Fox & Friends, and the Implosion of Mercy

By John Kubicek

To: Fox & Friends, I'm there for you. I know all too well how technology can come back to bite us. Thus, I can also feel for you, too.

Last Saturday morning, there was going to be this historic building implosion in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was historic because it was going to the very first ever building demolision in Cedar Rapids using explosives. And very cool, because the site being imploded is next to a hospital. Can you imagine the histeria radiating from that issue? Well, funny thing was, there wasn't any that I noticed. In fact, it was an event that was celebrated just like the fireworks on the 4th of July. The "crowd" was much smaller, only because many people didn't find out about it happening until later.

Lucky for me, the original time that it was to happen was at 7:30 a.m., and it was postponed until 8:00 a.m. I had to hurry home from work to make it home to set up my video recording by 7:30 a.m. that morning. That wasn't easy, either, because I had several stops to make on the way home. Fortunately, the time was moved up to 8:00 a.m. during my trip toward home. I was keeping up with what was going on, apparently better than the Fox & Friends producers.

The Implosion of Mercy


But, it only figures. While I was able to multitask and get all of the video that I was hoping for, I encountered my own technical murkiness when trying to produce the above video. It was a combination of sleep deprivation following software issues I had dealt with, and I finally had to call it a day last Saturday. So, it took me an extra day before I could upload the video to youtube.com. And now, it is several days later before I get it put up on a blog. But, there is a point.

There are times when the "news cycle" depends on immediate release of the story, and getting it recorded "live" as it happens. The masses love "live" coverage. However, there are times when live coverage doesn't happen, as hard as we try.

That's why I have to make a shameless admission that this story, though published long after the news cycle of the event, is actually being used to make a point. It is just like the Rahm Emanuel Philosphy: Don't let a calamity go by without taking advantage of it. (Not the exact words, but the gist of it is accurate.)