conception is a close cousin to the assertion that trailer parks act as magnets for tornadoes.

A close look at the data will show this to not be the case. But we can also see what drives this misconception.

Oftentimes building construction in impoverished communities is substandard. Also, poorer communities oftentimes lack the resources to deal with the immediate after effects of natural disasters. And the long term consequences.

Last summer I toured a poor rural area of Kentucky that, a year previously, had been hit by what is often referred to as 100 year flooding, because it’s thought that flooding that severe only occurs once in a century (perhaps another misconception).

Many of those folks were still without basic needs. Like running water. In swanky communities, people tend to have adequate insurance. Not so much in poor communities.

So poor communities may be disproportionately impacted by natural disasters. But that doesn’t mean Mother Nature specifically targets them with greater force.

THE INTERNET SHOULD DRIVE NEWS COVERAGE

This one drives me crazy. A much younger colleague proposed this concept to me today. Suggesting that social media analytics should be heavily considered in determining what stories are covered. Because, after all, that’s what people are talking about and therefore, it’s what they want to consume from news sources.

Need I explain (I needed to to him) that this is the tail wagging the dog? I asked, perhaps a little too sarcastically that, if his premise is correct, why do news organizations hire people with news judgment? Why not just tap into TikTok to see what people are posting about and let that determine what stories are covered?

I think his argument probably hit a raw nerve with me because I can envision a future when AI decides what’s newsworthy. Far less costly than hiring actual people to decide, isn’t it?

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The comments expressed are mine alone.