News Headline States Obvious

This just in, earthquakes are dangerous according to a recent scientific study. I saw this headline on my iGoogle page, and couldn't resist making fun of it for the sheer Duh Factor. "Scientists: Gigantic Earthquake Would Devastate Southern California." Really? What gave them that impression? Could it possibly be the recent natural disaster in China? Thank you, China, for showing us that we too would be screwed if a similar earthquake struck our shores. Now that we know we can do. . . almost nothing about it.

Does anyone else find that a little bit tasteless (says she as she pokes fun)? It belittles the huge amounts of loss they have experienced in China, steals focus from their suffering and places it on the potential danger to Southern California. Please, let them figure out how many people have died before you start forgetting about them.

And while I'm on the topic of the news media, do you ever get the impression that the writers assumer their readers are idiots?