|
TV Bites With
Neena Louise |
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
by Neena Louise
On Thursday, August 14th, shortly after 4 pm, I was online with the
TV murmuring in the background when the cable went out. This had
barely registered when I lost my Internet connection, then the power
went out - all in the space of a few seconds. The air conditioner
ground to a halt and my refrigerators stopped. Considering it was
quite hot for the northeast, my first concern was how stifling it
was going to get in my house. I was annoyed until I hauled out a
long-neglected battery-operated radio and was met with nothing but
static. After a fleeting thought of "it's the
apocalypse!", the radio sprang to life and I learned that I was
only one of some 50 million people that had been plunged into
darkness. Once I learned it had nothing to do with terrorism, my
next thought was nothing short of pathetic. Was I still concerned
with how hot it was going to get? Did I wonder if my food would
spoil? If my family was in darkness and doing ok? If I lost any
important work on the computer? If people were trapped in elevators?
No! It was "But...but...Amazing Race is on
tonight!". I need a priority check.
As I dug into drawers and cupboards to retrieve flashlights,
batteries and candles, my thoughts were still of television and how
the long the evening would seem without it. As darkness fell, I
hunkered down with a pile of books and thought I'd make the best of
it. Though I love to read, I found it hard to concentrate with my
brand new 36" television skulking in the corner, mocking me
with its darkness. Despite living in the downtown area of a largish
city, the darkness was smothering and the silence eerie. With no
streetlights or house lights, passing cars lit up the night and the
crickets chirped in delight. I might as well have been living in the
country. Eventually (and after leaving Big-Mocking-TV Room), I
adjusted, lost most of my selfishness - grateful I wasn't trapped in
an elevator and that I still had clean running water - and settled
in for the night, reading, talking on the phone to commiserate with
others, or listening to the radio. I was one of the lucky ones and
power was restored before midnight - less than eight hours after it
went out.
With power restored, the first thing I did (naturally) was turn on
the television. What I saw was an intriguing statement on the
condition of U.S./Canada relations, which have been strained since
Canada's refusal to enter the Iraq war. First New York Governor
George Pataki and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg blamed the
blackout on Canada. Ontario Premier Ernie Eves fired back with the
confident statement that it started in New York City. New York
returned with the statement that it started by a lightning strike in
Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Canada shot back that, yes,
there was a lightning strike, but it was on the American side. None
of it was true, but the finger-pointing persisted. President George
Bush appeared on television and called for patience and calm.
Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien was nowhere to be found (turns
out he was at his vacation home in an area unaffected by the power
outage and, I guess, couldn't be bothered leaving this comfort to
offer reassurance). Though I found all this amusing - watching the
finger-pointing despite the fact there was no definitive evidence of
just where it started - I wondered why both the American and
Canadian politicians seemed so preoccupied with who was to blame,
rather than getting the lights back on. It wasn't until Friday night
when ABC's 20/20 seemed to have figured it out and explained
in great detail how it all started and where (the prime suspect:
transmission lines in Ohio). Why could the media figure out, but not
the politicians? I think the politicians of both countries should
apologize to each other and the public. We really didn't need that
childish finger-pointing display while we were coping in the dark
(some even without water or a place to sleep).
As power was restored to area after area, news conferences continued
and the experts kept repeating the same thing: the power grid is
fragile and people must conserve. I watched a news conference on CNN
where New York's governor and Secretary of something-or-other both
urged people to conserve energy and not use their air conditioners,
despite the 90-degree heat. CNN had a split screen of the news
conference and Times Square in New York City. Times Square was lit
up like a Christmas tree, with electronic billboards going in a sea
of neon signs. When retailers were urged to turn off their signs and
billboards, they refused: "We paid for it...we're going to use
it." So, let me get this straight: it's okay to light up store
and advertising signs, but I'm supposed to swelter in the heat? I
don't think so. My AC went on. It went on low and in power-saver
mode, but it went on just the same. By Saturday, life seemed to have
returned to normal. Stores were open and power had been restored to
most of the affected areas. However, the experts and politicians
still insisted things were far from normal, repeating their call for
energy conservation and urging people to turn their air conditioners
off, threatening rolling blackouts if they didn't. Like most in the
northeast, I hear the threat of rolling blackouts during every
single heat wave, and yet I have never experienced one. If they want
people to conserve energy, they shouldn't cry wolf every time the
mercury rises above 80 degrees. I wasn't alone in ignoring this
latest request.
In this day and age, there's absolutely no excuse for 50 million
people to go without power in the middle of a heat wave when there
was no natural disaster to cause it. But have we become so dependent
on electricity that we can't even exist without it? Not only was
this - as President Bush put it - a wake-up call, it's a hard lesson
on how dependent we've become on electricity. I was reasonably
prepared with loads of batteries and candles and didn't really
suffer, unlike so many others. However, I've learned the thing I
missed the most (as pathetic as it may sound) was television. I
intend to buy a battery-powered one. Lesson learned.
Oh, and the local affiliate reran the missed episode of Amazing
Race. Bless 'em.
| We
would love to know what you think, sound off on the
TV message
boards and let us know what you think! |
|
|
