4 ms·

> Not sure if this is intended to be sarcasm, but it's like the adage goes -- just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. But it doesn't m

> Not sure if this is intended to be sarcasm, but it's like the adage goes -- just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. But it doesn't mean they're after you, either. > ...but the media do constantly provide puff pieces for the police. And teachers, too. Is that a media conspiracy to distract from poor school performance and low test scores? Must be, as proof, watch for the big jump in those from September to June, right during the school year, when schools are actively performing poorly. What's really happening is there exists a genre of news called "human interest stories" that highlight all kinds of feel-good positive stuff. In this case, one type is about ducks getting saved. Here's a bunch of stories where firefighters are doing it: https://www.wusa9.com/article/life/animals/baby-ducks-rescued-storm-drain-montgomery-county/65-1deeeb0e-574c-44ac-b2a9-8896f1136251 https://www.wusa9.com/article/life/animals/baby-ducks-rescue... https://www.wral.com/apex-fire-department-rescues-13-baby-ducks-from-storm-drain/20274595/ https://www.wral.com/apex-fire-department-rescues-13-baby-du... https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/jc-firefighters-rescue-ducks-from-storm-drain/ https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/jc-firefighters-rescue-ducks... https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/ducklings-rescued-okolona-fire-msd-stuck-in-manhole-louisville/417-11af3e79-e53c-4c7a-9ac2-d267ab043462 https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/ducklings-rescued-... https://www.whec.com/archive/ducklings-rescued-from-sewer-drain/ https://www.whec.com/archive/ducklings-rescued-from-sewer-dr... https://local12.com/news/local/nky-fire-department-comes-to-the-rescue-of-a-family-of-ducklings-cincinnati-ohio-kentucky-erlanger-ducks-pond-storm-drain- https://local12.com/news/local/nky-fire-department-comes-to-... https://www.12news.com/article/life/animals/lucky-duckies-phoenix-firefighters-save-brood-ducks-fell-storm-drain/75-f8e1e188-cc10-4c54-a66c-77086559613e https://www.12news.com/article/life/animals/lucky-duckies-ph... https://www.fox29.com/news/firefighters-get-creative-to-save-5-ducklings-from-storm-drain https://www.fox29.com/news/firefighters-get-creative-to-save... https://www.winknews.com/2022/07/26/ducklings-saved-from-harrowing-incident-by-estero-fire-rescue/ https://www.winknews.com/2022/07/26/ducklings-saved-from-har... https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2021/05/05/spring-brings-out-firefighters-and-baby-ducks-down-drains/4956334001/ https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2021/05/05/spring-bri... https://www.ocregister.com/2021/04/01/huntington-beach-firefighters-save-seven-ducklings-from-30-foot-deep-storm-drain/ https://www.ocregister.com/2021/04/01/huntington-beach-firef... https://www.wdrb.com/community/prp-firefighters-save-family-of-ducks-from-storm-drain-with-a-little-help-from-youtube/article_6bfed174-ced9-11eb-a4c9-7be950852077.html https://www.wdrb.com/community/prp-firefighters-save-family-... https://www.forestparkreview.com/2020/06/11/duckling-saved-from-storm-drain/ https://www.forestparkreview.com/2020/06/11/duckling-saved-f... https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/communities/the-banner/2019/04/22/bonita-springs-firefighters-save-ducklings-storm-drain/3542024002/ https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/communities/the-... https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2021-04-02/huntington-beach-fire-department-rescue-effort-saves-7-just-in-time-for-easter https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2021-04... And here are common citizens and other kinds of workers doing it: https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/duck-defender-neurodivergent-woman-works-to-save-animals-destigmatize-autism/ https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/duck-defender-neurodive... https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/3502545-capitol-workers-rescue-baby-ducks-from-sewer/ https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/3502545-ca... https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/zevely-zone/ducklings-rescued-storm-drain/509-58162245-143a-4409-9321-545b04d4ec75 https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/zevely-zone/duckling... https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2022/04/29/ducklings-rescued-ashland-ma-storm-drain-returned-mother-duck/9569387002/ https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2022/04/29/duc... https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-christchurch/team-effort-rescue-ducklings-stuck-shirley-drain https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-christchurch/team-effor... https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/video-richmond-residents-rescue-baby-ducks-from-storm-drain-5332283 https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/video-richmond-resi... https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2022/07/07/off-duty-911-dispatchers-rescue-ducklings-stuck-in-storm-drain-melbourne-police-say/ https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2022/07/07/off-duty-... https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2022/07/preston-rspca-describe-how-they-rescued-ducklings-from-storm-drain/ https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2022/07/preston-rspca-describe... https://www.wmar2news.com/goodtoknow/good-samaritans-rescue-baby-ducks-from-storm-drain-in-harbor-east https://www.wmar2news.com/goodtoknow/good-samaritans-rescue-... https://dailygazette.com/2020/04/23/rotterdam-water-department-workers-residents-save-baby-ducks-from-storm-drain/ https://dailygazette.com/2020/04/23/rotterdam-water-departme... https://onwardstate.com/2021/05/04/wholesome-penn-state-students-save-baby-ducks/ https://onwardstate.com/2021/05/04/wholesome-penn-state-stud... https://myedmondsnews.com/2020/04/scene-in-edmonds-duckling-rescue/ https://myedmondsnews.com/2020/04/scene-in-edmonds-duckling-... https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/us/boys-rescue-ducks-savannah-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/us/boys-rescue-ducks-savannah... https://www.news4jax.com/features/2021/05/05/familys-duckling-rescue-story-will-remind-you-of-all-the-good-in-the-world/ https://www.news4jax.com/features/2021/05/05/familys-ducklin... And here's a man who needed to rescued by firefighters, because he got himself stuck in a drain while rescuing ducks: https://www.wxyz.com/news/firefighters-rescue-man-who-was-trying-to-save-ducklings-from-sewer https://www.wxyz.com/news/firefighters-rescue-man-who-was-tr... Those are some of the top results of a Google News search of "saving ducks from drain".

genocidicbunny 4y ago
> And teachers, too. Is that a media conspiracy to distract from poor school performance and low test scores? Many of the stories about teachers are of the 'Look how this teacher overcame a lack of resources to still try to provide kids with a passable education' format, so they are also puff pieces for teachers, but in a different way, meant to distract from the fact that the teachers are so under-resourced. That's ultimately what these feel-good stories are intended to do, to distract from _something_, even if that something is just the status quo of daily life. And that is also why when it's feel-good stories about the police, it feels particularly insidious; As though the stories are trying to distract from all the horrible things police do. As the meme goes, no one ever wrote a song called 'Fuck the Firefighters'
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > ...even if that something is just the status quo of daily life. That is it, and maybe an attempt to keep the news from being a selective display of only bad things, creating the misleading impression that the world is a grimdark shitshow where nothing good ever happens. > And that is also why when it's feel-good stories about the police, it feels particularly insidious; As though the stories are trying to distract from all the horrible things police do. As the meme goes, no one ever wrote a song called 'Fuck the Firefighters' And that's distorted thinking. Dislike of the police is causing people to believe and peddle false conspiracy theories to express that dislike. It's pretty clear that what's really is when ducklings get saved by anyone, some fraction of the time a local journalist with column inches to fill writes a fun story according to an established template.
  - genocidicbunny 4y ago
    > It's pretty clear that what's really is when ducklings get saved by anyone, some fraction of the time a local journalist with column inches to fill writes a fun story according to an established template. Which is not mutually exclusive with these things being puff pieces. For example, the same journalist could probably find something consequential to report happening down at city hall, or the last council meeting. They could dig a little into the local homelessness or drug problem or something else. If all you need is a few column inches to fill, you don't need to do in-depth investigative reporting of those things either. But they don't do these things because as you pointed out earlier: > maybe an attempt to keep the news from being a selective display of only bad things, creating the misleading impression that the world is a grimdark shitshow where nothing good ever happens. That's what it is. Modulating the dopamine drip. Get you worked up, bring you back down, rinse, lather and repeat. If your local newspaper was all depressing or boring stories all the time, no matter how truthful, you'd eventually get tired of it and move on. So you sprinkle a little bit of feel-good writing throughout to keep the ride going. This is why I never specifically referred to this as a conspiracy, because I don't think it is on the scale that the linked article is trying to imply. That would imply coordinated collusion between thousands of actors, which I find a bit hard to believe. I think it's more that the system is set up this way and we're seeing the natural results of actors behaving within the rules of the system. Take my example above of the newspaper that only prints bad news. Eventually people stop reading it, and the newspaper goes out of business. Newspapers that didn't only print bad news survive and take over the readership of the now-defunct one. (Incidentally this also offers a pretty simple explanation for why there might be more puff pieces about the police published after the police do something horrible. If you think of a media outlet as trying to maintain a homeostasis between outrage and feel-good, then you need more feel-good stories to offset the newly generated outrage until things are back in balance.)

genocidicbunny 4y ago

> And teachers, too. Is that a media conspiracy to distract from poor school performance and low test scores? Many of the stories about teachers are of the 'Look how this teacher overcame a lack of resources to still try to provide kids with a passable education' format, so they are also puff pieces for teachers, but in a different way, meant to distract from the fact that the teachers are so under-resourced. That's ultimately what these feel-good stories are intended to do, to distract from _something_, even if that something is just the status quo of daily life. And that is also why when it's feel-good stories about the police, it feels particularly insidious; As though the stories are trying to distract from all the horrible things police do. As the meme goes, no one ever wrote a song called 'Fuck the Firefighters'

tablespoon 4y ago
> ...even if that something is just the status quo of daily life. That is it, and maybe an attempt to keep the news from being a selective display of only bad things, creating the misleading impression that the world is a grimdark shitshow where nothing good ever happens. > And that is also why when it's feel-good stories about the police, it feels particularly insidious; As though the stories are trying to distract from all the horrible things police do. As the meme goes, no one ever wrote a song called 'Fuck the Firefighters' And that's distorted thinking. Dislike of the police is causing people to believe and peddle false conspiracy theories to express that dislike. It's pretty clear that what's really is when ducklings get saved by anyone, some fraction of the time a local journalist with column inches to fill writes a fun story according to an established template.
- genocidicbunny 4y ago
  > It's pretty clear that what's really is when ducklings get saved by anyone, some fraction of the time a local journalist with column inches to fill writes a fun story according to an established template. Which is not mutually exclusive with these things being puff pieces. For example, the same journalist could probably find something consequential to report happening down at city hall, or the last council meeting. They could dig a little into the local homelessness or drug problem or something else. If all you need is a few column inches to fill, you don't need to do in-depth investigative reporting of those things either. But they don't do these things because as you pointed out earlier: > maybe an attempt to keep the news from being a selective display of only bad things, creating the misleading impression that the world is a grimdark shitshow where nothing good ever happens. That's what it is. Modulating the dopamine drip. Get you worked up, bring you back down, rinse, lather and repeat. If your local newspaper was all depressing or boring stories all the time, no matter how truthful, you'd eventually get tired of it and move on. So you sprinkle a little bit of feel-good writing throughout to keep the ride going. This is why I never specifically referred to this as a conspiracy, because I don't think it is on the scale that the linked article is trying to imply. That would imply coordinated collusion between thousands of actors, which I find a bit hard to believe. I think it's more that the system is set up this way and we're seeing the natural results of actors behaving within the rules of the system. Take my example above of the newspaper that only prints bad news. Eventually people stop reading it, and the newspaper goes out of business. Newspapers that didn't only print bad news survive and take over the readership of the now-defunct one. (Incidentally this also offers a pretty simple explanation for why there might be more puff pieces about the police published after the police do something horrible. If you think of a media outlet as trying to maintain a homeostasis between outrage and feel-good, then you need more feel-good stories to offset the newly generated outrage until things are back in balance.)