Last night I was watching the evening news. I know, a terrible habit to get into. The lead story was the celebration in New Orleans as the Saints returned home to the welcoming throngs. The gist of the story is that this football team represents all the hopes and dreams of the people of New Orleans. Now that they won their trophy, the recovery is over and New Orleans will soon be better than ever! (I didn't say that, some woman in a bar did). Thankfully the producer of this story did include a few pans of the 9th Ward.
It would be a little bit too perfect, wouldn't it, to have such a fairy tale ending? The papers declared in bold 'AMEN!', yet New Orleans is still a city in shambles. Admittedly I haven't followed local news in Louisiana, but I assume the levies and bridges and infrastructure would fail again if there were to be a major weather event. There are still thousands of people who have not returned to their homes, hundreds of businesses that are still shuttered, and areas that have become ghost towns. But NBC likes its happy ending. And so the narrative concludes...the Saints lived happily ever after.
Personally, I hope all the best for the people of New Orleans. I truly hope that city can return to the city it once was. But the whole "We Are Marshall" angle on this story really bothers me. It seems more of a product of 'public interest story' than hard news. I mean, the fact that the Superdome was completely refurbished and the 9th Ward was not should rankle any true journalist, shouldn't it? I don't follow local news, but things aren't exactly back to normal in 'Nawlins, are they? But the fairy tale ending is certainly a better bookend to the story than the one that probably should be written. "Saints Win Super Bowl, Thousands of Fans Who Fled City Missing Celebration".
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