Matthew Johnson wrote:

> Quasin says...
> 
>>If Fox is saying this is the worst natural disaster ever, they have 
>>little knowledge of history and have failed to google for easily 
>>available info from USGS and other objective sources.
> 
> But they are not alone is saying this. Far more responsible sources have been
> saying it too, such as Yahoo! and CNN.
> 

Not quite true - CNN says "this may be the worst natural disaster in 
recent years," which is a far cry from "worst ever."

BBC says the "tsunami in the Indian Ocean has been described by relief 
experts as one of the worst natural disasters in recent history."

Discovery channel says "In 1970, a cyclone and the resulting floods 
killed 500,000 people, making it the worst natural disaster of the 
20th Century." and "in China in 1887, the Yellow River overflowed its 
banks, leading to the deaths of 900,000 people."  (And, of course, 
they are leaving out the 1918-19 flu epidemic that killed somewhere 
between 20 million and 100 million worldwide, because there is 
disagreement whether an epidemic is a "natural disaster.")

There's a big difference between "the worst natural disaster ever" and 
"the worst in recent years."  For one thing "worse
ever" belittles the 
reality of other major disasters.  For another, exaggeration doesn't 
teach people to believe the source in the future.  And particularly 
for those Christians who believe an endtime events timetable, there 
seem to be a big theological difference between "worst ever" and 
awareness that natural disaster deaths on this scale and larger are, 
alas, not rare.

The web site Free Republic (whoever they are) points out that "As sad 
as it is, the SE Asia earthquake is not the worst natural disaster 
ever...The SE Asia disaster, however, seems to be a significant one 
because there are many Westerners, including 'celebrities', died in 
this unfortunate event."

I HOPE they are wrong, that the same level of press attention and 
relief effort would have taken place even if NO Americans, Germans, 
British, Swedes, etc. were among the dead.  But it's an interesting 
and disturbing question - would the tsunami have stayed in the news 
for a day or two, instead several weeks, if only "those people" and 
not also "our people" had been hurt?  Or is the internet changing our 
level of awareness and empathy for "other people," by creating an 
intimacy that makes them part of "us"?

Quasin
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