A world of manufactured outrage and questionable studies?

[wineguy]

2 hours ago, FatherOfPugs said:

The whole "PC" culture is ruining everything and anything it touches. The wife and I were watching some re-runs of Seinfeld last night, hell, half of the jokes you would not be able to make now without some snowflake screaming they're offended OR the jokes would fly right over the youngens heads. Sad day when Jerry Seinfeld won't perform on college campuses nowadays because "students" get too offended at him making fun of himself. I love his style of comedy!

My son watched Airplane on the way now from a western ski trip. Talk about a movie that is really funny because they make fun of everything and everybody but could never be made now... along with Blazing Saddles....

 

The whole thing is insane.  I am teaching my kids that it is a good opportunity for them to leapfrog all the snowflakes while they are in their safe places....

[gweilgi]

Half the problem, it seems to me, is the traditional media.  

Something is posted -- a Twitter message, an ad, a caricature, a video clip, whatever -- and a minuscule fraction of those who read or view the piece end up complaining about its allegedly offensive nature.  The press then pick up on it and start shouting at the top of their voice about "internet outrage" -- when the actual numbers are so small as to be within the margins of statistical error.  I actually took the trouble to research the numbers on a couple of these instances, and at no point was there anything but a zero in front of the decimal point, and another one after it.  But I guess such reporting is journalistic low-hanging fruit: just monitor social media and if anything goes viral, write breathless copy about how the entire internet is up in arms about the, that or t'other.   

Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man, but I miss the days when our media was filtered by qualified editors who decided what was and was not actual news.

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, gweilgi said:

Half the problem, it seems to me, is the traditional media.  

Something is posted -- a Twitter message, an ad, a caricature, a video clip, whatever -- and a minuscule fraction of those who read or view the piece end up complaining about its allegedly offensive nature.  The press then pick up on it and start shouting at the top of their voice about "internet outrage" -- when the actual numbers are so small as to be within the margins of statistical error.  I actually took the trouble to research the numbers on a couple of these instances, and at no point was there anything but a zero in front of the decimal point, and another one after it.  But I guess such reporting is journalistic low-hanging fruit: just monitor social media and if anything goes viral, write breathless copy about how the entire internet is up in arms about the, that or t'other.   

Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man, but I miss the days when our media was filtered by qualified editors who decided what was and was not actual news.

bang on. bone lazy dimwitted incompetent journos. not all, of course, but far too many. and 99% are the young ones. no training. no mentors. no sub-editors. no clue. 

take a look at the crap about the KFC ad being american. this is a bone lazy journo (who probably never went near journo school or any other form of relevant education) seeing an article like the one i posted and not even bothering to read it in its entirety. then writing that nonsense.

my fave lazy, click-bait story was years ago when the brizzy lions were winning those flags. a great mate of mine was on the board and i heard a report on the news about a star player leaving training early with a groin injury and that he was in severe doubt for the semi-final. i was horrified as he was one of our best. rang my mate to ask about his chances.

first time my mate had heard a word about it. i explained the report. my mate said that he was at training and he was talking to the player concerned after training. no problem. i said, but they said he had to leave training early?

there was a moment's silence, then poor language and my mate said, 'he left two minutes early because he needed a leak'. the media had turned this into, 'injury. likely to miss the game'. 

[rcarlson]

On 4/9/2019 at 7:46 PM, RickHendeson said:

A huge fault of it is public "education" which completely neglects to instruct people of the difference between correlation and causation.  Sometimes I wonder if virtually anyone understands the distinction these days.  News media sure as hell doesn't.

Now Google "p-hacking" (aka "data dredging") and you can see the excitingly sleazy depths to which "science" has sunk.  The social "sciences" don't even bother with trivial things like "hypotheses" anymore.  They just gather a bunch of data and announce results.  Let the theories come to you!

Especially Google the story of Brian Wansink.  I will bet my last El Morro (delicious) that 90% of the people on this board have read or heard at least one news item based on his work -- even if they didn't know it . . . .

By the way it's been proven since 2000 that storks deliver babies.  http://robertmatthews.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/RM-storks-paper.pdf

 

 

 

Spurious correlation is pretty hilarious if you have a lick of common sense and a sense of humor.  For the hell of it, try the spurious correlation generator:

 http://tylervigen.com/discover

Here's one I made:

http://tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=53626

[HopeUgood]

This seems to fit in with the theme from the original post.  DMV rejects USC law professor/soccer fan vanity license plate siting it as racist.  The professor is suing the DMV for violating his right to free speech. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6904669/Suit-targets-Californias-ban-Come-You-Whites-plate.html

 

 

[Heatmiser]

I miss the days when everyone could just laugh at themselves and not take everything so personally.

[Fuzz]

25 minutes ago, Heatmiser said:

I miss the days when everyone could just laugh at themselves and not take everything so personally.

I'm offended! That sounds ageist!

[gweilgi]

5 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

bang on. bone lazy dimwitted incompetent journos. not all, of course, but far too many. and 99% are the young ones. no training. no mentors. no sub-editors. no clue. 

take a look at the crap about the KFC ad being american. this is a bone lazy journo (who probably never went near journo school or any other form of relevant education) seeing an article like the one i posted and not even bothering to read it in its entirety. then writing that nonsense.

Why stop at relevant education?  I stopped reading the Sydney Morning Herald because I caught myself shouting at the paper.  Not at the content, mind you (although they are as lefty as they come) ... no, at the sheer unmitigated inability of their staff to string together two sentences that are grammatically correct, have accurate punctuation and contain no spelling mistakes.  I have come to the firm conclusion that either Australians have been lied to by their government and the standards in the education system are even lower than they thought, or the SMH has a HR policy that gives extreme hiring preference to dyslexics and those for whom English is their third language.  Or both.  Added to that, it is quite evident to me that not only are they too damn lazy to even run their incoherent drivel through their computer's spellchecker -- so is their editor.  As for fact-checking and secondary confirmation, that's clearly sooo last century!  

 

5 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

my fave lazy, click-bait story was years ago when the brizzy lions were winning those flags. a great mate of mine was on the board and i heard a report on the news about a star player leaving training early with a groin injury and that he was in severe doubt for the semi-final. i was horrified as he was one of our best. rang my mate to ask about his chances.

first time my mate had heard a word about it. i explained the report. my mate said that he was at training and he was talking to the player concerned after training. no problem. i said, but they said he had to leave training early?

there was a moment's silence, then poor language and my mate said, 'he left two minutes early because he needed a leak'. the media had turned this into, 'injury. likely to miss the game'. 

Is there some form of editorial policy that forbids them from mentioning bodily functions?  

Ah, scratch that -- I just remembered Todd Carney, the Bubbler ....  

 

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, gweilgi said:

Why stop at relevant education?  I stopped reading the Sydney Morning Herald because I caught myself shouting at the paper.  Not at the content, mind you (although they are as lefty as they come) ... no, at the sheer unmitigated inability of their staff to string together two sentences that are grammatically correct, have accurate punctuation and contain no spelling mistakes.  I have come to the firm conclusion that either Australians have been lied to by their government and the standards in the education system are even lower than they thought, or the SMH has a HR policy that gives extreme hiring preference to dyslexics and those for whom English is their third language.  Or both.  Added to that, it is quite evident to me that not only are they too damn lazy to even run their incoherent drivel through their computer's spellchecker -- so is their editor.  As for fact-checking and secondary confirmation, that's clearly sooo last century!  

 

Is there some form of editorial policy that forbids them from mentioning bodily functions?  

Ah, scratch that -- I just remembered Todd Carney, the Bubbler ....  

 

if i ran a journo school, or even taught at any supposedly reputable high school, it would be immediately compulsory for all students to read 'all the president's men'. don't care on what their politics are and what they think of the wash post. but the rigorous detail and endless fact-checking that was required would be completely foreign to these kids today. amazing to see the stuff woodward and bernstein but which the editors would not allow near the paper until they had verifiable sources and usually at least two. 

today, people just make stuff up. terrifying. 

[bsubtown]

Maybe if your job causes to drink uncontrollably you need to find a new job. Service jobs force us to be nice to people who probably don't deserve it. You could go to the back of the house and not have to deal with those people. What I hear is people want the money that comes along with waiting tables but not any of the downside. 

[gweilgi]

6 hours ago, bsubtown said:

Maybe if your job causes to drink uncontrollably you need to find a new job. Service jobs force us to be nice to people who probably don't deserve it. You could go to the back of the house and not have to deal with those people. What I hear is people want the money that comes along with waiting tables but not any of the downside. 

Fair assessment.

One mitigating point, though: I reckon it has become much harder to have to deal with "those people" than it used to be.  Time was when most people had manners and were at least somewhat considerate of those who provided a service.  That percentage has gone down markedly, in my observation.  These days, when I go to the shops, stay in a hotel or visit a restaurant, I see so many examples of customers behaving like utter shits.  I am very glad indeed I do not have to do such a client-facing job today because too many folk seem to think that because they are the customer, it gives them the right to treat staff like dirt.  With the sort of behaviour I have to witness regularly, I, too, would be hitting the bottle on a daily basis...

[stogieluver]

I'm triggered by idiots being triggered.  And that's all I'm going to say about that. 

[wineguy]

7 hours ago, bsubtown said:

Maybe if your job causes to drink uncontrollably you need to find a new job. Service jobs force us to be nice to people who probably don't deserve it. You could go to the back of the house and not have to deal with those people. What I hear is people want the money that comes along with waiting tables but not any of the downside. 

I think you are spot on.. the reality is that the customer facing job or those who bring in the revenue are higher stress and also higher paying, you can't have it both ways... life is about give and take and sometimes your stress, family and liver suffer for the job... it's not required but a choice many make.

[RickHendeson]

On 4/10/2019 at 9:19 PM, rcarlson said:

Spurious correlation is pretty hilarious if you have a lick of common sense and a sense of humor.  For the hell of it, try the spurious correlation generator:

 http://tylervigen.com/discover

Here's one I made:

http://tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=53626

 

Sweet

[JGD]

https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/04/17/australia/australia-real-estate-promo-scli-intl/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

This article made me think of this thread. As I watched the video I kept wondering when I was supposed to be horrified. I mean, did it seem like an odd advertisement? I guess. But horrified? No.

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, JGD said:

https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/04/17/australia/australia-real-estate-promo-scli-intl/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

This article made me think of this thread. As I watched the video I kept wondering when I was supposed to be horrified. I mean, did it seem like an odd advertisement? I guess. But horrified? No.

At night time, turn on a black light, then you'll be horrified.

[BrightonCorgi]

Comedy is banned in the PC world.  Inevitably, a joke is generally at the expense of someone or something else and that is not allowed.

The world has to take a stand against trolls and all these supposed people who are offended.  The voice of the slimmest minority carries more weight than at any time in history.  These people intent is purely to cause fake outrage that does not exist.  Those who are accused should not apologize if they acted they we have for 1000's of years.  Simple as that.