A perspective on CNN

I tell my friends and family on the mainland that we pay closer attention to their weather than they pay attention to the weather in Hawaii.

For example, regarding heat waves, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, snow storms, ice storms, drought, and other natural disasters, we tune in to CNN for all the news details and video excitement.

What do mainland folks hear and watch about Hawaii?

Once every 10 years or so there’s news about a hurricane. Many mainland folks know that Hawaii has volcanoes, but they’re the same ones who think we live in paradise, like a modern day version of Gilligan’s Island but with more people. We do, but what with the high price tag on everything local, we live poorly. Just like on Gilligan’s Island.

An island-wide power outage was cause for news of Hawaii in mainland media. That’s the stuff CNN loves. For me, CNN is the place to turn to when I’m feeling down and need a lift. It’s not that the news on CNN is any different than on Fox or MSNBC or anywhere else. It’s not that the news on CNN is particularly pleasant or feel-good. It’s not.

The news on CNN is so bad that even if you’re living in Hawaii and having a really bad day, it’s not as bad as the day someone else is having, and their day is broadcast on CNN.

CNN makes me feel good about living in Hawaii.