RV Weekly

The last paragraph in a news story released by the Associated Press over the weekend pointed a finger — and a huge, blinking neon sign — toward an environmental group as the source of some of the negative news stories about formaldehyde that have made their way into the mainstream media in recent weeks. You can read the article by clicking here. 

The article itself is questionable simply due to the fact there are very few quotable sources in it. There’s not even an “author” listed for whom people can contact or even attribute some of the comments.

Here’s a news reading tip for people who aren’t trained in the business. If a story lacks attribution (a documented source) for any wild claims, you can bet the farm that the story is the result of a press release issued by some group. If a story lacks an author, feel free to bet your retirement funds that the source is a press release.

The story widely distributed by the Associated Press is nothing more than liberal talking points uttered in an attempt to damage the RV industry’s credibility.

So, who would issue a press release to the Associated Press in hopes the news agency would distribute it far and wide? Here’s another news reading tip. The source will want to take credit for the article with its membership or key influencers, or to draw attention to itself in some way. So, look for a reference in the story to either a membership-based or government-sponsored group. In the story in question, several groups are mentioned, including:

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• The State of Oklahoma’s Department of Central Services Property Distribution Division
• Cookson Hills Community Action Foundation
• The Sierra Club

I wonder which of these groups has an axe to grind with the RV industry.

The article notes that “FEMA also said it would move thousands of hurricane victims out of the trailers.” Imagine, and after only two years of living in emergency shelters.

Anyone who has ever worked for government is familiar with the term CYA, which loosely translated means “cover your blockheaded mistakes.” Caught once again in the spotlight of massive disorganization, FEMA officials are knocking each other over racing toward the closest microphones and television cameras to disavow any role in the formaldehyde issue and to point all its fingers at everyone else. As everyone knows, government can’t be at fault for any thing at any time for any reason.

Case in point. A common ordinary citizen lights a campfire, from which a spark escapes and causes a forest fire that destroys one or two homes. The citizen will likely be charged with felony destruction of property, jailed, sued and prevented from writing a book about his captivity. Yet, when a National Forest Service worker with a blowtorch purposely starts a fire in a windstorm to trim out a few trees — a fire that destroys hundreds of homes and burns thousands of acres — he’s promoted for having the foresight to call 9-1-1 to report a problem.

So when you read that FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker said, “The formaldehyde issue is not a FEMA issue, it’s an industry issue,” you know exactly what he means. He’s saying it’s not a government problem, but rather one caused by an evil, capitalistic, profit-oriented industry which employs people in productive jobs.

Be wary anytime you see the Associated Press quote someone as a “spokesman.” In every company, organization or government agency, there is only one official “spokesperson.” All other people are just common, ordinary folk who happened to answer the phone and got trapped by the media into revealing something they weren’t supposed to.

In this case, Aaron Walker is FEMA’s official press secretary, so the source is high enough in the agency to make Walker’s pronouncement an official indictment against “an industry.” But which industry? The author conveniently left that out of the story. It could be the RV industry, or the media industry, or the towing industry or the wood industry or the paint industry. Who knows?

The “author” also quotes Walker a second time. Pay special attention to the quote marks.

When it comes to health regulations, “travel trailers fall into a legislative and regulatory black hole,” he said.

There is probably little doubt that Walker said “travel trailers fall into a legislative and regulatory black hole.” But was he really talking about health regulations? Recreation vehicles, like everything else manufactured in America, are heavily regulated. Ask anyone tasked with enforcing OSHA rules in a manufacturing plant. It could be Walker made an off-the-wall comment that when it comes to transporting emergency housing units into disaster areas, there are no specific regulations regarding how many can be set up in one neighborhood. Until Congress addresses that specific issue, then, yes, trailers fall into a regulatory black hole. But with health issues? Give me a break.

In fact, whenever you see a sentence constructed with half a statement in quotes and the other half standing alone, chances are very high whatever appears in quotes was taken out of context and has little, if any, correlation to the rest of the sentence.

The AP story also wields several wild assumptions as though they were, indeed, fact. For example,

• Hurricane survivors were exposed to “dangerous levels of formaldehyde.” (Define “dangerous” for a substance naturally produced by the human body.)
• Formaldehyde is a “carcinogen found in building materials like plywood and carpeting.” (Good thing our homes and offices aren’t built out of such carcinogens.)
• Plywood and carpeting can lead to “severe respiratory problems.” (Maybe that’s why I snore.)
• “Independent studies and experts have claimed some trailer manufacturers cut corners by purchasing materials from countries with weak formaldehyde regulations.” (Which studies and which experts?)

Isn’t it interesting how these manufacturers had time to import materials over the ocean from Malaysia where, apparently, they had ocean liners loaded with carcinogens just waiting to be transported to America in time to build emergency homes for storm victims. George W. Bush is portrayed as a buffoon, but when it comes to destroying the lives of American’s he’s brilliant. After creating the storm by his reluctance to embrace the global warming hype, and then having the military blow up a levy in New Orleans, he had shiploads of cancer-tainted building materials at the ready for use by an industry acting in collusion with the White House to infect as many hurricane survivors as possible with long-term, serious health issues.

Here’s where the real story begins — in paragraph nine. “Environmental groups have called on the federal government to investigate (the problem) for at least a year.” Ahh ha! An environmental group has been pressing the feds to declare RVs unsafe for more than a year. The problem is, millions of Americans enjoy RVs already, so how can they be unsafe?

Environmentalists must find a loophole. Here it comes.

“Becky Gillette, with the Sierra Club, a national environmental group, said there are thousands of excess FEMA travel trailers that have been spread throughout the country,” the article read. “Many end up in rural, impoverished areas, where housing options are minimal, she said.

Why is it that poor, impoverished people in rural areas always wind up getting sick while middle class RV owners can continue to use their units without any adverse side effects?

The bottom line is that the Sierra Club, while pretending to be advocates of everyone who enjoys the outdoors, has for years been blatantly anti-RV. This group of tree-huggers seeks to prevent any human from interfering with nature. These yahoos are consumed with guilt that humans are even allowed to breathe the same air as wildlife.

Simply Google the term “RV AND Sierra Club” and you’ll be amazed at the vitriol on display by these friends of nature.

Make no mistake, these hard-boiled environmentalists want all motorized travel prohibited in our state and federal parks. In their eyes, carbon-emitting recreation vehicles bring droves of methane-emitting humans into the wilderness. They want RVs stopped, which is impossible due to their popularity, so they must be slowed.

What better way than by getting people, especially moms, to think that by spending time in their much desired RVs their children might contract cancer. Could this have any correlation to this year’s decline in travel trailer sales?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Previous Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.