Mine "tragedy" really? - news events w/ disproportionate coverage

[El Diablo]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/17/utah.mine/index.html

Coverage of this mine accident has been bothering me.

"Suffice to say yesterday we went from a tragedy to a catastrophe"

That's what was said by the governor after 3 rescuers died as part of the rescue operation for the 6 trapped miners.

Sure, the idea of being trapped in a mine sucks super hard. But, I dunno, in the context of all the tragic stuff that happens in the world, this just seems relatively minor in scope compared to tons of other stuff.

I dunno, maybe I'm just coldhearted, but I just don't really care what's going on in the rescue effort or anything.

Anyway, this is sort of a pet peeve of mine, when things that are somewhat rare or have some unusual twist to them get huge amounts of coverage that imo they don't really merit.

[The Ocho]

that chick who got killed/lost in jamaica or whatever certainly qualifies.

[gumpzilla]

Yeah, it's not like the miners are getting eaten by sharks or anything.

I don't know why it's easier to wrap one's brain around this than to think about earthquakes in Peru. But I think it's the same reason that lots of people will get enraged by Michael Vick and dogfighting without batting an eye about 200 people getting blown up in Iraq. There's not an adequate emotional frame of reference for considering the objectively bigger tragedy and so it just doesn't resonate in the same way. The mine in particular stretches this theory, it should be said, since it's not like people have any experience with that either.

[Ribsauce]

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But I think it's the same reason that lots of people will get enraged by Michael Vick and dogfighting without batting an eye about 200 people getting blown up in Iraq.

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Michael Vick is getting railroaded for a few reasons. He had to get caught in the slowest sports period of the year. Had he got caught during the season, during march madness, during the baseball playoffs, hell, anytime but the 45 day window he got busted in it would have been a much smaller deal. Race has something to do with it as well. Actually not so much race as race+athletic status+jealous people. And sports media being the most pathetic type of media there is doesn't help.

Speaking of, this entire thing pisses me off. Dog fighting is terrible and all that, but what is happening to Vick because he is Vick is retarded. The whole concept that is driving peta and the prosecution is "we got to get michael vick" Quentel Woods didn't even go to jail or get suspended for getting caught dumping one of his fighting dogs in a dumpster and I know the federal government has caught other dogfighting rings and not put this much effort into it, if any. I have trouble believing one house in Virgina is even in the top 50 for worst dogfighting rings of all time.

I feel with the current state of mass media our country is in constant witch hunt mode which leads to things like the Duke Lacrosse situation and the Imus case*

*Imus sucks but any rational person knows this was blown out of proportion

edit

Another thing that drives me crazy are AMBER ALERTs and that type of stuff. The media and politicians and I'm sure other people are creating a society of constant fear for our children. The other day at work this lady was worried because her 15 year old daughter's flight was cancelled and her and her friends were put up in a hotel overnight. She was 75% convinced someone was going to get them drunk and rape them. She was dead serious and totally worried, like it was unavoidable and certain to happen.

[Jamougha]

It's being covered because it's dramatic - crisis in real time! - not because it's tragic. If they'd died instantly you'd never have heard about it.

Back in the '70s, this girl in Italy dropped down a well and got trapped. The emergency services couldn't get her out for about 5 days, and the whole nation was following the story, front page of all the newspapers, hourly updates on TV and radio, the works.

This was at the same time as a major war over in the Lebanon. People there were in mortal danger every day, with bombs exploding randomly and gunfights in the streets. Guess what? Everyone there was sitting glued to the TV coverage of this little italian girl while the war raged on their doorsteps.

People iz not rational Jim.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

yeah, i read something recently which talks about the reaction of people in China during 911. They were like "3000 people died, what is the big [censored] deal? 13,000,000 died in our Communist Revolution".

The news is a form of entertainment in America.

[captZEEbo]

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yeah, i read something recently which talks about the reaction of people in China during 911. They were like "3000 people died, what is the big [censored] deal? 13,000,000 died in our Communist Revolution".

The news is a form of entertainment in America.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into what you are saying, but are you saying people in America don't have real news b/c nothing really that bad happens here?

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

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[ QUOTE ]
yeah, i read something recently which talks about the reaction of people in China during 911. They were like "3000 people died, what is the big [censored] deal? 13,000,000 died in our Communist Revolution".

The news is a form of entertainment in America.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into what you are saying, but are you saying people in America don't have real news b/c nothing really that bad happens here?

[/ QUOTE ]
my comment was off topic. i think point is just that America has run so well as a country that three thousand people dying is a monumental event in our history. i realize that the WTC in NYC collapsing has psychological affects, but at the end of the day, only 3k people died, right? How many Iraqis died in the war? Three thousand of our people die so we have to go out and kill twenty times that amount? Is there any question why we are the most hated country in the world?

Id suspect that people from other countries that have experienced genocide have different psyches, but ive never been to any so i dont know for sure.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
yeah, i read something recently which talks about the reaction of people in China during 911. They were like "3000 people died, what is the big [censored] deal? 13,000,000 died in our Communist Revolution".

The news is a form of entertainment in America.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into what you are saying, but are you saying people in America don't have real news b/c nothing really that bad happens here?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think he's saying that the Chinese are like the Borg.

[tpir]

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The news is a form of entertainment in America.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had a scathing post typed out but this says it all.