mdm@pur-ee.UUCP (Mike D McEvoy) (02/04/86)
As fate would have it, I was on the way to the airport when the news came over the radio about the Challenger. I turned on the old Watchman TV to catch the instant replay. The ability to be instantly in touch with the rest of the world is amazing. As I proceeded on my journey that day, I ended up in Concord, NH that evening. I stopped at a grocery store and was struck by the incredible grief of everone... The only noise was of the the cash registers. Then the MEDIA struck and the next thing I knew there was a camera in my face and a very insensitive reporter was asking " and how do YOU feel about the....?". About a half hour later I stopped by the local Catholic church to spend a few moments reflecting on the days events and once again a camera popped into my face. I will never understand the mind of some reporters. How a human being can be that insensitive to walk into a town and start asking "and how do you feel..?" I will never know. I guess it takes a special type of sub- human. I don't feel bad for myself. My grief over the loss did not prevent me from expressing my opinion effectively to both reporters. I do feel sorry for the students, parents and others who were subjected to this indecent act. Several could only respond with a cry of utter despair, a sound that I will remember almost as long as the picture of the Challenger disappearing into a fireball. May the Challenger Team rest in peace and may the dream continue. Mike McEvoy
credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (02/05/86)
In article <3698@pur-ee.UUCP> mdm@pur-ee.UUCP (Mike D McEvoy) writes: >MEDIA struck and the next thing I knew there was a camera in my face and a >very insensitive reporter was asking " and how do YOU feel about the....?". > >I will never understand the mind of some reporters. How a human being can >be that insensitive to walk into a town and start asking "and how do >you feel..?" I will never know. I guess it takes a special type of sub- >human. I don't feel bad for myself. My grief over the loss did not >prevent me from expressing my opinion effectively to both reporters. I I think this criticism is a trifle unreasonable. The Challenger disaster has been generally recognized as a national, if not international, event of major proportions -- one of those once-a-decade occurrences that have all Americans weeping together (or cheering, should the astonishing event be a happy one, such as the release of the Iranian hostages). Such unanimity of feeling and thought happens chiefly because of the media, television in particular, which repeat and amplify and repeat and explore and repeat the appropriate emotion. When the event is the unexpected death of a group of heroes, that media repetition takes the form of the sounds and pictures of a nation crying. Chris