The Accidental Reality

A couple of days ago, a fire engulfed parts of a local farm, killing livestock and burning some of their feed for the winter season. The article says that the farm belonged to a family that immigrated to Canada from Holland. The article seems to focus more on the statistics surrounding the farm - how much the blaze cost the family (1 million dollars), how any cows were saved (200) vs how many were lost, and who spotted the fire (a neighbour). The Free Press obviously decided not to examine the story from the human angle - a family who moved from Hollan 8 years ago who lost a siginificant portion of their farm. Both statistics and compassion sell, although what made the statistics a favourable angle for the story? Perhaps we've become aclimatized to the disaster, and the human story becomes the same and not worth reporting. As discussed in class during the Titanic lecture, in today's world, its the factoids that get people interested more so than the human story. Then again, Titanic is a historical disaster, which doesn't affect us directly.