Sunday, June 12, 2011

Setting the record straight

Speaking of headlines, my favorite of all time was back in 1977. In July of that year, a blackout robbed New York City of its electricity. LaGuardia and Kennedy airports were closed down for about eight hours, automobile tunnels were closed because of lack of ventilation, and 4,000 people had to be evacuated from the subway system. Looting and arson erupted across the city. An official at Con Edison, the local utility, attributed the blackout to an "act of God."

Within just a few weeks, the Federal Power Commission conducted an investigation and released its report, finding a number of inadequacies in the utility's planning, operations, and response.

The headline in the NY Post or Daily News was:

God cleared. Con Ed found at fault.

2 comments:

Jerry said...

That's definitely is a challenger to my favorite Daily News head from the height of the NYC fiscal crisis a year or so earlier:

Ford to City: Drop Dead

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, does "act of God" sound like "these things happen"??
And to further the parallel, note it took an external agency to determine that the organization should have taken an honest look within, before blaming God.

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