5 ms·

> Another great example of the apathy I'm talking about is the collective shrug Talking about collective shrugs and apathy, I am still absolutely stunned by th

by erentz 7y ago

> Another great example of the apathy I'm talking about is the collective shrug Talking about collective shrugs and apathy, I am still absolutely stunned by the complete apathy to half of the Great Barrier Reef dying. Here is this absurdly massive natural icon of Australia featured in all of its tourism ads while growing up. Half of it dies. And majority Australia basically doesn’t give a fuck. There’s no outrage. Nothing.

ianhowson 7y ago
It gets regular media coverage in the US but practically nothing in Australia. I don't understand why this is.
- adventured 7y ago
  It's for the same reason Canadians largely ignore the extraordinarily vast environmental destruction in their resource extraction territories: their economies, wealth and incomes are partially dependent on destroying the environment. Everyone knows what is happening, most ignore it and go about their business. Out of sight out of mind, for the most part. You see this in nearly all countries. It's often peculiar what people can have apathy about and what gets rabid attention. The media and social frenzy about measles cases in the US this year as an example. There will be 1,600 to 2,000 cases in the US in 2019, and a few deaths. It's wall to wall media coverage, the world is ending, social media is on fire. Meanwhile ~25,000 people will die just from fentanyl in the US this year. Half a million Americans - more than died in WW2 - die in total from overdosing across seven or eight years, and well you know, it's just a thing that's going on, I guess we should focus on it a bit maybe sometime, shrug what can you do.
  - tzs 7y ago
    The are some important differences between measles situation and the situation with opioids and other drugs that people get addicted to and OD on, which may lead to the differences in news coverage: 1. People have been getting addicted to things since ancient times, and those addictions often led to the deaths. In all the time since then, we've never solved the problem of addiction. So, it is not at all shocking or surprising that people are still getting addicted to things and dying. People have also been getting measles since ancient times...but we did solve that problem. Hence, the very existence of measles cases is newsworthy. 2. Most addicts become so for reasons that most people can understand. It's a "there but for the grace of God, go I" situation. We can imagine how we could have ended up that way, and for most of us I think that only requires imagining a few small changes to our past. Getting measles in a first world country, though, except for people who cannot be vaccinated because they are too young, allergic, or have weak immune systems, requires that you, or a guardian if you are a child, to be an idiot. 3. Politicians may disagree what do do about addiction and the associated deaths, but generally they all agree it is a problem we need to do something about. With measles, there are some politicians who think it is not a big deal, or even that it is good for kids to get measles, mumps, etc., thinking that this makes them stronger and reduces there chances for things like cancer later. There are bills in several states to make it easier for parents to opt out of school vaccination requirements. In Texas, that bill also prohibits state health officials from keeping track of who opts out, which will make it harder to track and contain outbreaks.
    - emiliobumachar 7y ago
      A minor correction: vaccinated people with no previous health issues of note actually can catch measles if herd immunity isn't strong enough to actually stop the disease from spreading at a population level.
  - frosted-flakes 7y ago
    Can you elaborate on this?: > It's for the same reason Canadians largely ignore the extraordinarily vast environmental destruction in their resource extraction territories
    - lozenge 7y ago
      Oil and gas are a huge part of the economy, and a huge part of that is "unconventional oil", i.e. oil which is far more polluting during its extraction compared to other oil. If the world actually committed properly to limiting global warming to 2C, there would be no point in extracting this especially polluting oil. Besides that, they are allowing some very unique forests to be cleared to have the oil extracted from, with the promise of later rehabilitation that never happens, as the intermediate company that is responsible to pay for it goes bankrupt. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-is-justin-trudeau-a-climate-change-hypocrite/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/articl... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/canadas-shameful-environmental-secret-tar-sands-tailings-ponds https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/canada...
  - JudgeWapner 7y ago
    mining damage can be reclaimed. In a country as liberal as Canada are you saying they don't have to replant a single tree?
- FridgeSeal 7y ago
  Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. If you identify an issue with Australian media, it’s almost certainly due to that.
dwd 7y ago
There's no collective shrug - unfortunately the inner city outrage becomes self-serving ignorance the further north you go. Mining jobs have always paid better, and no one want's to change careers to work in tourism or reskill for supporting sustainable energy. Places like Gladstone have seen a 50% collapse in property prices after a lot of mines shifted from construction to operational and demand dropped. That same self-serving ignorance has now kept people like Peter "he who would be king" Dutton in Government. It's not all bad though as there's currently money to be made in mine regeneration projects as mines are closed which is a good thing for jobs with hopefully environmental benefits.

by erentz 7y ago

ianhowson 7y ago

It gets regular media coverage in the US but practically nothing in Australia. I don't understand why this is.

adventured 7y ago
It's for the same reason Canadians largely ignore the extraordinarily vast environmental destruction in their resource extraction territories: their economies, wealth and incomes are partially dependent on destroying the environment. Everyone knows what is happening, most ignore it and go about their business. Out of sight out of mind, for the most part. You see this in nearly all countries. It's often peculiar what people can have apathy about and what gets rabid attention. The media and social frenzy about measles cases in the US this year as an example. There will be 1,600 to 2,000 cases in the US in 2019, and a few deaths. It's wall to wall media coverage, the world is ending, social media is on fire. Meanwhile ~25,000 people will die just from fentanyl in the US this year. Half a million Americans - more than died in WW2 - die in total from overdosing across seven or eight years, and well you know, it's just a thing that's going on, I guess we should focus on it a bit maybe sometime, shrug what can you do.
- tzs 7y ago
  The are some important differences between measles situation and the situation with opioids and other drugs that people get addicted to and OD on, which may lead to the differences in news coverage: 1. People have been getting addicted to things since ancient times, and those addictions often led to the deaths. In all the time since then, we've never solved the problem of addiction. So, it is not at all shocking or surprising that people are still getting addicted to things and dying. People have also been getting measles since ancient times...but we did solve that problem. Hence, the very existence of measles cases is newsworthy. 2. Most addicts become so for reasons that most people can understand. It's a "there but for the grace of God, go I" situation. We can imagine how we could have ended up that way, and for most of us I think that only requires imagining a few small changes to our past. Getting measles in a first world country, though, except for people who cannot be vaccinated because they are too young, allergic, or have weak immune systems, requires that you, or a guardian if you are a child, to be an idiot. 3. Politicians may disagree what do do about addiction and the associated deaths, but generally they all agree it is a problem we need to do something about. With measles, there are some politicians who think it is not a big deal, or even that it is good for kids to get measles, mumps, etc., thinking that this makes them stronger and reduces there chances for things like cancer later. There are bills in several states to make it easier for parents to opt out of school vaccination requirements. In Texas, that bill also prohibits state health officials from keeping track of who opts out, which will make it harder to track and contain outbreaks.
  - emiliobumachar 7y ago
    A minor correction: vaccinated people with no previous health issues of note actually can catch measles if herd immunity isn't strong enough to actually stop the disease from spreading at a population level.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  Can you elaborate on this?: > It's for the same reason Canadians largely ignore the extraordinarily vast environmental destruction in their resource extraction territories
  - lozenge 7y ago
    Oil and gas are a huge part of the economy, and a huge part of that is "unconventional oil", i.e. oil which is far more polluting during its extraction compared to other oil. If the world actually committed properly to limiting global warming to 2C, there would be no point in extracting this especially polluting oil. Besides that, they are allowing some very unique forests to be cleared to have the oil extracted from, with the promise of later rehabilitation that never happens, as the intermediate company that is responsible to pay for it goes bankrupt. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-is-justin-trudeau-a-climate-change-hypocrite/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/articl... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/canadas-shameful-environmental-secret-tar-sands-tailings-ponds https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/canada...
- JudgeWapner 7y ago
  mining damage can be reclaimed. In a country as liberal as Canada are you saying they don't have to replant a single tree?
FridgeSeal 7y ago
Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. If you identify an issue with Australian media, it’s almost certainly due to that.

dwd 7y ago

There's no collective shrug - unfortunately the inner city outrage becomes self-serving ignorance the further north you go. Mining jobs have always paid better, and no one want's to change careers to work in tourism or reskill for supporting sustainable energy. Places like Gladstone have seen a 50% collapse in property prices after a lot of mines shifted from construction to operational and demand dropped. That same self-serving ignorance has now kept people like Peter "he who would be king" Dutton in Government. It's not all bad though as there's currently money to be made in mine regeneration projects as mines are closed which is a good thing for jobs with hopefully environmental benefits.