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The vignette the piece opens with is horrifying, but it's not even relevant to the topic of the piece! It's about a bad dog, not about a botched surgery. This

The vignette the piece opens with is horrifying, but it's not even relevant to the topic of the piece! It's about a bad dog, not about a botched surgery. This piece is engineered to evoke an emotion, not to inform. The author has a clear agenda (see also the top comment in this thread!), and is setting up the article to make readers agree with that - not to give us the information we need to better understand why it's unfolded this way. We have a more precise word for that: propaganda. There's been enough ink spilled about media bias and "fake news" that I'd like to believe that writers would be at least a little bit sensitive to it. But not here, the author is jumping into the bias with both feet.

gambiting 11mo ago
>>This piece is engineered to evoke an emotion, not to inform I am now very informed that at least some of the recepients of full face transplants regret the decision to have them because of the effects it had on their lives. Or is that not informing for you? >>not to give us the information we need to better understand why it's unfolded this way. One of the patients is poor and cannot afford the taxi to the hospital, therefore the hospital marks him down as non compliant. It is because there is no funding to give him and American healthcare companies don't care to provide it, and he is poor at least partially as a result of his injuries. That's what I got from the article - what else do you need to know to figure out "why it's unfolded this way"? What is there to unfold? Why the American healthcare system is shaped this way? Do you not think that would be a tiny bit out of scope? >>We have a more precise word for that: propaganda. I guess pictures showing starving sudanese children are propaganda too, because they evoke an emotion in you - you'd rather read cold hard facts without any emotion? Number of people shot, starved, how many of them are younger than 3....that sort of thing? I'm sorry but the idea that evocative reporting, one that is meant to make you relate to the subject, is....propaganda? Is just surreal, it's like something from a Sci-Fi book where people have been surgically modified to not have any emotion. That doesn't mean you have to like, enjoy or even agree with this article. But calling it propaganda?
- CWuestefeld 11mo ago
  You ignored the first paragraph in my reply, where I pointed out that the first, and most horrifying, vignette in the article wasn't even related to the actual topic. Leading with that little story is artificially creating a degree of concern that's undeserved: it's dishonest. I don't understand why you think this is OK. Seeing a laundry list of heartbreaking problems as I page through the news isn't even slightly helpful in helping me form a bigger picture of what's good or bad in the world. And when our concern and attention is meted out according not to importance or severity, but by which writers can evoke the greatest pathos, we're being overall less effective in helping others than we might otherwise be.
  - gambiting 11mo ago
    >>You ignored the first paragraph in my reply, where I pointed out that the first, and most horrifying, vignette in the article wasn't even related to the actual topic. I apologize - you are correct. I re-read that paragraph again and indeed, it's not clear if there is anything there other than the dog literally eating her face, and it's unclear to my why that's included other than the emotional element. >>Seeing a laundry list of heartbreaking problems as I page through the news isn't even slightly helpful in helping me form a bigger picture of what's good or bad in the world. And obviously you are free to have such an approach. For me personally seeing starving children in Sudan or children getting blown up Ukraine or Gaza is far more evocative and effective at making me care about those issues than any "dry" stats would ever be. >>we're being overall less effective in helping others than we might otherwise be. Alright, can you share how exactly are you helping others due to non-emotional news pieces that you encounter? I'm genuienly curious.

gambiting 11mo ago

>>This piece is engineered to evoke an emotion, not to inform I am now very informed that at least some of the recepients of full face transplants regret the decision to have them because of the effects it had on their lives. Or is that not informing for you? >>not to give us the information we need to better understand why it's unfolded this way. One of the patients is poor and cannot afford the taxi to the hospital, therefore the hospital marks him down as non compliant. It is because there is no funding to give him and American healthcare companies don't care to provide it, and he is poor at least partially as a result of his injuries. That's what I got from the article - what else do you need to know to figure out "why it's unfolded this way"? What is there to unfold? Why the American healthcare system is shaped this way? Do you not think that would be a tiny bit out of scope? >>We have a more precise word for that: propaganda. I guess pictures showing starving sudanese children are propaganda too, because they evoke an emotion in you - you'd rather read cold hard facts without any emotion? Number of people shot, starved, how many of them are younger than 3....that sort of thing? I'm sorry but the idea that evocative reporting, one that is meant to make you relate to the subject, is....propaganda? Is just surreal, it's like something from a Sci-Fi book where people have been surgically modified to not have any emotion. That doesn't mean you have to like, enjoy or even agree with this article. But calling it propaganda?

CWuestefeld 11mo ago
You ignored the first paragraph in my reply, where I pointed out that the first, and most horrifying, vignette in the article wasn't even related to the actual topic. Leading with that little story is artificially creating a degree of concern that's undeserved: it's dishonest. I don't understand why you think this is OK. Seeing a laundry list of heartbreaking problems as I page through the news isn't even slightly helpful in helping me form a bigger picture of what's good or bad in the world. And when our concern and attention is meted out according not to importance or severity, but by which writers can evoke the greatest pathos, we're being overall less effective in helping others than we might otherwise be.
- gambiting 11mo ago
  >>You ignored the first paragraph in my reply, where I pointed out that the first, and most horrifying, vignette in the article wasn't even related to the actual topic. I apologize - you are correct. I re-read that paragraph again and indeed, it's not clear if there is anything there other than the dog literally eating her face, and it's unclear to my why that's included other than the emotional element. >>Seeing a laundry list of heartbreaking problems as I page through the news isn't even slightly helpful in helping me form a bigger picture of what's good or bad in the world. And obviously you are free to have such an approach. For me personally seeing starving children in Sudan or children getting blown up Ukraine or Gaza is far more evocative and effective at making me care about those issues than any "dry" stats would ever be. >>we're being overall less effective in helping others than we might otherwise be. Alright, can you share how exactly are you helping others due to non-emotional news pieces that you encounter? I'm genuienly curious.