Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

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TopHatFox
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Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by TopHatFox »

#Rant to follow.

I grow annoyed at the media, such as CNN, New York Times, and all their other profit-cronies. I grow particularly annoyed at how they reward killers with free, nationwide publicity. I'm even further annoyed at people in my immediacy that continue to promote these killings. No, president of the college, I did not want an e-mail informing me that 2 were killed here, and 5 were killed there. In fact, I was rather enjoying my meandering walk by the ravine before you remind me of death that is the statistical probability of .0000001%.

I ask myself: can we not work to eliminate racism, hatred, and violence by promoting positive actions people are taking every day to do so, rather than highlighting the tragedies and then attending vigils to greave? No, that wouldn't make a profit would it, and it wouldn't create a calm, collected people, either.

Sigh, It seems it is difficult to completely extricate myself from exposure to distant violence; I suppose that would be the equivalent of extricating myself from the world at large--the cabin on the hill, so to speak. Interestingly enough, however, I had not even heard of the killings, nor the emotional memes created afterwards, after deleting all social media and enlisting high privacy settings everywhere else. Halleh luya to that.

#Rant over.
Last edited by TopHatFox on Sat Jul 09, 2016 2:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.

vexed87
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence

Post by vexed87 »

I suppose you could take some solace in the fact that we live in relatively peaceful times. Rare outburst of violance are only reported for shock factor which is a result of it's present infrequency.

I avoid all but the worst atrocities (word of mouth seems impossible to avoid) by simply avoiding the mainstream media and unsunscribing from unwanted mailshots.

daylen
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence

Post by daylen »

Can you ever fully eliminate violence (or crime in general) though? From a functional sociological perspective, crime is necessary for society to even exist. I know you are talking about violence in the media but still something to think about. Plus, the world would be boring if no one ever pushed the boundaries of what is considered acceptible.

sky
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence

Post by sky »

To eliminate this annoyance in your life, don't watch media.

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GandK
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence

Post by GandK »

I hear you, and I quit the news for this reason.

On a personal level, I keep up with a handful of specific topics and sites I'm interested in using a news reader site/app (feedly). Any other "news" trickles out through Facebook anyway, so there's no longer any point in my monitoring it. I expect for the remainder of the year I will look at traditional news sites for two things only: Olympic results and election results. Assuming the former even goes forth.

On a social level, the traditional media is profit-driven, and their current profit model is that views = cash. Whether the program in question is "free" to the public or not, that's how they operate, so it's in their interest to sensationalize everything. And "feel good" stories, while healthy and IMO ideal, will never glue anyone to the screen. No adrenaline rush for the viewer, no addictive reaction.

Possible macro fixes for the problem you raise therefore include:

1. Creating a profit model for traditional media that uses some other metric to achieve profit.
2. Creating a traditional media system that isn't based on profit.
3. Creating a news flow/system that isn't dependent on traditional media.
4. Creating a way to meet the informational need of citizens that isn't based on our current paradigm or understanding of "news."

TopHatFox
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence

Post by TopHatFox »

@Sky, I hear you, I avoid media. This is why I only heard of these incidents by noticing yet another vigil outside my door and the president of my college sending perhaps the fifth or 6th grieve e-mail this year. Sadly, I can't help but notice the negativity as it's propelled so close by.

It would be interesting if instead of focusing on the negatives of death and loss, media ran segments on, for instance, how to improve communities in the short and long-term, or, for example, there were open communication trainings and system-changing trainings instead of or in addition to short-vigils. But this is not a personal alternative, and therefore it is mostly useless unless if I dedicate a large part of my life to try to change things; a wasted life indeed if it does not make me happy to be a long-term organizer in the first place.

Of course, any mention of opposition at rallies, vigils, or e-mails anywhere near my campus would be destroyed by the social justice crowd. I admit, I identify as an activist, but I grow annoyed by many individuals in that crowd recently, particularly the ones that I've dated and chose "the cause" over human connection, or the ones that speak that speak on openness and yet show a lack of open communication skills, active listening, or acceptance of dividuality. [Haha, my emotion is piqued at the moment, can't you tell?]

Noided

Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by Noided »

In your case it is kind of impossible to avoid that because you live in the US and it happened near you. However, when it comes to the information that comes to you in digital form, you are in almost complete control. I have no "news alerts", emails or newsletters that I think will bring to me that kind of irrelevant news. And when I see those violence news on the websites I go to regularly, I just ignore them. Unless violence becomes a trend/structural, it is irrelevant to me. And even then, the violence topic is not that interesting to me. I prefer Economics, Finance, Sociology, Psychology, etc

Two days ago a colleague of mine asked me if I had seen the video of a black guy being shot by the police in the US. I told him I didn't and also told him I don't care about those news, for a few reasons. But off course, I am a monster because I am not interested in the death of some guy miles a way that I have no control over.
When the Paris terrorist happened I told a colleague of mine that I don't pay attention to those news and she was (almost) speechless.

This relates to the conversation the forum was having on another topic, about having a hard time relating to others. I just don't care about the soap opera of violence.

IlliniDave
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by IlliniDave »

In general, I avoid the news too, though it is difficult to do 100%.

The secret conspiracy nut inside of me arches an eyebrow at this latest sequence of rather sensational (and, of course, tragic) events since their timing hardly could have been better in terms of moving the national spotlight off the bizarre actions of the FBI Director regarding Mrs. Clinton and onto things that are favorable for her politics (race and guns).

The country is getting close to being a powder keg right now. Makes me all the more relieved to have a plan in place to move a long way towards the edge of it all.

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jennypenny
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by jennypenny »

IlliniDave wrote:The secret conspiracy nut inside of me arches an eyebrow at this latest sequence of rather sensational (and, of course, tragic) events since their timing hardly could have been better in terms of moving the national spotlight off the bizarre actions of the FBI Director regarding Mrs. Clinton and onto things that are favorable for her politics (race and guns).
I agree with you. I have an acquaintance on another forum who keeps a list of all such coincidences, and it's LONG. (I wish I could link to it but it's a private forum.) IIRC, the last time was when that reporter was shot the day after the market crash in August. I don't agree with all of this entries--he starts at Rumsfeld's announcement about the 'missing' DoD money the day before 9/11, which I think is mischaracterized--but it's a fascinating list to ponder.

I started keeping fact sheets on all big news stories when I worked with a couple of reporters. It's illuminating to see the facts lined up without any spin. I'm keeping some again because I've agreed to work the presidential election. What I'm finding most difficult this time is deciding on where to list each event. HRC's sheet is a convoluted mess. I started color-coding the entries to make it less confusing. I'm not taking a shot at HRC per se, just pointing out what a tangled web her story is and how interconnected so many of the news stories are. I wasn't keeping a sheet on black on blue/blue on black violence, but after this week I'll have to and reconstruct what I've missed. It might affect the election, so I'll need it.

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Ego
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by Ego »

Our brains are not meant to absorb every piece of bad news from across the globe. They are also not meant to have access to all of that bad news from all of recorded history. Today you can watch the World-Trade Center crumble, over and over, exactly as it happened. Your great-great-grand parents (and every ancestor before them) had only word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth is notoriously faulty, in part because our brains naturally rejigger memories to include subsequent lessons and, since storytellers are optimists, positive twists on the theme. The faulty nature of memory and of word-of-mouth are good things.

But we live in a world with others. We are interdependent. To function in that world where everyone else is walking around with nuclear levels of anxiety, we have understand how it works. Total willful ignorance is not an option. To be effective we must be able imagine, at least on a surface level, what is going on in the heads of others so we can anticipate what they will do and how they will react. This is an ability senior-citizens often lose and their worlds shrink very quickly.

The fine line is hard to find.

JamesR
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by JamesR »

I recently had this idea that there should be a news channel dedicated to nothing but good news. 24/7 coverage of good news.

It'd be neat if CNN, MSNBC etc all were required to run an alter-ego channel that was nothing but good, positive, uplifting news (or the complete opposite of the sensationalism & reinforcement of status quo & fearmongering).

chenda
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by chenda »

IlliniDave wrote: The country is getting close to being a powder keg right now. Makes me all the more relieved to have a plan in place to move a long way towards the edge of it all.
Would you mind sharing any details of your plan ?

IlliniDave
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by IlliniDave »

chenda wrote:
Would you mind sharing any details of your plan ?
Much is in my journal, though that is getting rather long now. The synopsis is that I'm following a stereotype model among males, having 18 months ago bought a cabin on a lake in the heart of Superior National Forest where, after retiring early, I plan to spend a good deal of my time in relative solitude with only minimal reliance on the communications grid. From the cabin I can flee by water to Canada if need be--it's about 8 miles by canoe (6 as the crow flies).

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fiby41
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by fiby41 »

JamesR wrote: that was nothing but good, positive, uplifting news (or the complete opposite of the sensationalism & reinforcement of status quo & fearmongering).
This good enough for you? /r/UpliftingNews: In The midst of dallas shootings people rushed to protect a baby stroller.

enigmaT120
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by enigmaT120 »

Noided wrote: This relates to the conversation the forum was having on another topic, about having a hard time relating to others. I just don't care about the soap opera of violence.
I hear you! But for me it's not empathy, just similarity.

Scott 2
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by Scott 2 »

I've run into this at the gym - TVs over the cardio equipment. I've seen non stop coverage of both the Orlando shootings and the Texas shootings. It sucks.

wood
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by wood »

Someone should start a media channel and cover the media.

chenda
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by chenda »

IlliniDave wrote:
chenda wrote:
Would you mind sharing any details of your plan ?
Much is in my journal, though that is getting rather long now. The synopsis is that I'm following a stereotype model among males, having 18 months ago bought a cabin on a lake in the heart of Superior National Forest where, after retiring early, I plan to spend a good deal of my time in relative solitude with only minimal reliance on the communications grid. From the cabin I can flee by water to Canada if need be--it's about 8 miles by canoe (6 as the crow flies).
I fear you have made a very wise decision.

BRUTE
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by BRUTE »

wood wrote:Someone should start a media channel and cover the media.
who watches the watchmen?

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Ego
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Re: Tired of the Media and how it Essentially Rewards Violence, including the Often Reinforcing Social Justice Crowd

Post by Ego »

BRUTE wrote:
wood wrote:Someone should start a media channel and cover the media.
who watches the watchmen?
This one is pretty good.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/otm

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