The problem with being a news hound

Undertoad · 04-28-2003, 10:54 PM

You come across a story like this:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reu...30428_450.html

OTTAWA/BRASILIA (Reuters) - A crew member of an Egyptian merchant ship has died in northern Brazil, almost certainly from anthrax, after opening a suitcase suspected of containing the deadly bacteria, which he was taking to Canada.

...and it may all be nothing, in which case you don't hear anything for a few days and then you wonder what the story really was.

Or it may be the tip of the iceberg of the biggest history-changing event ever.

elSicomoro · 04-28-2003, 11:14 PM

Mr. Shepps, I'm going to have to ask you to surrender your computer equipment and your television, please.

It's for your own good.

wolf · 04-29-2003, 01:02 AM

I read that story earlier tonight also and was going to post something about it.

How stupid are people these days ... "Here, take this suitcase for me. Yes, I am a complete stranger, but you will be going to Canada, and you can give this to my friend. There is no need to examine the contents. Enjoy your journey."

xoxoxoBruce · 04-29-2003, 07:07 AM

Like I said in Juju's "cult like mind-set thread", when you're a member of the "group", you'll do anything without question. Just to be a member of the "group".

SteveDallas · 04-29-2003, 09:05 AM

I used to be the same way. (About the news hounding, not the luggage carrying.) Most days I'd read the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, hear NPR's stuff, and then in the evening listen to the BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle, or Radio Netherlands, or some of the other shortwave radio services (in the pre-internet boom, of course) from different countries. Now that even more stuff is available for me, I read less of it. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a bubble I'm so disconnected.

xoxoxoBruce · 04-29-2003, 05:15 PM

The boy in the bubble was being protected from bad shit. Maybe that's not so bad. weren't most people happier when all they had to worry about was local stuff?

Undertoad · 04-30-2003, 08:10 AM

And it turns out to be nothing.

PHEW!

xoxoxoBruce · 04-30-2003, 05:43 PM

Quote:

PHEW!

And you're only an average (guffaw, guffaw) news junkie. Think how this shit must affect the people in the media that have to deal with this Simon says; panic; don't panic; panic, ten times a day.

ScottSolomon · 05-05-2003, 10:54 AM

What iritates me is that the "news" media never seem to confirm anything they read before they send it out to be published. They see a scary sotry - and they race to get it to air. This has the effect of constantly juicing the public's adrenal glands while ignoring critical debate of realistic threats altogether. This country is really going down the tubes. I think I am going to move to Canada.

xoxoxoBruce · 05-05-2003, 06:07 PM

Most of the people in Canada get their news from the US first (broadcast). when and if the do move on to print medium I'm not so sure their papers aren't subjected to the same commercial pressures as they are here.

04-28-2003, 10:54 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	The problem with being a news hound You come across a story like this: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reu...30428_450.html OTTAWA/BRASILIA (Reuters) - A crew member of an Egyptian merchant ship has died in northern Brazil, almost certainly from anthrax, after opening a suitcase suspected of containing the deadly bacteria, which he was taking to Canada. ...and it may all be nothing, in which case you don't hear anything for a few days and then you wonder what the story really was. Or it may be the tip of the iceberg of the biggest history-changing event ever.

04-29-2003, 01:02 AM	#3
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I read that story earlier tonight also and was going to post something about it. How stupid are people these days ... "Here, take this suitcase for me. Yes, I am a complete stranger, but you will be going to Canada, and you can give this to my friend. There is no need to examine the contents. Enjoy your journey." __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

04-29-2003, 07:07 AM	#4
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Like I said in Juju's "cult like mind-set thread", when you're a member of the "group", you'll do anything without question. Just to be a member of the "group". __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

04-29-2003, 05:15 PM	#6
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	The boy in the bubble was being protected from bad shit. Maybe that's not so bad. weren't most people happier when all they had to worry about was local stuff? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

05-05-2003, 10:54 AM	#9
ScottSolomon Coronation Incarnate Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: On the skin of a tiny planet in an obscure galaxy in a lackluster corner of the universe. Posts: 94	What iritates me is that the "news" media never seem to confirm anything they read before they send it out to be published. They see a scary sotry - and they race to get it to air. This has the effect of constantly juicing the public's adrenal glands while ignoring critical debate of realistic threats altogether. This country is really going down the tubes. I think I am going to move to Canada. __________________ The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. Bertrand Russell Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell

04-28-2003, 11:14 PM	#2
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	Mr. Shepps, I'm going to have to ask you to surrender your computer equipment and your television, please. It's for your own good.

04-29-2003, 09:05 AM	#5
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	I used to be the same way. (About the news hounding, not the luggage carrying.) Most days I'd read the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, hear NPR's stuff, and then in the evening listen to the BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle, or Radio Netherlands, or some of the other shortwave radio services (in the pre-internet boom, of course) from different countries. Now that even more stuff is available for me, I read less of it. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a bubble I'm so disconnected.

04-30-2003, 08:10 AM	#7
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	And it turns out to be nothing. PHEW!

05-05-2003, 06:07 PM	#10
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Most of the people in Canada get their news from the US first (broadcast). when and if the do move on to print medium I'm not so sure their papers aren't subjected to the same commercial pressures as they are here. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

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