Friday, February 21, 2003
The West Warwick tragedy: More than 20 killed in a Chicago nightclub tragedy. Now more than 60 are confirmed dead -- and the death toll is rising -- from the West Warwick nightclub fire last night. One can’t help but recall, with these awful tragedies, the Concoanut Grove fire in 1942, when 492 people perished in yet another nightclub calamity. The more things change, the more they stay the same. ...
... Television coverage has been OK, but you can tell they’re already going into crisis team-coverage overdrive. How? Earlier this morning, Channel 7’s Steve Cooper spent ten minutes interviewing a ‘grief counselor,’ who talked about the need to cry, to let your emotions out, for closure, for the grieving process, for the ‘pain will always be there.’ The Modern Media Grieving Extravaganza has begun. The most offensive aspect of the interview with the ‘grief counselor’: He said those who go to these nightclubs have an “emptiness” in their lives and they “can find fulfillment in other ways.” ... I feel like I’m lowering myself by even bringing up this obnoxious drivel, this phony and shallow and offensive journalism. So I’ll end it here. What sadness.
Update -- Boston.com has pulled out of the Globe's archives a far superior link and account about the Cocoanut Grove fire. Very sad. ...P.S. As of 1:45 p.m., the death count now stands at 75 and will likely keep rising.
... Television coverage has been OK, but you can tell they’re already going into crisis team-coverage overdrive. How? Earlier this morning, Channel 7’s Steve Cooper spent ten minutes interviewing a ‘grief counselor,’ who talked about the need to cry, to let your emotions out, for closure, for the grieving process, for the ‘pain will always be there.’ The Modern Media Grieving Extravaganza has begun. The most offensive aspect of the interview with the ‘grief counselor’: He said those who go to these nightclubs have an “emptiness” in their lives and they “can find fulfillment in other ways.” ... I feel like I’m lowering myself by even bringing up this obnoxious drivel, this phony and shallow and offensive journalism. So I’ll end it here. What sadness.
Update -- Boston.com has pulled out of the Globe's archives a far superior link and account about the Cocoanut Grove fire. Very sad. ...P.S. As of 1:45 p.m., the death count now stands at 75 and will likely keep rising.
