Doom & gloom reporting

[user104658]

Re doom and gloom reporting, why is it that bad news sells better?
Why soaps thrive on storylines about gloom and conflict?
Do we secretly like feeling scared?

Probably worthy of a separate thread. :shrug:

Ask and ye shall receive!

From a social psychology standpoint, I'd assume that people compulsively seeking information that they know will scare them is probably an instinctual survival tactic. If we know that scary information is available then it would make sense that there is a potential threat at hand (be that directly physical, or to our general wellbeing) and the automatic response would be to keep informed and aware of that situation, to be ready to take appropriate defensive action.

The problem is, these are survival instincts designed for keeping a spear ready to fend off a pack of wolves, or for doing some extra hunting and foraging if there's signs of a hard winter ahead.

They're not designed for the modern world where the threats are sweeping global issues, where the threats are vague and unknown. Do we instinctually EXPECT a food shortage in a crisis even when there was no risk of one, so we set out to "forage" and fill our stockpile, in the process CREATING a food shortage for those who weren't quick off the mark? This has happened twice in two years. The first time was just bread, this time its everything.


Of course this is why... *ahem*... Accurate and level-headed reporting of the threat at hand is so important. Listen to the medical experts, read the reports yourself, take sensible action. The mass media KNOWS you are scared and knows that the scarier their front page is, the more compelled you'll be to look at it to find out why you should be so scared. Just like Eastenders know people want to see dark storylines.

Trusting them is a mistake. You absolutely don't need them as a middle man to blend up the available information into scary-soup and spoon feed it to you. You already have access to the same information they do.

[Nicky91]

Ask and ye shall receive!

From a social psychology standpoint, I'd assume that people compulsively seeking information that they know will scare them is probably an instinctual survival tactic. If we know that scary information is available then it would make sense that there is a potential threat at hand (be that directly physical, or to our general wellbeing) and the automatic response would be to keep informed and aware of that situation, to be ready to take appropriate defensive action.

The problem is, these are survival instincts designed for keeping a spear ready to fend off a pack of wolves, or for doing some extra hunting and foraging if there's signs of a hard winter ahead.

They're not designed for the modern world where the threats are sweeping global issues, where the threats are vague and unknown. Do we instinctually EXPECT a food shortage in a crisis even when there was no risk of one, so we set out to "forage" and fill our stockpile, in the process CREATING a food shortage for those who weren't quick off the mark? This has happened twice in two years. The first time was just bread, this time its everything.


Of course this is why... *ahem*... Accurate and level-headed reporting of the threat at hand is so important. Listen to the medical experts, read the reports yourself, take sensible action. The mass media KNOWS you are scared and knows that the scarier their front page is, the more compelled you'll be to look at it to find out why you should be so scared. Just like Eastenders know people want to see dark storylines.

Trusting them is a mistake. You absolutely don't need them as a middle man to blend up the available information into scary-soup and spoon feed it to you. You already have access to the same information they do.

exactly, and panic, fear, hysteria are things what made this crisis go so out of control, or at least adding to the depth of the crisis

[Beso]

Nobody likes uplifting stories like clapping for the NHS and such..maybe that's why.

[arista]

No its Facts TS
Pandemic China's Covid 19
Virus is killing more old folks every day

You can handle this War.

[user104658]

Nobody likes uplifting stories like clapping for the NHS and such..maybe that's why.The NHS wants a pay raise, not people putting down their beer and TV remote for 5.minutes to stand at the door pretending to care about them now that they need them. Where was the clapping for the last 10 years when they were being torn to shreds? Pathetic.

[user104658]

No its Facts TS
Pandemic China's Covid 19
Virus is killing more old folks every day

You can handle this War.It's "facts" wrapped up in a horror movie bow that you don't need. You can get them elsewhere without the hard sell.

[bots]

the other thing that the press are doing is actively diluting the message being put out by government by questioning everything, finding fault in everything. No-one suggested that a strategy detailed on the back of a fag packet was going to be perfect, it's the principle that counts. By continually questioning, the press encourages the public to flout the directives which will result in greater fatalities than there may have been if they had just stuck to the message

[arista]

It's "facts" wrapped up in a horror movie bow that you don't need. You can get them elsewhere without the hard sell.

Sure
But no one can Escape
China's Mess

[user104658]

Sure

But no one can Escape

China's MessAre you sure it's not you that's scared arista? I don't mean that as an insult, it's understandable, but honestly the words you use around this are more extreme than even the bottom-rung tabloids sometimes.

[Beso]

The NHS wants a pay raise, not people putting down their beer and TV remote for 5.minutes to stand at the door pretending to care about them now that they need them. Where was the clapping for the last 10 years when they were being torn to shreds? Pathetic.



Proving my point.

[Crimson Dynamo]

One of our most powerful deep rooted desires is the desire to feel important, to be needed. I guess in comes from the days when the stongest got the most and had a better chance of survival.

I bet when most on here found out about Boris we were straight on our phones messaging pals and loved ones

Having important news or major gossip makes us feel important in our peer groups and the media feed this on a grand scale.

I mean i doubt many people meet a pal and say "did you hear that Hamish and Moira are getting on well and still love each other?"

But we would say "omg did you know that Hamish and Moira had a blazing row Saturday as Moira found out he has spent £3000 on buying used girls pants from Japan :omgno:"

[Beso]

"Honest Moira hen, they are face masks".

[user104658]

£3000 on buying used girls pants from Japan :omgno:"

"Honest Moira hen, they are face masks".


:joker: ffs.

[Crimson Dynamo]

"Honest Moira hen, they are face masks".

:laugh2:

[hijaxers]

No its Facts TS
Pandemic China's Covid 19
Virus is killing more old folks every day

You can handle this War.

I had a video sent to me and the streets in China were littered with bodies covered with sheeets , bodies on benches, bodies floating in water. China are lying.

[arista]

I had a video sent to me and the streets in China were littered with bodies covered with sheets , bodies on benches, bodies floating in water. China are lying.



Of Course Russia
and China can not be Fully Trusted


Nothing has changed under
those 2 Extreme Leader
nations.

[arista]

Are you sure it's not you that's scared arista? I don't mean that as an insult, it's understandable, but honestly the words you use around this are more extreme than even the bottom-rung tabloids sometimes.


No
I am ready for anything
Stay Tough TS.

[Zizu]

The NHS wants a pay raise, not people putting down their beer and TV remote for 5.minutes to stand at the door pretending to care about them now that they need them. Where was the clapping for the last 10 years when they were being torn to shreds? Pathetic.



Surely the nurses and doctors will be rewarded with substantially better wages/conditions after all this is over ... they’re working on the front line ..risking their own and their family’s lives each day and all that whilst nearly everyone else is having an extended paid holiday !!

We should all demand that the frontline workers all get a huge thank you bonus as well !!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[user104658]

Surely the nurses and doctors will be rewarded with substantially better wages/conditions after all this is over


Sadly I think that's very, very unlikely.

[Twosugars]

They may give them a paltry bonus and that's it, back to the normal misery.

[Kizzy]

The NHS wants a pay raise, not people putting down their beer and TV remote for 5.minutes to stand at the door pretending to care about them now that they need them. Where was the clapping for the last 10 years when they were being torn to shreds? Pathetic.

Amen! !!!

[Zizu]

They may give them a paltry bonus and that's it, back to the normal misery.



Then it’s up to us to see that they’re rewarded properly.. their current situation is unbelievable...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The Slim Reaper]

Then it’s up to us to see that they’re rewarded properly.. their current situation is unbelievable...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Don't vote tory.

[Zizu]

Don't vote tory.



As a mass we could easily make the government do the ‘right thing’ they can hardly plead poverty given the money they’ve pledged this last week


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The Slim Reaper]

As a mass we could easily make the government do the ‘right thing’ they can hardly plead poverty given the money they’ve pledged this last week


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

They've destroyed health and social services over 10 years. You can't on one hand say we have to do something, then say that thing is to make tories not act like tories.

One party had a vision to refinance the NHS, and pay it's workers from all countries around the world what they are worth, and the other party had a vision to crack down on the immigrant heroes we need more now than ever.

I've no doubt after this is all over, there will be tory platitudes about valuing and heroism, and they'll probably throw a few crumbs at it to placate the people unable to see cause and effect when it comes to voting tory.

[Kizzy]

The tories are rolling in it they've been flogging our infrastructure to the Chinese again.

[Marsh.]

As a mass we could easily make the government do the ‘right thing’ they can hardly plead poverty given the money they’ve pledged this last week


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That's exactly what they will do after this is over. Plead poverty over bailing out employees/businesses who are affected to justify further cuts and austerity.

And on the cycle continues.

[Zizu]

They've destroyed health and social services over 10 years. You can't on one hand say we have to do something, then say that thing is to make tories not act like tories.



One party had a vision to refinance the NHS, and pay it's workers from all countries around the world what they are worth, and the other party had a vision to crack down on the immigrant heroes we need more now than ever.



I've no doubt after this is all over, there will be tory platitudes about valuing and heroism, and they'll probably throw a few crumbs at it to placate the people unable to see cause and effect when it comes to voting tory.



Things will never be the same after this ... sadly I believe there will be lot of lives lost but I feel we will all change for the better .. not the minority of bad ‘uns obviously


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[arista]

The tories are rolling in it they've been flogging our infrastructure to the Chinese again.


Times Are Hard.

[bots]

if people insist on getting political, if labour had remained in charge for the last 10 years, they would have squandered money on inefficiency as they always do, We would not have had the ability or the money to react to the events we now face. Let's leave the who was right and who was wrong until we actually get over this virus, because if we don't, we are completely ****ed anyway.

[Kazanne]

There was a nursing official on Andrew Marr this morning who works in a London hospital who said they have the things they need and some items are safe to be shared as they can be washed etc, this is quite positive,but no on is interested they just want bad news all the time it seems, no one is to blame for all his except the Chinese who if they had more compassion for animals might have avoided all this, I am sure everyone that can is doing their best to help in anyway possible,not everything is about money,afterall we only have so much.

[Zizu]

if people insist on getting political, if labour had remained in charge for the last 10 years, they would have squandered money on inefficiency as they always do, We would not have had the ability or the money to react to the events we now face. Let's leave the who was right and who was wrong until we actually get over this virus, because if we don't, we are completely ****ed anyway.


Lack of food and money equates to problems.


It’s very concerning to hear of public unrest / riots in Italy and Spain .. also reports of prisoners also rioting and many escaping !! I’m guessing it’s not the tax fraud people that are escaping :(

That’s all gonna come here to little England as I suspect ..

I’m very worried about the next few months


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Kazanne]

Lack of food and money equates to problems.


It’s very concerning to hear of public unrest / riots in Italy and Spain .. also reports of prisoners also rioting and many escaping !! I’m guessing it’s not the tax fraud people that are escaping :(

That’s all gonna come here to little England as I suspect ..

I’m very worried about the next few months


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The lack of food is down to us though,well, people who are bulk buying like there is no tomorrow,that needn't have been a problem its just added to peoples stress.

[The Slim Reaper]

if people insist on getting political, if labour had remained in charge for the last 10 years, they would have squandered money on inefficiency as they always do, We would not have had the ability or the money to react to the events we now face. Let's leave the who was right and who was wrong until we actually get over this virus, because if we don't, we are completely ****ed anyway.

The tories have annihilated the finances of the country, not the mythical labour government that didn't exist, but the actual government that we had.

[Kizzy]

if people insist on getting political, if labour had remained in charge for the last 10 years, they would have squandered money on inefficiency as they always do, We would not have had the ability or the money to react to the events we now face. Let's leave the who was right and who was wrong until we actually get over this virus, because if we don't, we are completely ****ed anyway.

Put your crystal ball away bots... you have no idea what Labour would have spent where. I guess it helps to imagine that rather than face the facts.

[Twosugars]

if people insist on getting political, if labour had remained in charge for the last 10 years, they would have squandered money on inefficiency as they always do, We would not have had the ability or the money to react to the events we now face. Let's leave the who was right and who was wrong until we actually get over this virus, because if we don't, we are completely ****ed anyway.

Instead we have nhs on its knees. So much better huh.
Leave your ultra capitalist ideology at home or go and live under trump the stable genius

[Zizu]

This is a sobering read

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/from-bats-to-human-lungs-the-evolution-of-a-coronavirus?irclickid=S7lUlfyyWxyOT%3AI0EOSREQreUk i0G6SdNRbI2A0&irgwc=1&source=affiliate_impactpmx_12f6tote_desktop_Viglin k%20Primary&utm_source=impact-affiliate&utm_medium=27795&utm_campaign=impact&utm_content=Subscribe%20to%20The%20New%20Yorker%20 Now%20and%20Get%2012%20issues%20for%20%246%20%2B%2 0Free%20tote%21&utm_brand=tny


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Twosugars]

This is a sobering read

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/from-bats-to-human-lungs-the-evolution-of-a-coronavirus?irclickid=S7lUlfyyWxyOT%3AI0EOSREQreUk i0G6SdNRbI2A0&irgwc=1&source=affiliate_impactpmx_12f6tote_desktop_Viglin k%20Primary&utm_source=impact-affiliate&utm_medium=27795&utm_campaign=impact&utm_content=Subscribe%20to%20The%20New%20Yorker%20 Now%20and%20Get%2012%20issues%20for%20%246%20%2B%2 0Free%20tote%21&utm_brand=tny


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Ta Zizu. The New Yorker is a top mag.