I posted this yesterday in a different thread, but want to rehash the issue because I’m pissed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3534658.stm
I think Walter Cronkite actually developed a tumor from watching the “news” when he discovered it was a televised version of a poorly written newspaper’s opinions page.
What bothers me is the media, the people once responsible for delivering factual (meaning verifiable, reproducible evidence) information, no longer rely on experts for their information. They talk to the doof that works at the lifeguard stand or some bean counter from the local Parks Department looking for answers to “why are sharks attacking!!???” I don’t know much about marine biology, but I surely don’t need a 2.5 GPA high school grad who can’t find Iowa on a map telling me about “the summer of shark attacks!”
Why did those awful, mean-spirited sharks attack those innocent kids??? Because sharks are predators, they got hungry, and took a bite out of the slow moving slab of meat floating in the water. Nature is even-handed and cold-blooded because it must be; if it lacked indifference towards the overrated “divinity of life” then humans would have been squished a long time ago. Which is why we are left to poison the oceans, make stuff like dead zones, and then get eaten by sharks. It’s a necessary and perfect system no matter how many tearful pictures of beachgoers or parents CNN or FOX try and frighten the public with. All newspaper may as well come with a standard headline everyday, “Here is your daily dose of government mandated FEAR”.