I had posted previously on the preponderance of personal perspectives that can be found on the web. The comments posted to news stories are staggering in their insignificance. But those solicited by reporters, while similarly insignificant, continue to be amusing by the very fact that they’re solicited. Now the Northeast is facing yet another blizzard, and once again the media are seeking out the opinions of guys-on-the-street.
A story from the Associated Press reports:
Scott Bogina of Haddonfield, N.J., was gassing up his car across the Delaware River in Pennsauken, N.J., a little after 5 a.m. and held his hands and watched rain, not snow, land on his gloves. “I don't see anything yet. I hope it stays like this. I like snow, but it's starting to be a little much,” he said.
Wow, that’s really insightful. I’m a bit mystified by Scott’s river crossings, but thanks, Scott. Then there’s this from Philly.com:
“Yeah, I'm kind of tired of it,” said Dave Pearson, who was walking a beagle late Wednesday in tony Rittenhouse Square, where much of the grass was still streaked with slushy remnants of previous storms. “We'll see if it happens. I'm tired of it ... we'll have to deal with it.”
A needed dose of reality there, Dave. But then that’s the kind of opinion you’re gonna find in tony Rittenhouse Square. (I always wondered what Rittenhouse’s first name was.) Then a bit closer to my old stomping grounds comes this late-breaking news flash from the Delaware County Daily Times:
While business had been brisk all day at the Giant Food Store in Aldan, according to one employee, the aisles were not overcrowded at Genuardi’s in the Glen Mills section of Concord around 3 p.m. Wednesday said an observer. “They’re waiting till it snows,” predicted one worker. “There have been so many different forecasts.”
No names, you notice. People in Delco safeguard their anonymity. Especially when asked to make a call in the face of so many different forecasts.
I’m not sure whether the purpose is to cultivate warm fuzzy feeling on the part of the reader – “gosh, these are folks just like me!” – or whether there’s some crusty guy sitting at the city editor’s desk screaming for more human interest or whether reporters are being paid by the column inch. It’s nice that Scott and Dave have become immortalized. But those supermarket clerks in Aldan and Glen Mills will just have to wait their turn. It’ll come.
A story from the Associated Press reports:
Scott Bogina of Haddonfield, N.J., was gassing up his car across the Delaware River in Pennsauken, N.J., a little after 5 a.m. and held his hands and watched rain, not snow, land on his gloves. “I don't see anything yet. I hope it stays like this. I like snow, but it's starting to be a little much,” he said.
Wow, that’s really insightful. I’m a bit mystified by Scott’s river crossings, but thanks, Scott. Then there’s this from Philly.com:
“Yeah, I'm kind of tired of it,” said Dave Pearson, who was walking a beagle late Wednesday in tony Rittenhouse Square, where much of the grass was still streaked with slushy remnants of previous storms. “We'll see if it happens. I'm tired of it ... we'll have to deal with it.”
A needed dose of reality there, Dave. But then that’s the kind of opinion you’re gonna find in tony Rittenhouse Square. (I always wondered what Rittenhouse’s first name was.) Then a bit closer to my old stomping grounds comes this late-breaking news flash from the Delaware County Daily Times:
While business had been brisk all day at the Giant Food Store in Aldan, according to one employee, the aisles were not overcrowded at Genuardi’s in the Glen Mills section of Concord around 3 p.m. Wednesday said an observer. “They’re waiting till it snows,” predicted one worker. “There have been so many different forecasts.”
No names, you notice. People in Delco safeguard their anonymity. Especially when asked to make a call in the face of so many different forecasts.
I’m not sure whether the purpose is to cultivate warm fuzzy feeling on the part of the reader – “gosh, these are folks just like me!” – or whether there’s some crusty guy sitting at the city editor’s desk screaming for more human interest or whether reporters are being paid by the column inch. It’s nice that Scott and Dave have become immortalized. But those supermarket clerks in Aldan and Glen Mills will just have to wait their turn. It’ll come.
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