Why I’m Bored by California Wildfire Story

by on October 24, 2007 8
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I had a brilliant mentor in journalism in Zachary Stalberg, the former editor of the Philadelphia Daily News. He hated natural disaster stories. "No villain."

(Of course the global warming angle does bring back the good-and-evil narrative. )

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Beyondoweiss

{ 8 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. David Seaton says:
    October 24, 2007 at 12:25 pm

    California is the world's center of image production. That California burns because of Global Warming will become the story of dozens of films and become part of the universal psyche. The fires in California with a million rich people (in world terms) fleeing like Bosnians from their homes is a decisive battle in the creation of Global Warming consciousness.

    Global Warming consciousness spells the end of the Conservative Revolution of Reagan and Thatcher, because to tackle it will require massive government regulation, high taxes and long range planning that is outside the market economy, "quarterly report," mentality's capacity to handle. It will also require binding international treaties with bite. All of this is anathema to the neoconservative orthodoxy. It will be done democratically, if possible, but finally it will be done.

    Global warming is not just the end of Thatcher and Reagan, it is also the end of Hayek (Friedrich, not Selma, thank God), Karl Popper, Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand.

    It is, in fact, the end of one world and the beginning of another.

  2. LanceThruster says:
    October 24, 2007 at 2:19 pm

    Heard Prof. Mike Davis of UC Irvine on the radio the other day. Quite fascinating take on the fires including mention of this essay of his:

    Let Malibu Burn: A political history of the Fire Coast

    http://www.radicalurbantheory.com/mdavis/letmalibuburn.html

  3. MM says:
    October 24, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    To Phil's assertion, the villian here is the American capitalist religion and its proselytizers, some of whom live in these very hills, who have preached nothing but growth is good while every foundation of our existance, as a species and planet, is converted to commodity, turned into capital.

    Southern California is where mountain lions have mauled jogging grannies, and black bears regularly invade backyard hot-tubs, and at night coyotes, racoons and possums join the prostitutes strolling Hollywood Boulevard, because the capitalism-fueled sprawl has filled every valley and climbed the sides of every mountain ridge leaving nowhere to hide.

    Mike Davis' writing especially Ecology of Fear elaborates on Los Angeles as symptom of malignant capitalism.

    What is capitalism's plan when exponential growth means death?

    Lower the interest rate a 1/4 point…

  4. Leila says:
    October 24, 2007 at 5:19 pm

    Sorry Phil, maybe you think you're being cute, but if you were not so provincial – if you actually had family in those fire zones – you might find the sight of 800,000 internal refugees both newsworthy and upsetting.

    I generally like your opinions but on this one you just come across snide and sophomoric. You're like the people who shrug their shoulders at 600,000 Iraqis dead – so what? Distance makes it impossible to empathize. (and plenty of ugly REpublicans sneered at Katrina evacuees, too, if you remember)

    That said, I can imagine that if one were watching the news non-stop one would indeed get tired of it. I followed it for a couple of hours Monday night online and decided that was way too much time wasted. The solution is to change the channel and watch something else (or turn off all the infernal machines and go for a walk)

    Hoping for more of your good-sense columns soon.

  5. LanceThruster says:
    October 24, 2007 at 6:33 pm

    I think Phil's point is of the saturation of coverage that is equivalent to "if it bleeds, it leads." I do not think anyone is trying to be flippant or uncompassionate towards those affected, but rather look at the larger picture (as MM has done by his additions to the discussion). I live in one of those communities where people complain of bears in their hot tubs (at least as a "flatlander").

    I too am "bored" of the coverage, but mainly because there is no context. It is similar to when the big coastal storm surges take place and beachfront residents anguish over the high water line or the cliffside mansions about to tumble into the sea. It's as if they don't make the connection as to how cliffs got to be cliffs in the first place or how the high tide line shifts over time.

    It seems that campgrounds or trailer parks would be better usage of some of the areas as it would be more resiliant in the face of recurring wildfires. Mobile homes kept compact enough could be hitched to a truck and towed out of danger. The current density and land use makes no sense for dry brush hillsides and canyons that act as perfect chimneys.

  6. WM says:
    October 25, 2007 at 1:21 am

    It would be boring if it wasn't for the fact that funding for forest fire prevention and fighting weren't cut to sustain the imperialist empire:

    Alliance fears cuts in wildfire prevention

    http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070402/news_1n2fire.html

    "Priorities in Washington, D.C., have shifted to paying for national defense, cleanups after Hurricane Katrina and other needs, forestry experts say."

    U.S. needs to keep fire tanker funding

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20051127/ai_n15873344

    WHILE trying to slash billions of dollars from the federal budget to help cover the costs of the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration wants to cut funding, a move that would ground much of the federal fire-fighting tanker fleet.

  7. MM says:
    October 25, 2007 at 9:21 am

    Leila I personally am very worried about Britney Spears and her family there in Malibu. I really couldn't sleep last night wondering if there were anywhere they'd be able to go, or if they would one night die incinerated in their bedrooms, if their family's century-old permanence would be forever robbed by the most capricious of winds.

    Yes, Malibu is just, just like Iraq. In fact it may even be worse. In Iraq there hasn't been billions in insurance payouts to make. (I really ache for the poor, well-meaning insurance companies at a time like this.)

    This is a tragedy of unprecedented scale, and at this most difficult time, we should fly the flags on our yachts at half mast in honor of the good men, women, and children forced to flee to their second or third home.

  8. adam says:
    November 9, 2007 at 12:58 am

    If you find the California wildfire story boring, it's probably because you can't pin it on the Israel lobby.

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