Thanks to the ever-growing destructive power of Hurricane Matthew, the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are in the middle of “the largest mass evacuation on US soil since Hurricane Sandy.” That means interstates clogged with bumper to bumper traffic, empty grocery stores, and Florida Governor Rick Scott warning that the storm “will kill”—but it doesn’t mean everyone’s going to evacuate.
Enter Fox News’s Shep Smith. Instead of simply reminding viewers of Scott’s pleas and detailing the destruction Hurricane Matthew could potentially cause, he decided to do something a little more dramatic, like shaming those who don’t evacuate with threats that Fox wouldn’t “cover their funerals” or “feel sorry for them.”
“Despite the warnings lots of people in the United States have said they’re not going anywhere. We will not cover your funerals and we will not feel sorry for you. They’re stocking up supplies, boarding up their homes, and hoping. Which is moronic.”
But Shep wasn’t finished. No, he wasn’t finished at all.
“See this? Melbourne? Daytona Beach? Jacksonville? This moves 20 miles to the west, and you and everyone you know are dead. All of you. Because you can’t survive it. It’s not possible. Unless you’re very, very lucky. And your kids die, too.”
Residents of evacuation zones (and their “kids”) who happened to have been watching Fox News when this segment aired knew a hurricane was coming, and that wildly callous performance probably didn’t change any minds or save any lives. It just gave Shep the chance to treat Fox viewers with a dollar-bin Sorkin monologue masquerading as news.
