I agree with Dan Kennedy that the amount of live coverage devoted to last night’s blackout was absurd. But I, for one, am glad the media is talking about something other than the California recall. Plus, the story IS interesting - perhaps more so, as we visit it the next day and figure out what exactly happened. In fact, it seems to resonate on several levels:
Symbolism: TV news coverage was eager to give the blackout the 9/11 treatment of course (New Yorkers pulling together…). High-flown pomposity and a little too self-congratulatory to boot, but the blackout did touch a deep nerve and uncertainty that lines up with general uncertainty about American life in the 2000s. In this light, it’s interesting to look at the previous major blackouts of ‘65 and ‘77 (the New York Times does just that) as emblems of an historical zeitgeist.
Policy: Already, the event has brought up the specter that deregulation or poor regulation is to blame. Both the Economist and the Times have good explanations of what, after all, is a fairly technical issue. And Josh Marshall gives a useful link to the Blackout History Project. The issue is not likely to be solved in any definite sense - the left will tend to see deregulation as the culprit, the right as too much local control and regulation. In the mix, we should insist on adding the role of air conditioning to the problem. Once a rarity in the Northeast, its increasing popularity is putting strains on demand. Some regulation of usage or appliance efficiency may be in the cards for the future.
Infrastructure: Somewhere between the zeitgeist symbolism and the particulars of public policy lies a reminder that cities are fragile systems - they do run remarkably well, but failures in infrastructure can bring large populations to their knees. Of course, the point that terrorists could exploit this is an important lesson, but not the only one. Perhaps it’s also a reminder not to take subsystems that we rely upon for granted - to give them the policy attention and material resources they deserve.
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