Las Vegas Priorities

NEALSMO said:

Wall-e said:

In reply to NEALSMO :

They aren't to blame but they make it look like these events are lurking around every corner. I have family that don't do anything because there are terrorist, muggers, and madmen that will kill them when we are all far more likely to kill ourselves getting out of the shower.

I just don't see how the media is to blame for reporting these events.  It happened, they reported it, end of story.  Your family's, or anyone else's reaction is on themselves.  What you decide to do with the information is your choice, not the media.

You can always live in a TV, internet, newspaper free bubble if you wish.  The rest of us are interested in what's happening in current events.  It's pretty easy to avoid sensationalist media.

You're right, I can't blame media for reporting an event. Problem is (and not entirely their fault, but coincidence?) they focus on very specific events since they can't report everything. The events they focus on in general are events that create the emotion of fear. The Coincidence? Fear is the emotion that most frequently pushes people to make purchases. Then the media sells ad space, this is an unintended? coincidental? benefit to their customers.

Also, media has a target audience just like companies do, and they focus on the events that will most likely resonate with their target audience. Coincidentally.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201106/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-understanding-fear-based-media

Funny they mention the exact thing already in this discussion: "The success of fear-based news relies on presenting dramatic anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, promoting isolated events as trends, depicting categories of people as dangerous and replacing optimism with fatalistic thinking."

In reply to Robbie :

I just finished re-reading 1984. While a bleak and dire book to read, there is a lot of very familiar themes. I think everyone needs to read this as an adult. 

What's the alternative? Media blackout? 

What kind of facts are they going to tell us? 

"You're statistically more likely to die of a heart attack than at the hands of a deranged killer with a semi-auto rifle at a outdoor music festival. Just go about your day without worry! Next is weather with Bob Dugas!" 

Did you ever wonder why airlines decided to make safer planes, and to some extent the government had to force them to do it? Because the public wouldn't travel on commercial airlines if they believed them to be unsafe. How did the public come to that conclusion? Whisper down the lane? Hearsay? No, it was the media, spreading around all that drama and fear. 

World War II would've certainly turned out differently if all those rare events of bombing and attacks were never heard by Americans. Think of how great the Reich would be if newspapers and radio didn't dramatize the war!

Drama, fear, emotion, all of that influences our decisions, our actions, our policies, our laws. While yes, they can imbue some with near constant dread, blaming the media is looking for scapegoat. That dread, that fatalistic thinking isn't what kills people, or else we would see similar events worldwide. We'd see it in Australia, we'd see it in Chile, we'd see attacks like Vegas in Japan. Do they do their news differently? Or is it something else? 

In reply to pheller :

The alternative is to use your own intelligence to make your own decisions rather than to let someone else decide your emotions for you right out from under your nose. And I truly believe we as a society are getting better at that.

Who's fears should we as a society cater too? If we all cater to the media's fears (or the things the media tells us to be fearful of), then who makes the decisions, actions, policies and laws?

Finally, is it really surprising that American news media doesn't often cover tragedies in other countries?

In reply to pheller :

I understand why the media reports the story, the part I find baffling is why people go on to hide away in their basements in fear because of them.  I have a cousin who has not ventured more than 5 miles from home since about 1985 because there are rapists out there  Then the rapists were replaced by crackheads, terrorists, gangs, and now crazy white guys.  it seems like a depressing way to go through life. 

Wall-e said:

In reply to pheller :

I understand why the media reports the story, the part I find baffling is why people go on to hide away in their basements in fear because of them.  I have a cousin who has not ventured more than 5 miles from home since about 1985 because there are rapists out there  Then the rapists were replaced by crackheads, terrorists, gangs, and now crazy white guys.  it seems like a depressing way to go through life. 

Sounds like a person looking for an excuse to hide in their basement.

It less to do with the news being reported and somewhat to do with how that news is reported.  These days the news seems to be presented to emphasize fear. Because fear keeps eyeballs on the channel. Eyeballs on the channel means more ad revenue.

News is less about informing the public and more about making money. 

GameboyRMH said:

Wall-e said:

In reply to pheller :

I understand why the media reports the story, the part I find baffling is why people go on to hide away in their basements in fear because of them.  I have a cousin who has not ventured more than 5 miles from home since about 1985 because there are rapists out there  Then the rapists were replaced by crackheads, terrorists, gangs, and now crazy white guys.  it seems like a depressing way to go through life. 

Sounds like a person looking for an excuse to hide in their basement.

I don't need an excuse; my basement is awesome. It's got a pool table and a bar and .. wait, why don't I spend more time in the basement?

In reply to dculberson :

Damnit! Now I want a basement.

NEALSMO said:

In reply to dculberson :

Damnit! Now I want a basement.

yeah, they're awesome until your sump pump dies... and then you've got a shallow pool where all your stored stuff is?  oh wait, I'm making the basement not safe now.  

I'll also chime in to agree whole heartedly w/ Bob about "live even though E36 M3 is going on around us", and that there's a mental health component of this... which I feel is trivialized by saying this "was the work of a madman/evil".

re:News
there's a big difference between "reporting what happened for 4 mins" and "reporting endlessly for hours on end even though there's nothing new to report"... which leads to sensationalism.  Which is not to say this is a recent phenomenon... lest we forget to remember the Maine!

I live my life with the attitude of, "They're not going to get me. They'll never get me." That way I can keep riding the motorcycle, keep flying the airplane, keep going. Its the only way I keep going.

In reply to sleepyhead :

My neighbor put a sweet sports bar kitchen in his basement and when the power was out for a while it flooded it out so he redid the bottom half.  Then he bought a Generac generator and no more problems until this summer when I realized our power was out and his generator was quiet (by my family room window). 

Hours later the mechanically inclined other neighbor asked if I had any automotive fuses then I saw a pile of carpet at the curb on garbage day.  Me?  I had some water to push to the drain when the power came on and I lost an old piece of carpet that was doing nothing.  

The Onion dropping the realest fake news.

At some point, we will decide that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

sleepyhead said:

re:News
there's a big difference between "reporting what happened for 4 mins" and "reporting endlessly for hours on end even though there's nothing new to report"... which leads to sensationalism.  Which is not to say this is a recent phenomenon... lest we forget to remember the Maine!

Hey, the Maine was important.  If it wasn't for the Maine, we wouldn't have the 1903 Springfield today.  Or be real concerned about Puerto Rico, or have that wonderful naval base we used to have in Subic Bay before it blew up and we gave it back.   The Maine, (and  Hearst's empire) brought us all that, just because it happened to accidentally blow up in someone else's port.

I have to say I was disappointed with MGM today. Mandalay Bay is a Sister property to where I work, it took them most of the day to put out a form letter reminding us not to talk to the press and a simple "our hearts and prayers" letter for those less fortunate. Seems to me both of those should have been by 9am at the latest, not 4pm in the afternoon

Mitchell said:

The Onion dropping the realest fake news.

At some point, we will decide that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

The Onion was nailing it today.

Its funny, yet sad, how one of those articles is the same one they just copy, paste, change a few words, and repost every time there is a shooting :(

(scroll down in this link http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-prevent-says-only-nation-where-regularly-ha-57086)

Mitchell said:

The Onion dropping the realest fake news.

At some point, we will decide that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

Cryin' won't help ya. Praying won't do ya no good. When the levee breaks, mama you got to move.

If by move, you mean take action.  If by physically move,  where does anyone go?  I was at work a mile away from the San Bernardino shooting when it took place, and the Pulse nightclub was just a few miles from where I used to live.  

There's a lot of unanswered questions out there right now. Here are some I'd be very interested in getting answers to, that seem to be nowhere near answered right now.

1. The sound clips and descriptions make it appear that he had a fully automatic rifle or a light machine gun. What exactly was he shooting here?
2. If it was a fully automatic weapon, that's not something you can legally buy without a mountain of paperwork. How exactly did he get that thing?
3. Was he a terrorist with a bigger cause, or just a shiny happy person who wanted to set a new record in the Murder Olympics?
4. This guy had to have spent at least five figures' worth of money on guns and ammo. Whose money was it?
5. Why exactly had he hoarded that many guns? If he was collecting them for fun, chances are he'd have gun nut friends who knew about them. If he was collecting them because he planned a mass shooting, he'd have done that as secretly as possible. If they were stockpiled out of paranoia, this might have been done openly or secretively.

pheller said:...

Did you ever wonder why airlines decided to make safer planes, and to some extent the government had to force them to do it? Because the public wouldn't travel on commercial airlines if they believed them to be unsafe. How did the public come to that conclusion? Whisper down the lane? Hearsay? No, it was the media, spreading around all that drama and fear. .....

Drama, fear, emotion, all of that influences our decisions, our actions, our policies, our laws. While yes, they can imbue some with near constant dread, blaming the media is looking for scapegoat. That dread, that fatalistic thinking isn't what kills people, or else we would see similar events worldwide. We'd see it in Australia, we'd see it in Chile, we'd see attacks like Vegas in Japan. Do they do their news differently? Or is it something else? 

 

The great irony of that is things that do actually shorten lives in a large amount is generally not paid attention to, since the deaths happen more randomly than all at once.  The car is a good example of that- it took a LONG time for the public to accept the emissions and safety controls added to them.  It wasn't until recently where the IIHA really struck fear into people that the multiple air bag safety machines really came about.

Or eating.  The slow death of people from various things that can be related to what they eat.  Or the stress of our lifestyle here in the US.  There are a LOT of factors that shorten life here in the US that are very preventable, but we focus on things that happen all at once- as if they can easily happen to all of us.  I remember when people were given a lot of flack for taking pictures of covered bridges post 9-11 because terrorist.  

People are funny (as in odd).

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I think question 3 is what really bothers me the most. I havent immersed myself in the news but from what i have heard is that he was seemingly fully normal, no radical religious or political views, no history of mental illness, no major recent life trauma. So what the hell happened? 

5) If the guy was a "gun enthusiast" im not too suprised to hear he had 20-something guns. Most guns only cost a couple hundred bucks, if he started buying one gun every two years at 20 years old that is 22 guns. I know people that are into guns as a hobby, i have no idea of they own 5 or 50.

MadScientistMatt said:

There's a lot of unanswered questions out there right now. Here are some I'd be very interested in getting answers to, that seem to be nowhere near answered right now.

1. The sound clips and descriptions make it appear that he had a fully automatic rifle or a light machine gun. What exactly was he shooting here?
2. If it was a fully automatic weapon, that's not something you can legally buy without a mountain of paperwork. How exactly did he get that thing?
3. Was he a terrorist with a bigger cause, or just a shiny happy person who wanted to set a new record in the Murder Olympics?
4. This guy had to have spent at least five figures' worth of money on guns and ammo. Whose money was it?
5. Why exactly had he hoarded that many guns? If he was collecting them for fun, chances are he'd have gun nut friends who knew about them. If he was collecting them because he planned a mass shooting, he'd have done that as secretly as possible. If they were stockpiled out of paranoia, this might have been done openly or secretively.

For #4, the suspect was retired and described by his brother as "wealthy". His own money. 

I'm wondering if he was a lone gunman or not. It seems unlikely, though at this point I would think we would have heard something. 

#1/2: from the news so far said he used some available kits/online guides to modify legally purchased weapons for fully auto (AK and AR-15). Bump stocks and scopes have been mentioned in a few articles. It has also been stated that in one of the rooms there was a stabilized firing stand set up at the window.

If I were writing the book...

Guys goes to Vegas to Gamble and wants some ante money for the Poker table so he decides to unload his collection of guns that he obviously does not need. Meets with the buyer who turns out to be a psycho. Psycho kills the elderly gentleman such that it looks self inflicted, unloads on the crowd and leaves before the gendarmes arrive. Off to the next party.

The scene repeats until a troubled detective with a car addiction but a good heart figures it out and at great risk to himself he sets himself up to be the patsy and solves the crime.

I know...cameras all over, but its just a story anyways.

alfadriver said:

pheller said:...

Did you ever wonder why airlines decided to make safer planes, and to some extent the government had to force them to do it? Because the public wouldn't travel on commercial airlines if they believed them to be unsafe. How did the public come to that conclusion? Whisper down the lane? Hearsay? No, it was the media, spreading around all that drama and fear. .....

Drama, fear, emotion, all of that influences our decisions, our actions, our policies, our laws. While yes, they can imbue some with near constant dread, blaming the media is looking for scapegoat. That dread, that fatalistic thinking isn't what kills people, or else we would see similar events worldwide. We'd see it in Australia, we'd see it in Chile, we'd see attacks like Vegas in Japan. Do they do their news differently? Or is it something else? 

 

The great irony of that is things that do actually shorten lives in a large amount is generally not paid attention to, since the deaths happen more randomly than all at once.  The car is a good example of that- it took a LONG time for the public to accept the emissions and safety controls added to them.  It wasn't until recently where the IIHA really struck fear into people that the multiple air bag safety machines really came about.

Or eating.  The slow death of people from various things that can be related to what they eat.  Or the stress of our lifestyle here in the US.  There are a LOT of factors that shorten life here in the US that are very preventable, but we focus on things that happen all at once- as if they can easily happen to all of us.  I remember when people were given a lot of flack for taking pictures of covered bridges post 9-11 because terrorist.  

People are funny (as in odd).

I was taking some fancy pictures of my car for a calendar in a public parking lot near a dam. Three "park rangers" tried to confiscate my camera and held me until there supervisor arrived. The supervisor has some common sense and as we scrolled through the pictures together he could plainly see that there was no detail whatsoever of the structure of the dam and I was able to keep my camera and the pictures. What a hassle.