Get these monkeyfighting snakes off my monday to friday street: TV

By John McDaid | Saturday, 25 July 2009

In case you missed the evening news, Providence sent TV crews to my block today to scare the dickens out of everyone in the state because of an escaped Burmese Python. The lead-ins really said it all: "A snake on the loose, terrorizing a local community!" (ABC6) "Police put entire neighborhood on alert." (WPRI12)

Yeah, well. It was a big snake. Got out of of my neighbors' house. Found sleeping under the house a couple of hours later. Shrug.

My son, Jack, reached for comment, said that he had seen the snake on several occasions sitting quietly in its cage when he was over playing at the house. He was not particularly terrorized.

And for the record, fact-checkers at ABC6, it's Gormley AVENUE. You'd think with a truck full of ENG gear and computers and BlackBerries, you could look up at the freaking street sign. Sheesh.

Resources:
ABC6 News
WPRI 12

Full Disclosure: Yeah, I know the folks who own the snake.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871, media ecology

Comments

Maddie_C

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 2:51pm

I heard there was a report about a snake terrorizing the neighborhood, but I just thought it was a politician going door to door again. *drum rim shot*

John McDaid

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 5:57pm

Hi, Maddie_C...
Is this an audience or a pack of gerbils paralyzed with fear. I know you're out there, I can hear you hissing. I just slithered in from Chicago, and boy are my scales sloughing.

I'll be here til Thursday. Try the mouse.

Cheers.
-j

PixelFish

Sat, 07/25/2009 - 9:28pm

How big was the python? A responsible pet owner would certainly alert neighbours and police and certainly you shouldn't leave one alone with children or small animals, and a responsible owner would handle it with other adults present. BUT...all that said. Pythons are non-poisonous, and not super likely to bite if they've been fed recently. I've been bitten by a seven and a half foot python, that mistook my arm for a rat, and came away with a bruised arm and a warning to watch for infection because of possible salmonella in the snake's mouth. But that's no worse than I've had from dog bites, cat scratches, and mistaken turtle syndrome. Yet the snake gets the bad rap. I have no quibble with "Police alert community" -- that's accurate--but "Snake terrorises community" is sheer yellow journalism.

(Elaphe and Ignatius are very indignant right now, incidentally. *grin*)

------------------
...she sings from somewhere you can't see...

John McDaid

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 10:11am

Hi, PixelFish...
Agree. This incident really spotlights the difference between old mass media and new hyperlocal journalism.

The goal of TV news is to deliver the eyballs of a frightened or titillated viewership to advertisers. That's what they sell: audience. What naturally follows from this is a philosophy of "news" that leans heavily on tragedy, fear, and spectacle. My friend, U. Baltimore media guru Stuart Moulthrop summed up tv newscasts this way: "Life is short. Consume."

When you actually live on the street and know the family that owns the snake, yes, you might stay out of the yard for the afternoon, but you're not necessarily going to blog it. Oh, I might have, if I'd been home at that hour and been able to get a picture of the two TV news vans, but more as a meta-commentary on how out of hand things were getting. We live on an island. What possible justification could state-wide TV crews have for covering a snake loose on an island?

Just an excuse to reinforce a culturally postulated attitude toward snakes. One could invoke, en passant, as it were, Lacan's transcendental signifier. I mean, really. A rabid skunk presents a far greater public health risk, but you just wouldn't get the TV crews down here for that.

Cheers.
-j

ps: Best to Megs and all her serpents.

PixelFish

Sun, 07/26/2009 - 1:01pm

I hadn't thought about rabid animals, but yeah, much bigger danger. Particularly since they often look cute and cuddly, or in the case of bats, are more torpid than normal and might seem harmless. We had a bat on our stairs, which we eventually had removed, after a few days of non-movement. We looked stuff up on the internet and it turned out that the non-movement and weird position were indicators of potential rabidness. No news crew though to cover our stairs.

....

News media: I think I probably get more useful news via non-traditional news sources. CNN seems to enjoy making me feel as anxious as possible about the world, and I get very little news that actually impacts me in return. Must think about this more.

...she sings from somewhere you can't see...