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I get tired of headlines talking about 'record numbers' of people - a record number of people existed this year, so talking about any other metrics in those ter
by nevinera 5y ago
I get tired of headlines talking about 'record numbers' of people - a record number of people existed this year, so talking about any other metrics in those terms is kind of pointless. Any time I see a headline of this form, my first thought is always "what narrative are they trying to sell?".
- ravedave5 5y agoIt's not like box office returns where nearly every year they are broken. This is a new trend. Check out the graph here - https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/live-markets-pmi-jolts-is-economy-changing-its-tune-2022-01-04/ https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/live-markets-pmi-jolts-...
- nevinera 5y agoI don't see anything in that article indicating that this is an unprecedented event, which is what the language suggests. And I do see a _number_ of places where they use the same "record numbers" text. Certainly something interesting is going on, but this type of language is just a way to sensationalize something - to a journalist, "an unusual surge in employment churn" can be written "record numbers of workers are leaving their jobs" and the bulk of the readers will be like "holy cow, RECORD NUMBERS? What will we do?" I find it interesting also that the graph you pointed me to only shows a couple years of data. If you look back further, is this a novel situation, or something that only comes up every few decades, or a situation encountered multiple times each decade? I have no idea, because the journalists weren't interested in my knowing that.