What's on your mind today?

[Arturo]

JJ My condolences. It seems too many people we know are getting caught late into cancer.

Very true Arturo. Last fall it was my mom's husband. He just finished his second round of chemo. Then at the start of the summer my boss had emergency surgery to remove a tumor. He's out for two months getting treated at Duke.

I've never really known anyone personally with cancer but health is very important! Like Magdalena said, at least he is getting the treatment he needs so at least tgere is some glimer if hope!

[Claireliontamer]

This whole Charlie Gard saga.  I want to start a thread but haven't the energy at the moment.

[Tank]

This whole Charlie Gard saga.  I want to start a thread but haven't the energy at the moment.

The whole thing has been an absolute cluster fuck from one end to the other. They'll use it as a case for how things should not be done.

[Asmodean]

Eh..? An outline for Bing-lazy Asmos, perhaps? Did He miss a clusterfuck?! That must be remedied. IMMEDIATELY! 

[Claireliontamer]

Eh..? An outline for Bing-lazy Asmos, perhaps? Did He miss a clusterfuck?! That must be remedied. IMMEDIATELY! 

http://www.melaniephillips.com/cruel-ignorant-campaign/  is one of the better write ups I have seen.

[Recusant]

Thank you for posting that, Clairliontamer. The way that the US conservative media has exploited this tragedy is inexcusable.

[Asmodean]

Another end-of-life case, I see...

Such things do tend to be sad, and yet... Hope is expensive. False hope can be even more so.

Is there such a thing as "the last fatality" in medicine, except when discussing the benefits of vaccination in the civilized world? And even when there is, what use is there in speculating whether that last fatality could have been saved? We use what is available to us, and even in the best of circumstances that may just not be enough.

Claire, the article you linked to was good, and is not the one the following little rant of mine is aimed at. You see, I have also looked up this case in other media as my Bing-laziness wore off a little, and I must say that I loathe the way some of them seem to leap at a personal tragedy as if it is a case the whole world should immediately know and care deeply about. It's not the first time such a thing happened either. "High profile" personal tragedies where the victim is neither powerful nor famous - just an average person, even a child, do seem to creep up in overly-politicized articles, interviews and vlogs several times a year. And yes, if you are moved by the story in some way... Tell it. But leave your own religion and politics at the door, is what I say.

...I fucking want a news channel which presents facts as facts, assumptions as assumptions, assertions as assertions and bullshit as bullshit. Is there such an entity?

[Tom62]

...I fucking want a news channel which presents facts as facts, assumptions as assumptions, assertions as assertions and bullshit as bullshit. Is there such an entity?

.,
These entities are dying out. It seems to be that a lot of people don't want to hear about facts, but about feelings or opinions.

[Dave]

...I fucking want a news channel which presents facts as facts, assumptions as assumptions, assertions as assertions and bullshit as bullshit. Is there such an entity?

.,
These entities are dying out. It seems to be that a lot of people don't want to hear about facts, but about feelings or opinions.

Yes, that is the way I feel as well (and why I last bought a newspaper about 20 years ago to do the ctisseird when I had dome time to kill). I do not even trust the BBC to get it right anymore, different presentations, even "facts", on each of their channels sometimes.

I hate to seem hard but everyone has an agenda, even the parents, the one who should, but cannot of course, set the pace is the victim. I cannot get eirked up over these cases because ofvghe imposdibility if getting a fully unbiased opinion, and it can only be an opinion - even the doctors will have their biases. No-one can really tell exactly what the kid is suffering, or if at all.

So it revolves around, IMHO, the feelings and needs of the parents versus the educated opinion, probably based on statistics, of the doctors. Allbthe judge did was tell them to make a choice in the end.

Would earlier treatment have been beneficial? I admit I did not read enough to come to any opinion on that one. But I will agree that it was not handled well. Unless there is some definite indicator of the patient's awareness of pain and discomfort and that transport to another location is definitely going to increase suffeting or worsen the condition, perhaps the default should be to attempt other treatments wherever available and funded?

[No one]

Asmodean:
I fucking want a news channel which presents facts as facts, assumptions as assumptions, assertions as assertions and bullshit as bullshit.

I would like a news channel that tells me tomorrow's news today.

[Arturo]

The problem is that news brodcasters are really shitty at presenting. They have to doll shit up so they can keep people watching. And in the process of that, things get lost.

Other things that come into play is trying to be the first to tell a story and not getting your facts straight because all you care about is speed.

And then we have the very definition of NEWs. NEWs is current events - things that are NEW. They don't usually bother to go back or keep their crap straight like science does.

They are more of a reality show than anything else, except the people are the actors, and the world is the stage.

[Tom62]

I think there is very little investigative reporting. Many news reports come straight from information supplied by Reuters, instead of by reporters in the field. There might also the idea that the public doesn't have a high attention span. Thus we are bombarded with info nuggets instead of news. It is also hard to find neutral news. For example the broadcast companies in Germany would bring the news with a government approval stamp on it.I assume it is the same in other countries., like for example CNN claiming that the Iraq invasion was justified, because there were WMD's in Iraq . Other news agencies bring leftist or conservative news. And then there is of course the yellow press (hugely popular on social media). No wonder people don't trust the news media.

[Asmodean]

I think there is very little investigative reporting. Many news reports come straight from information supplied by Reuters, instead of by reporters in the field.

This.

If I am to be right, I'd rather be so using my own words than someone else's. If I am to be wrong - more so.

Naturally, starting out with someone else's work can be a fine idea, but blindly quoting Einstein on black holes while weaving it into the political narrative of your target audience... Is that even reporting?

There might also the idea that the public doesn't have a high attention span...

That is certainly true.

Also, there is money. Most news outlets today are commercial entities seeking profit. More viewers equals more profit, and so they conform their content to the lowest common denominator.

When it comes to "Facebook journalism" I think you can often replace money with ego for a similar result.

What upsets me in the current media climate though, is that even government-funded news outlets in places with a high degree of freedom of the press are highly politicized, usually in the left-like direction. Thing is, usually, I didn't even notice that when I was highly politicized in the same direction. Ah, those were the good old days, before Asmos got themselves a perspective and grew cynical.

[Arturo]

I think there is very little investigative reporting. Many news reports come straight from information supplied by Reuters, instead of by reporters in the field. There might also the idea that the public doesn't have a high attention span. Thus we are bombarded with info nuggets instead of news. It is also hard to find neutral news. For example the broadcast companies in Germany would bring the news with a government approval stamp on it.I assume it is the same in other countries., like for example CNN claiming that the Iraq invasion was justified, because there were WMD's in Iraq . Other news agencies bring leftist or conservative news. And then there is of course the yellow press (hugely popular on social media). No wonder people don't trust the news media.

That is pretty much my point. By trying to be entertainment, you do things like machine gun little bits of information because it makes people pay attention. I found that out when I was doing YouTube - keep it short and sweet and they will beg for more.

Although the news in the states here get some information from the government. As in the information the government has, is what they get. So things like wars, homeland security, ect all go through a government filter before they get to you. That is what I know for sure.

What I see is more investigative journalism on local news. But it's still nonsense. They still pick the most stories with the most "woo" factor to tell.

I think more 24 hour news stations have more of debates between two or more people who are well known in their field or well respected by one side and lothed by the other.

Then there are "world news" shows that I don't even care for enough to remember but they seem to be more like having "day-time drama" like feels than actual real events.

[Essie Mae]

That's depressing. 'Machine gun ...... bits of information' and 'nugget bombardment' are maddening for those of us who actually do have a concentration span of considerably more than a few seconds.