Why is it that every time on DU when the media stirs up a panic....

[TwixVoy]

And the occasional poster (in the vast minority) makes a post to the effect of "Stop the panic. The media is blowing shit out of proportion and distracting us again".... the typical response is "Why do you care?" or "YES IT IS TIME TO PANIC!"

I mean after living through 8 years of bush bull shit haven't people figured this game out yet? The media for the past 8 years has come up with countless bull shit story after bull shit story designed to distract and waste time. Anyone remember "Shark attack" hysteria? Anyone remember "Iraq has WMD we are all going to die!!!"? Anyone remember countless "Missing white woman!!! NATIONAL CRISIS!!!"? Anyone remember bird flu?

I mean DAMN - how many times can they get away with this? The "news" is ENTERTAINMENT FOLKS! Figure it out. This swine flue is ENTERTAINMENT! Hell I sit down with a glass of juice a sip it while I smile watching the hysteria.... because the only thing more fun that being a part of the hysteria is being an observer laughing at all the people in a panic over more media garbage.

Today news came out that Bank of America and American Express are going to need more federal cash. Barely a blip on the radar. They are robbing you blind while you panic and expect death from the evil flu to visit you soon. That is why I care people.

STOP FALLING FOR STUPID MEDIA TRICKS! IT IS ENTERTAINMENT TO MAKE YOU "FEEL" LIKE SOMETHING IMPORTANT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE! How many days have been wasted on this nonsense? How many more weeks until the media moves over to the next major BS issue and gets you to focus on it?

Damn I am so sick of the typical American being so half witted.

[Oregone]

1. Is everyone permitted their own stupid thread for this.

Hey, lookie at me!

[aquart]

14. Yes. It's called NILS or Name In Lights Syndrome.

Compulsive original posting.

[saltpoint]

2. My guess is that for the people who are sick with this influenza, it is not

entertainment.

Influenza can be lethal. Non-lethal illness from influenza is debilitating. Through the smoke and haze of media sensationalism we have to go in and look for cool-browed, smart, clear policy on how to respond to this contagion to help as many people who need help.

I'm guessing everyone hopes for the best.

[TwixVoy]

3. No but it is entertainment for everyone else

a modern version of the Romans throwing people to the lions. The sickest part is that, like the Romans, very few see it that way.

[saltpoint]

6. 'Was suggesting that the media are not the primary source of clarity.

I would expect them to behave badly. They do it all the time.

[Skittles]

4. I'm just curious but

while I agree that the media is now infotainment, under your theory nothing would EVER be a crisis, we'd NEVER have to worry about ANYTHING

[TwixVoy]

5. Few things qualify for crisis status

in our typical American lives. If you think this is a "crisis" you have no idea what real crisis is.

[Skittles]

7. who said I thought it was a crisis?

[TwixVoy]

8. Who said that I said everything was NOT a crisis?

All I said was the vast majority of what the american media says is a crisis is simply not.

[Skittles]

13. you seem to be part of the hysteria

[MrModerate]

9. The media stirs up panics because that's their job . . .

News infotainment is inherently sensationalistic -- and that's based on human nature at least as much as the moral shortcomings of media tycoons.

Which is not to say that there's nothing to panic about. Shark attacks were real, if you happened to encounter a hungry shark; if WMD had been real, it would have been a very dicey situation (of course, Bush's response made it about a hundred times worse, but that's a whole other galaxy of error); bird flu and SARS are very, very real threats (in fact, the current flu is really bird flu plus plus, when you get down to it).

And if I have to explain why missing white babes stir both the media and regular folks up, then you just don't understand sex or parenting.

Sure the media is made up of amoral whores. But it's the nature of the beast and no conspiracy to obfuscate the truth. The media doesn't really give a shit about the truth, unless it's lying in front of them, bleeding.

[JI7]

10. those same people would be claiming the media and govt was covering up

if they didn't report on something as much as they are.

[aquart]

15. You're right.

[saltpoint]

11. I think of folks in New York City. They come and go to work every day,

riding buses and trains. They walk along sidewalks and in and out of subway stations.

And everywhere are the newsboxes and newstands with the POST's gigantic thick black throbbing headlines on the day's story.

There's quite a difference between the TIMES' phrasing, "Particles from Mt. St. Helen's eruption may pose health risk for some" and the POST's headline on the same story, "DEATH CLOUD APPROACHES".

Those folks going to and from work manage to make the appropriate distinctions.

[cali]

12. bzzzzt.

let's dispatch this in short order. Most DUer aren't panicking and are perfectly well aware of the MSM prediletion for sensationalism. Most are able to parse it.

Is it a bullshit story? Uh, no. It may well be overblown, but that's a different matter. Only a complete moron can't see the difference between this story and the shark attack story. how sad.

So it's entertainment, eh? You mean epidemiologists, scientists and health organizations are in collusion with the MSM? Brilliant theory.


Damn, I'm sick of blithering morons who can't tell the difference between a missing white girl story and a flu outbreak with potential far reaching implications.

[saltpoint]

16. Saint John Prine should be invoked in cases involving the media.

Specifically, his chorus, "Blow Up Your TV."

- - -

"Blow up your TV.
Throw away your papers
Move to the country
And build you a home

Plant a little garden
Eat a lot of peaches
Try to find Jesus
On your own."

--John Prine, "Spanish Pipedream"

- - -

One can strive to be unaffiliated and thereby immune from manipulation by the government the media the church the advertisers etc.

And I have a bone-deep admiration for anyone who has the brains and the balls to live completely removed from the grid. My hat's off to any soul who leaves the key in the SUV along the side of the interstate a mile before the baneful exits with the fast food and the truckstops etc. and just heads out to their own private Idaho, their own remote desert cave, or to some state of mind which strives to replicate creative, contemplative solitude.

But it's hard to accomplish. Most of us try to navigate the world by making better choices than "the media" would prefer we make. We can choose Jim Lehrer over Brit Hume, for example. We can pass on Toby Keith and go with Emmylou Harris instead. We can call the Pukes to task and instead volunteer to elect Democrats. We can donate to Planned Parenthood and support our local schools and museums. We can read books.

I'd prefer a world where we did not have to constantly keep a look out for the rocks. Better to sprawl on the deck of a sun-flooded schooner, margarita in hand, with no promises to keep or maps to follow.

Not all the rocks can sink the boat if we collide but some can. We have to watch for all of them against the odds of one of them doing damage.

[mwb970]

17. What gets me is those blue masks.

Everyone in Mexico seems to be wearing blue masks. They are always shown in the "wallpaper" footage on the cable news channels as expert after expert explains that the masks do no good, are not capable of "filtering out" the flu virus, and basically do nothing at all to protect people. There is a kind of mask that would work to some degree, but they are expensive and only medical staff have them. The blue ones do nothing but make the person feel better for no actual reason. Therefore, all those frightened people are basically following a debunked superstition.

Why does this make me think of America's right-wingers? Hmm. Scared over nothing, adopting "remedies" that are known not to work, spreading fear before the situation is well understood, ignoring science...

[cali]

18. you'd be hard pressed to find someone who's ignoring science

more assiduously than the OP. He/she is comparing a flu outbreak to shark attacks and missing white girls.

[sam sarrha]

19. i can agree with some of your post.. but i just dont like Cynicism.. that is the biggest tool

tool of the ReThuglicans..

[get the red out]

20. You are right

but the hysteria will continue. Once it starts only some other story being blown out of proportion even more can stop it.

[conscious evolution]

21. I agree

The whole thing is a weapon of mass distraction.

Keepm your eye on the ball,people.

[Warren Stupidity]

22. Melissa Rycroft's absence from Dancing With The Stars is HUGH!

[tekisui]

23. Just because the M$M sensationalizes a story,

does not mean that it is not worthy of attention. The M$M will do what it does. An intelligent observer will look at for the facts and implications behind the sensationalism, regardless of the story.

It is usually pretty obvious what is news and what is fluff.

Sorry, but this flu outbreak is news. It doesn't mean it's a pandemic or that there will be thousands of people killed, but it is a story. One day there will be a deadly, easily transmitted virus. It is important to watch and study stories like the swine flu so that we can better prepare for the inevitable. Consider it a drill, with potential of something worse, and it is worthy of serious attention.

[KharmaTrain]

24. If It Bleeds It Leads...This Has Been Going On For Decades

Don Henley wrote "Dirty Laundry" nearly 30 years ago. It's not a new phenomenon...just one that's more pervasive.

We live in a far more interconnected world that anyone would have guessed a decade ago. Most of us not only communicate on these toys of the information age, but all watch the same channel. This is where the game has changed.

The fifth estate has always served its masters before it serves the public. In the best of times, it finds a balance where news does take preference over entertainment....however in this competitive age, that balance now tips firmly toward entertainment as the handful of cable channels and networks try to dazzle and finesse viewership. They want eyeballs that mean ratings that mean profits...a complex story doesn't cut it, but a good one with one of with an element of sex or death is sure to get the eyeballs.

Give DUers a bit of credit. This place reflects the media around us, but it doesn't mean it is determining our attitudes or that we're buying their soap. In many cases, you get some very insightful comments that help others spot the games and become more critical viewers.