Keller @ Large: Irene Scare Tactics Worked
BOSTON (CBS) – If you live in a place where there was dangerous flooding, or serious damage from falling trees, you are not asking this question today.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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But there are surely some – especially those spared any impact from Tropical Storm Irene – who are wondering: did officials (and their megaphones in the media) really need to scare the daylights out of us in anticipation of Irene?
Or did the government-media alliance engage in excessive hyperbole, for nefarious purposes that only the collective wisdom of talk radio nation will be able to determine?
I say, no.
WBZ-TV's Jon Keller Is At Large
From the president to Governor Patrick to every meteorologist on the air, hoping for the best but planning on – and emphasizing – the worst-case scenario, and haranguing the public to behave with extreme caution, was absolutely the right approach to take.
Why?
Check out the fatality toll from Irene.
At last check there had been 22 deaths blamed on the storm, all of them regrettable, a majority of them unavoidable.
By my count, 12 of the 22 fatalities were caused by acts of nature, trees falling on homes and caving in the roof or starting fires.
The remaining ten were what I consider avoidable deaths, people who seemingly didn't use the brains there were born with to avoid danger.
Five died apparently from being carelessly in or near the water during the storm; four were killed in their cars out driving around when they shouldn't have been.
This is a remarkably small number, given how many millions of us live in Irene's path.
Photos: Tropical Storm Irene
The scare tactics worked, just as they worked keeping Boston from going into gridlock during the Democratic convention in 2004, just as they prevented street violence after the Bruins won the Cup, while Vancouver, where scare tactics were shunned, suffered riots.
Give our emergency management officials credit – they know from grim experience what works when it comes to controlling mass behavior.
And to them, I say, this weekend was a job well done.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
