4 ms·

Same vibe in medicine. Doctors and medical researchers carry a great weight of authority. Some medical treatments can be mainstream for years, before research f

by jl6 4y ago

Same vibe in medicine. Doctors and medical researchers carry a great weight of authority. Some medical treatments can be mainstream for years, before research finally self-corrects. Lobotomy, opioids, and more. “It’s a perfectly safe and normal procedure”.

itronitron 4y ago
Regarding opioids, I recall that in the mid `90's when I listened to about 4 hours of NPR during work every day the host (Dianne Ream?) had reps from Purdue Pharma (or one of the other opioid purveyors) in which the pharma reps were basically saying that doctors weren't prescribing enough pain medication for their patients. I recall the host really challenging them on each of the points they were trying to make, which was out of character for her and stuck in my mind. Point being, I expect that at least some of the guests are arranged without much input from the hosts. There must be heavy politicking involved to get bandwidth in mass media, and the people actually doing the work (running interviews or writing articles) can only push back to the degree that they have some degree of control over the network or channel.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  If you want a striking example of this, look at the interview Ben Shapiro gave to the BBC a few years back. Whatever you think of Shapiro, he has a masterful understanding of how American media works (I believe his Daily Wire is among the top shared sites on Facebook for instance), but he is clearly off-balance in a British interview. The interviewer repeatedly asks questions and doesn't allow Shapiro to dodge them which eventually results in Shapiro becoming too agitated to finish. It was really illuminating on a few levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
  - MisterBastahrd 4y ago
    And it was a famous British conservative doing the interview, no less.
  - brobinson 4y ago
    Shapiro was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman, and Fridman asked him about this interview specifically. He said he hadn't prepared properly as he was not aware of how "combative" the interview style would be vs. the kind of interviews he was used to thus his showing was poorer than usual.
    - hotpotamus 4y ago
      I remember the interviewer as being firm but polite about it. But I think it's a bit ironic considering that Shapiro posted videos to his own youtube channel with titles like "Ben Shapiro destroys liberal college student" or something to that effect. I believe it was one of the questions in the interview. I thought combative was his forte.
- refurb 4y ago
  I’ve worked with the folks in public affairs at a Forbes 500 company before. Plenty of what you read as “reporting”, which to the reader appears as actual news, is carefully planned corporate stories that are shopped around to various contacts in the media until someone bites. This is described as “organic media” (only because it’s not paid for), but it’s mostly directed by the companies themselves.
Scoundreller 4y ago
Ignorance of aerosol transmission of respiratory viruses was a good one. Even contact transmission of respiratory viruses is hanging on a thread. Not sure what these people were thinking I was doing with whatever I touched day-to-day. Going through similar things with avian flu. "Experts" think I inhale raw chicken and that birds don't really care about borders. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-cfia-poultry-bird-flu-michigan-1.6520550 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-cfia-poultry-... Or the assurances that the new food guide is no longer tainted by food/farming industries.
- erk__ 4y ago
  In most cases with avian flu the thing they are scared about is not you getting sick but birds around you catching it. So while birds don't care about borders potential sick bird carcass does. Avian flu is not great for farms, if there is a breakout you pretty much cannot have your birds outside. And if your flock is infected they will be gassed and destroyed which no one wants to happen. Hence why they are careful.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    They think I’m going to feed this chicken breast to… birds in my backyard?
    - erk__ 4y ago
      Maybe you don't compost food in your backyard, but some may and that is harder to police than banning import from certain locations.
rosnd 4y ago
Opioids are a perfectly good treatment and should be mainstream. Extremely effective with minor side effects.

by jl6 4y ago

itronitron 4y ago

Regarding opioids, I recall that in the mid `90's when I listened to about 4 hours of NPR during work every day the host (Dianne Ream?) had reps from Purdue Pharma (or one of the other opioid purveyors) in which the pharma reps were basically saying that doctors weren't prescribing enough pain medication for their patients. I recall the host really challenging them on each of the points they were trying to make, which was out of character for her and stuck in my mind. Point being, I expect that at least some of the guests are arranged without much input from the hosts. There must be heavy politicking involved to get bandwidth in mass media, and the people actually doing the work (running interviews or writing articles) can only push back to the degree that they have some degree of control over the network or channel.

hotpotamus 4y ago
If you want a striking example of this, look at the interview Ben Shapiro gave to the BBC a few years back. Whatever you think of Shapiro, he has a masterful understanding of how American media works (I believe his Daily Wire is among the top shared sites on Facebook for instance), but he is clearly off-balance in a British interview. The interviewer repeatedly asks questions and doesn't allow Shapiro to dodge them which eventually results in Shapiro becoming too agitated to finish. It was really illuminating on a few levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
- MisterBastahrd 4y ago
  And it was a famous British conservative doing the interview, no less.
- brobinson 4y ago
  Shapiro was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman, and Fridman asked him about this interview specifically. He said he hadn't prepared properly as he was not aware of how "combative" the interview style would be vs. the kind of interviews he was used to thus his showing was poorer than usual.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I remember the interviewer as being firm but polite about it. But I think it's a bit ironic considering that Shapiro posted videos to his own youtube channel with titles like "Ben Shapiro destroys liberal college student" or something to that effect. I believe it was one of the questions in the interview. I thought combative was his forte.
refurb 4y ago
I’ve worked with the folks in public affairs at a Forbes 500 company before. Plenty of what you read as “reporting”, which to the reader appears as actual news, is carefully planned corporate stories that are shopped around to various contacts in the media until someone bites. This is described as “organic media” (only because it’s not paid for), but it’s mostly directed by the companies themselves.

Scoundreller 4y ago

Ignorance of aerosol transmission of respiratory viruses was a good one. Even contact transmission of respiratory viruses is hanging on a thread. Not sure what these people were thinking I was doing with whatever I touched day-to-day. Going through similar things with avian flu. "Experts" think I inhale raw chicken and that birds don't really care about borders. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-cfia-poultry-bird-flu-michigan-1.6520550 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-cfia-poultry-... Or the assurances that the new food guide is no longer tainted by food/farming industries.

erk__ 4y ago
In most cases with avian flu the thing they are scared about is not you getting sick but birds around you catching it. So while birds don't care about borders potential sick bird carcass does. Avian flu is not great for farms, if there is a breakout you pretty much cannot have your birds outside. And if your flock is infected they will be gassed and destroyed which no one wants to happen. Hence why they are careful.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  They think I’m going to feed this chicken breast to… birds in my backyard?
  - erk__ 4y ago
    Maybe you don't compost food in your backyard, but some may and that is harder to police than banning import from certain locations.

rosnd 4y ago

Opioids are a perfectly good treatment and should be mainstream. Extremely effective with minor side effects.