It saddens me when I hear a report like the one this morning about police finding a "car bomb" in London and averting "carnage" and "massive loss of life." It saddens me because my first reaction is not "Oh no!" but, "Are you sure?"
I just don't trust the mainstream media to report stories like this in proportion to the facts. CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, all the major papers, report of potentially devastating loss of life being narrowly averted. It is only upon greater research on the part of the reader that one discovers that the "bomb" consisted of 2 canisters of ... are you ready for this? ... propane gas. Yes, I have 2 such canisters on my patio at this very moment. Even I know that this would create big fireball, and not much else. CNN also reported that the "bomb" was "packed with nails." Only now we find out that nails were scattered on the floor of the car. Again, doesn't seem to me that this justified the description "packed."
The Guardian UK has a much more levelheaded report on this story.
Please don't get me wrong: this could have been extremely dangerous, and people could have been injured or killed. But initial media reports of this story were sensationalized. Just like the stories about potential hijackers in London a few months ago, and the Fort Dix "terror suspects." The frenzy dies down after the initial reports, and buried deep in the news are the facts that have developed: in neither of those two cases were the "terror plots" anywhere near the chance of becoming a reality.
When the media sensationalizes these events, it does nothing but feed the power grabbers Bush and Cheney. Let's calm down a little until we have the facts on this.
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