On the rare occasion we'll catch The National on CBC, the one channel where we get Canadian news and, hopefully, without the satellite hiccups so annoyingly provided by our cable company.
Two nights ago, we were watching a Canadian correspondent with a live report from Chile who was describing the recent dramatic events surrounding the rescue of the trapped miners. He recapped the events of the mine's collapse and elaborated on the current situation at the mine where many family and friends were gathering. To paraphrase, the reporter said, "the atmosphere here has become almost carnival like. Rescue efforts will continue throughout the night. The clowns are expected to arrive tomorrow." [Live report ends]
WTF?? They're going to send in the clowns??
Last night we again watched the CBC news - mostly to find out the purpose of the aforementioned grease-painted personnel and, while waiting on the follow-up news bite of the Chilean rescue efforts, another foreign correspondent was reporting on a situation of a military conflict that I believe was somewhere in Africa. I was in the other room during the story, not really paying much attention, and the only words I heard were, "...more crisis arises in this unpopular war". Since when is war ever "popular"??
Immediately after that story, the rescue update was aired with video coverage taped earlier in the day. Yes, there were clowns. And, what was not made clear the night before, they were there to entertain the family and friends of the trapped miners, not the miners themselves.
I don't mean to make light of the unfortunate use of words or phrasing by these reporters - on the contrary, their missteps brought a bit of levity into stories that are otherwise sad and dire, but without detracting from the serious nature of those situations. Shit happens. And, apparently, so do clowns.
Thank you. I'll be here all week.
