The title is the understatement of the year. While I was working in the Astrodome, Kit was keeping me up-to-date on what was going on in the media. Some of it raised my ire to fever pitch (as displayed in my curse-laden rant about the race-baiting), but most of it left me scratching my head.
The rumors of the atrocities being committed in the Superdome were too far-fetched, unsubstantiated, and gruesome to be believed. I personally hated the thought of all blacks being painted with such a sordid brush. That's not because I was in some kind of naive denial, but because I simply didn't believe it of the people of New Orleans - or anyone, for that matter! Plus, I was among the Superdome evacuees everyday and every night, and everyone told me their stories. It was bad and pitiful and scary, but if the rapes and murders were going on like Nagin and his police chief sobbed to a teary Oprah, there is NO WAY there wouldn't have been evidence of such.
I remember having that exact conversation with Kit, as she filled me in on the MSM's frenzy. I had the phone pressed to my ear to try and hear above the constant din inside the Astrodome. I kept saying, "No. No way!" as Kit enumerated one rumor after another that was being reported by the press as FACT. I didn't believe it then, and now we all know it was BS.
The MSM is now forced to report on it's own irresponsibility in sensationalizing Katrina's aftermath. An article yesterday in the Seattle Times, Reports Of Anarchy At Superdome Overstated states: "The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees at the Dome — murders, rapes and beatings — have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence." Really?? How false?
How many dead bodies in the Superdome?
Reported: 200
Actual: 6 (4 died from natural causes, 1 from a drug overdose, and 1 apparent suicide)
How many murders inside the Superdome & Convention Center?
Reported: 40-50
Actual: Superdome = 0, Convention Center = 1
Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said authorities have only confirmed four murders in the entire city in the aftermath of Katrina — making it a typical week in a city that anticipated more than 200 homicides this year.
The MSM rumor mill, at its peak, was churning out "news" such as:
...news of unspeakable acts poured out of the nation's media: People firing at helicopters trying to save them; women, children and even babies raped with abandon; people murdered for food and water; a 7-year-old raped and killed at the Convention Center.
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