3 ms·

> I pay for NYT and some stories are amazing. I finish maybe 5% of the ones I start reading and I probably attempt less than 5% of what they publish. Well, hop

by MrGando 10y ago

> I pay for NYT and some stories are amazing. I finish maybe 5% of the ones I start reading and I probably attempt less than 5% of what they publish. Well, hopefully you finish more than 5% of my reply... > Meh, sensationalism. How is any of this pertinent to me as a 29 year old engineer in SF? Other than making me afraid of my own shadow and riling up negative emotions. Seriously? Those are the only thoughts that an article like that (it's finely written, just read it) can evoke on you? Makes me sad to read your statements, I can only hope that you're not representative of a "29 year old engineer in SF" I happen to be 31 years old, an engineer and also live in SF... a terrorist attack in London, does happen to be pertinent to me.

Swizec 10y ago
> Seriously? Those are the only thoughts that an article like that (it's finely written, just read it) can evoke on you? It's interesting yes. It's sad that some people died. It's inspiring that life continues, that people get on with their lives and don't let themselves get bogged down because some people have stupid ideas. All of that is great. The article even teaches me some practical things about how terrorist attacks work. How to thwart them, how to carry them out. What happens after. Fundamentally though, London has a 0.24% death rate per year. With 8.6 million residents that's 56 dead people per day. I'm sure those 4 people that died were very important to their families and loved ones. And the other 50-ish that died on the same day I'm sure were just as important to their loved ones. And what am i to do with this information? How does it affect my life? I went to work today, I'll go tomorrow. I'll kiss my girlfriend goodnight and play with my parrot. I'll waste some time online. Maybe write or make a video. I'm just as likely to die in a terrorist attack tomorrow as I was yesterday. It is overall not something worth worrying about. Even the people I know who live in London have all said "Meh, this affects nothing. I got shit to do" My point is that following the news is kind of toxic. Every day they find ten things you should be upset about. Why? To what end? What's the point? When one crisis blows over, they'll find the next one.
- bshimmin 10y ago
  If you can't meaningfully differentiate between people dying of illness or old age and people dying from someone driving a car deliberately into them and then running amok with a knife... well, I think the problem's with you rather than with the news content you're consuming. The people I know in London (I'm about 150 miles west of there) most certainly were not saying, "Meh, this affects nothing".
  - redditmigrant 10y ago
    Have you been able to discern why an attack in London that kills 4 people is considered more pertinent by these bastions of journalism and not the numerous that happen every single day in Iraq and Syria, a place plunged into this power vacuum by Westminister and Washington? Lets be honest, the pertinence of an attack in London is being established not because people dieing is pertinent, its that the people are dieing in a city that looks like yours and mine.
    - bshimmin 10y ago
      I don't really know what to say. It is unfortunately self-evident that when something that is unusual occurs, it is newsworthy, and when something happens every day, it becomes less newsworthy (I guess that's the "news" bit of "newsworthy"). If there were a terror attack in London of a similar magnitude every Wednesday for the next 16 weeks, I imagine the headlines in July would be somewhat more muted (though of course there would then be op-ed pieces wondering what we could do to stop terror attacks happening every Wednesday, just like there are pieces in the newspaper periodically wondering what can be done to improve the situation in Iraq or Syria).
  - Ntrails 10y ago
    >"Meh, this affects nothing". As someone who lives in London (but no longer works by westminster) - this is my unpopular opinion. I'm pretty sure a bunch of people have been stabbed this year in random/gang violence but nobody is terrified by that. Yes, it sucks that a guy in a car can intentionally run a bunch of people over. I'm sad for the police officer killed in the line of duty. It's a bad day. Literally nothing has changed.

by MrGando 10y ago

Swizec 10y ago

> Seriously? Those are the only thoughts that an article like that (it's finely written, just read it) can evoke on you? It's interesting yes. It's sad that some people died. It's inspiring that life continues, that people get on with their lives and don't let themselves get bogged down because some people have stupid ideas. All of that is great. The article even teaches me some practical things about how terrorist attacks work. How to thwart them, how to carry them out. What happens after. Fundamentally though, London has a 0.24% death rate per year. With 8.6 million residents that's 56 dead people per day. I'm sure those 4 people that died were very important to their families and loved ones. And the other 50-ish that died on the same day I'm sure were just as important to their loved ones. And what am i to do with this information? How does it affect my life? I went to work today, I'll go tomorrow. I'll kiss my girlfriend goodnight and play with my parrot. I'll waste some time online. Maybe write or make a video. I'm just as likely to die in a terrorist attack tomorrow as I was yesterday. It is overall not something worth worrying about. Even the people I know who live in London have all said "Meh, this affects nothing. I got shit to do" My point is that following the news is kind of toxic. Every day they find ten things you should be upset about. Why? To what end? What's the point? When one crisis blows over, they'll find the next one.

bshimmin 10y ago
If you can't meaningfully differentiate between people dying of illness or old age and people dying from someone driving a car deliberately into them and then running amok with a knife... well, I think the problem's with you rather than with the news content you're consuming. The people I know in London (I'm about 150 miles west of there) most certainly were not saying, "Meh, this affects nothing".
- redditmigrant 10y ago
  Have you been able to discern why an attack in London that kills 4 people is considered more pertinent by these bastions of journalism and not the numerous that happen every single day in Iraq and Syria, a place plunged into this power vacuum by Westminister and Washington? Lets be honest, the pertinence of an attack in London is being established not because people dieing is pertinent, its that the people are dieing in a city that looks like yours and mine.
  - bshimmin 10y ago
    I don't really know what to say. It is unfortunately self-evident that when something that is unusual occurs, it is newsworthy, and when something happens every day, it becomes less newsworthy (I guess that's the "news" bit of "newsworthy"). If there were a terror attack in London of a similar magnitude every Wednesday for the next 16 weeks, I imagine the headlines in July would be somewhat more muted (though of course there would then be op-ed pieces wondering what we could do to stop terror attacks happening every Wednesday, just like there are pieces in the newspaper periodically wondering what can be done to improve the situation in Iraq or Syria).
- Ntrails 10y ago
  >"Meh, this affects nothing". As someone who lives in London (but no longer works by westminster) - this is my unpopular opinion. I'm pretty sure a bunch of people have been stabbed this year in random/gang violence but nobody is terrified by that. Yes, it sucks that a guy in a car can intentionally run a bunch of people over. I'm sad for the police officer killed in the line of duty. It's a bad day. Literally nothing has changed.