Excerpts theirs, italics mine.
When wildfires threatened the upscale community at Possum Kingdom Lake just west of here a week ago, the residents were desperate for, among other things, better cellphone service.
At the same time, Amy Sabbatini, who owns a weekend home at Possum Kingdom Lake, called a friend whose business is a major AT&T customer. That friend called executives at the phone company.
Within hours, an AT&T truck with a mobile cell tower had pulled up to the Mineral Wells hotel where Ms. Fewell was staying. The tower has been providing five strong bars ever since.
“We all are feeling really empowered,” Ms. Fewell said in an interview at the blog’s command center here, about 25 miles east of Possum Kingdom Lake and 50 miles west of Fort Worth.
The blog is another example of citizens harnessing social media to cope with a disaster, but this one has an advantage: it is written by and for a moneyed and well-connected clientele. These are people who are used to making things happen, not being passive victims. Their power, combined with that of the Internet, has produced a blog with clout.
Is it really news that wealthy, well connected people get preferential treatment from our corporate overlords? And is it really news that rich people use the internet? The internet is great at amplifying whining....just look at this blog! So it stands to reason it would be EXTRA good at amplifying the whining of rich folk.
But it's nice they feel really empowered....not that they weren't already, by dint of wealth and privilege. Maybe she means SUPERpowered, like Mario finding one of those cool mushrooms that lets him breath fire or jump really high?
We can at least thank those intrepid reporters at the NYT for informing us that the wealthy are USED TO MAKING THINGS HAPPEN, not being passive victims like all those destitute losers who don't happen to have a rolodex full of friends who can make waves at AT&T HQ....or lean on the NYT to cover their blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment