And I'm positively irate that Village Voice writer Joe Coscarelli thinks that the whole tragedy is just an excuse to write snarky comments about how "you get what you pay for" with the free ferry. I know that Staten Island is a socially acceptable target for jokes, but to be spewing snark about the crash literally minutes after it happened is just outrageous.
Here's what this jerk wrote on the Village Voice's Running Scared blog this morning (it was a top headline in Google News, which is how I found it):
You Get What You Pay For: Staten Island Ferry Crashes Into Dock
It's running almost constantly, provides a beautiful view and best of all, it's free. But the magical Staten Island Ferry had a little mishap this Saturday morning, when it crashed into the dock, injuring multiple people. Hopefully no one using the ferry to trek to work on this rainy Saturday morning was hurt and just a few rotund tourists with bad balance bumped their heads. Better yet, we hope everyone's okay!
(BreakingNews is reporting that
More updates as they come, or you could rush to your television and turn on the local news. Tell Sue Simmons we said, "hey, girl."
Wonder what else Joe Coscarelli thinks is funny. Did he have a giggle over the Times Square bombing attempt last week, hoping it hit "rotund tourists?" Maybe he laughed and laughed over the Nashville flooding, too.
The last time the ferry crashed, eleven people died. Others were seriously injured, with one man losing his legs. So when the very same boat crashes again, it's hardly the time to start making jokes about how "everyone wants in on the lawsuit action." Or to write about it with a tone more appropriate to an Ashley Dupre news item than a breaking news tragedy.
Writing "hopefully no one using the ferry to trek to work on this rainy Saturday morning was hurt" sure doesn't sound very sincere when you follow it with wishes that "just a few rotund tourists with bad balance bumped their heads." And keeping those lines in even after it was reported that up to 60 people were hurt, some of them seriously, is even more disgusting. Adding in that lawsuit joke made it even worse.
Anyhow, I hope this Coscarelli clown gets some grief over his breathtaking lack of judgment this morning in making jokes about this Staten Island Ferry crash. How incredibly tasteless. He owes Staten Islanders - and really, the human race as a whole - an apology for being a world class jerk. Grow up, dude.
I've ridden the Ferry a few times -- in fact, the last time was on that very boat, after its October 2003 crash (but obviously before this one). I've usually found the various boats (I think there's 5 of them in service) safe, but I always have a doubt just as it's about to dock.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I think I was on the Andrew J. Barberi, coming back from a Staten Island Yankees game (no car so I have to go the long away around), listening to my Walkman (still works after 25 years and cheaper than an iPod) when I heard about the Mets trading Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.