Editor’s Notes: The language of fear
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Maybe it's the heightened sense of anxiety since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; maybe it's the way those in the news-ertainment industry play on our emotions; maybe it's social media…something has changed the way we think and react. Last week provided an absurd example.
To be fair, it was in the midst of justifiable environmental questions surrounding the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. So, when alarmed residents started asking questions about the powder that was appearing in the air and on some vehicles -- particularly in the Eastern Panhandle -- it was easy to wonder whether something awful was drifting across the state.
I hadn't seen pictures (or seen it myself), so I hadn't given it much thought, other than assuming it wouldn't be long until someone figured out what the mystery powder was. It caught me by surprise, then, to read stories reporting the results of dust-sample testing conducted Feb. 24.
The mysterious, scary substance? "Predominantly pollen," according to the West Virginia University Department of Geology and Geography. I laughed out loud when I read it.
I knew social media users had posted their sightings of the powder in West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia, and I suppose late February is a bit early to see the familiar spring coating on cars, but I couldn't do anything but laugh at the state we're in if pollen in the air is enough to spark conspiracy theories and fear.
We even had a caller to the newsroom accusatorily ask us when we were going to report on the powder in the air, implying that we, as daily community newspaper reporters on the other side of the state, were covering up something.
WVU elaborated that the rest of the powder appeared to be trace amounts of mineral matter, perhaps related to dust storms in the Midwest.
Pollen, and a little bit of dirt, then. That's what set off a scare that said more about people these days than it did about what is in our air. I suppose it says a lot about how much reason we've been given to question what pollutes our air and water, too. But I wish we weren't all so wired toward fear before thinking. It's doing an increasing amount of damage -- the kind we aren't going to be able to laugh off and wipe away.
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On that note -- there's a crop of lawmakers this year who stand out as shining examples. Their behavior is doing nothing to solve the crisis some others in Charleston said they hoped to tackle this year. We're still failing to attract and retain residents. We've had a few big economic development announcements, but those are, well, still developing. Meanwhile, the situation is desperate enough that the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would give $25,000 in tax credits to former residents who move back to the state to work.
We've already tried the ASCEND program and its variants for luring new residents, and it has found some success.
But what does it say about what those lawmakers know, deep down, they are doing to this state, if they feel as though they must bribe people to come back? And why is it more appealing to them to offer cash or tax credits or outdoor recreation passes than to just behave like elected officials who want to lift up ALL West Virginians and provide the kind of economic, educational and socio-cultural landscape that attracts and retains residents without having to bribe them?
They're crippling us, and some actually seem to be proud of it.
Unlike the pollen in the Eastern Panhandle, THAT is nothing to sneeze at.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com