Swami:
Not sure if this is your department, but maybe you can settle an argument between me and the wife. Last Saturday night when the tornado sirens went off in our neighborhood, she ran down in the basement and I ran outside with my video camera. She yelled at me even though I didn't get killed. Who was right and who was wrong here?
Mad in Mundelein
Dear M in M:
The Swami is not normally in the business of Dear Abby and Miss Manners, but if you are silly enough to ask, here goes nothing: You were right. Let your wife's counterattack begin.
True, everyone from the National Weather Service to the Federal Emergency Management Agency would advise otherwise, but who are we supposed to listen to in the age of Public Journalism -- the boring old safety patrol, or the cool popular crowd?
Some would say that the instant-video culture is encouraging people like you to risk their lives for a moment of fame. The Swami would be one of the people saying that, by the way, but let's not let common sense get in the way of your potential moment of glory on YouTube or iReports.
So next time the storm sirens wail, you go right ahead and run around looking to get your name on CNN and MSNBC. Just don't get decapitated by a flying sheet of plywood while doing it -- Big Media might run a brief clip of a local tornado, but when it comes to victims, they usually just give the numbers and not the names.
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