The JetBlue plane landed safely in California yesterday with 139 people on board-- yet you wouldn't know it given the media hype. Have you noticed that all of the emergencies that we used to hear about second hand are now a kind of human drama played out on tv with the worst case scenario at the forefront.

You would think that the commentators on these shows want the worst for the people involved given their bated breath and excited voices as they wait for a catastrophe. Or worst yet, when a trauma such as Katrina happens, the media make it worse by confirming people's worst fears. Coping mechanisms such as denial, repression, and sublimation are denied to the victims of trauma when it is consistedly beat into their psyche that they must be traumatized.

The old theory about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was that it was therapeutic to have the client relive the trauma over and over in order to get better (exposure). But it is the feeling of being able to control one's circumstances and that one can triumph over adversity that makes people feel better and adjust in the long run. The media catastrophizing every event and all of the hand wringing (i.e. Katrina) sends the wrong message and makes victims out of people who have just had a bad experience.

Jennifer Aniston Doesn't Like Black People

In this week's Star magazine, Jen is said to have one condition about her Oprah appearance. She won't appear on the same episode as Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice because Jen is unimpressed with the federal government's response to Katrina's aftermath. Someone should point out to Jen that the Secretary of State does not have anything to do with hurricane relief.

I have never understood why some people equate having or not having money with morality. I don't think being rich gives you a license to look down on others but at the same time, being poor does not mean that you are a virtuous and good person.

I was once driving with some filmmakers (excuse me, artists) while working on my documentary and one of them became angry when a older white gentleman pulled in front of him. The filmmaker became very irritated and stated "I hate old guys in Mercedes." I lost it and let the filmmaker know what I thought about his prejudiced and insensitive remark. Somehow, he had made the mistake that I would be grateful that he was sticking it to this symbol of paternalistic capitalism. I was not impressed.

Rudeness and hate come in all forms--I have had the chance to work with well-off people who were kind and giving and those who were broke but cruel and suffered from a sense of entitlement. So, just as being rich should not be a measure of a person's worth, being poor should not be a reflection of a person's virtue.