Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer has an attention-grabbing headline: “For Bucks couple in Vegas, a horrifying view of the carnage.” With a headline like that, you click on it thinking that maybe they were in the midst of the crowd and saw things you can never forget.
And, let me tell you, I don’t think they will ever forget the horrifying view of an empty littered lot 35 stories below their posh Four Seasons room the morning after the shooting. The art deco-inspired wall papers and giant shiny silver mirrors to reflect the lights coming in from their floor-to-ceiling windows looking down on the Strip will remain forever in their minds against the backdrop of the litter below them.
The article says they heard some shots which the couple assumed to be fireworks with the concert they could just hear below them. But the article deliberately uses phrases that just acknowledge they saw the curtains blowing out of the neighboring hotel room the following morning and litter the next morning after there had been bodies previously. It doesn’t actually say they saw “carnage.”
The Inquirer does want us to know that the couple resting in their super comfortable Four Seasons bed has no intention of letting the gunman get in the way of their high end bridal conference business and that they will, in fact, be strong enough to stay the entire 4 additional nights they were planning to stay! #LasVegasStrong
When this couple reached out to the largest newspaper in their home region to tell their harrowing story, they made sure to pose for a photo in their posh hotel dressed in their most stylish clothes looking appropriately concerned for the little people below. Without it, I’m not sure we could have believed that they had survived such a tragic crime that happened to a group of completely unrelated people 1,600 feet down the Vegas Strip.
Imagine thinking that this story about you would be beneficial to be in the news.
I really can’t fathom that kind of thinking.
Of course, you would expect that with their layers of editors that the MSM brags about, someone at the Inquirer would have responded to their outreach with a message of, “I’m sorry to hear that you saw those curtains & that litter, but we’re going to focus on telling the story of the Pennsylvania coach who was actually at the concert for his anniversary and who never made it home with his wife. We’re going to do research on things relevant to the investigation and talk to actual witnesses. Enjoy the rest of your Vegas trip, and I hope you make it home safely – unlike thousands of others who were killed, injured, or witnessed actual carnage as they experienced extreme fear for their lives as targets of a mad man.”
Too complicated. Stopped listening right there. You have to skewer them in 10 words or less for that to work.