Distortions in the information that reaches us.

[scout86]

Something about the plate on undersurface buckling or detaching?

Pretty close to that, yes. There was a piece of steel, kind of like a girder, that was in place as a brace, during construction. It wasn't strong enough to do the job, even though it was stronger than the plan called for.

I didn't know the guy who died, but I knew the other 3. The guy who died was very well liked. At the time, I was working on a big over night paving job on part of the main interstate loop around the metro area. We were at work when the bridge went down. The state guys on our job got a call from their people and told us. (I had one of those old bag type phones in my truck, for work. Pretty much no one else had cell phones then.) Anyway, we all knew people on the bridge crew, but no one knew who got killed until later. Our job had it's moments too. We voted ourselves "job second most likely to get someone killed" that night. (We had a citizen get killed, but none of us did, although there was a spectacularly close call and lots of minor close calls.)

Anyway, everything they reported was, technically, true. It just didn't accurately reflect reality.

I think it's a common, human problem, to rush to judgement. And NOW, you can manipulate pictures, and video, and audio..... It's hard to know what to trust and people, generally, never consider questioning a source if it seems like it's on their side.

This whole "manipulating the 2016 election" thing seems to be mostly people using rumor and innuendo to provoke responses. I heard a comment on the radio yesterday, that many of the post Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories originated with the Soviets. I have no idea if that's true. I can see where it benefits them if we don't trust our government. I can also see where parts of our government are not always trustworthy.

 

[420kitty]

The news is there to perpetually spread fear and to keep the divide. So, of course you will rarely hear anything happy or related to guns saving one's life.

 

[Deleted member 541]

Left and right news stations. 2 complete and different views of the same story. Just as we have the phrase here “Take what you want and leave the rest”. We believe what we want to believe.

 

[scout86]

Just as we have the phrase here “Take what you want and leave the rest”. We believe what we want to believe.

I think you're on to something. Because, really, what you should "take" is what's useful or what you need to hear. And that might not be what you WANT to hear. The times when someone I respect has said, "Actually Scout, there's a better way to look at that, here it is." have been pretty valuable.

 

[Deleted member 541]

That’s true @scout86 Unless you’re a pigheaded, set in her ways creepy old lady like me. I don’t listen to myself enough, apparently.

 

[Anarchy]

Another thought on the distortion

Big motorway pile ups get a fair bit of national news coverage

A couple of fatalities on a local roads get relatively little coverage and it's local only, unless thereally was some celeb involved.

A plane crash gets lots of coverage, and it's international coverage So does a big train crash.

We all know people who are afraid of motorway journies, flights and trains, incase they crash
But who think nothing of local driving.

Where fatalities per mile travelled reduce in the order
Local driving / ordinary roads > motorways > commercial airliner > train

I think that there's also a familiarity thing and sense of presonates control thing involved.
Back in 96, there was a school shooting in Scotland, the children who were killed and injured were about 5 to 7 years old, it was absolutely horrible, when the first news of it was coming through, I thought it was the school that a friend's children attended. News coverage lasted for months

Later that year, there was a big motorway pile up in fog (iirc it was nearly Hungerford, the location of Britain's first mass public shooting). Three were something like twenty or thirty people killed. So give or take, it was the same death toll as the mass shootings

It made the national news for about one day, I think it came after politics in the order of news.

It was adults, not tiny children
They had some self agency

They were doing something that everyone is familiar with and (unless they're extreme greens) can see a reason for people to do, because they do it themselves
(ever hear the joke about the two socialists; if you had two country estates, you'd share one with me? oh yes... if you had two million dollars you'd share with me? Of course I would . If you had two cigarettes - look you scrounging bastard, you know I've got two cigarettes, f*ck off and buy your own)

Total deaths in Britain that year due to shooting, less than 30
Total deaths in road accidents somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 with 30,000 seriously injured.

 

[Deleted member 541]

I think it has more to do with INTENT in shootings, than a mass car accident due to weather. Both are bad, but one is more powerful because of the intent of the gunman.

Accidents happen. Killing people with a gun is just that. Killing with intent.

 

[Anarchy]

Accidents happen. Killing people with a gun is just that. Killing with intent.

That's true, the van of peace does get a bit more coverage than everyday multiple road deaths,
Though there's also the agenda of justifying involvement in wars in the middle east, attached to the van of peace.

I don't know the attribunion for this, it's sort of Mark Twain, GK Chesterton or HL Mencken style of witt
"The job of a newspaper editor is to publish as many of the owner's prejudices as the advertising customers will tolerate"

 

[freebird]

I don't think the media cares about information distortions. I think the media will only talk about things they know will get people's attention, and to enhance a desired political/economic or whatever agenda. If it strikes judgement in someone, it works, no matter what side that someone is on. And therefore they get what they want. Votes, money, etc. So you have to find the truth for yourself. What is the real reason the media is covering this? And if it really is a problem, there must be a solution.

I agree that it is hard to see through the distortions though sometimes.