The Daily Doomer: “Existential threats are getting worse: nuclear war, AI fears, climate change”
We are all going to die, Really Soon Now. Your dose of The Daily Doomer.
Climate communications: When air temperatures are normal, report “land surface temperature” – much scarier!
When the air temperature is hot, but not unusually hot, switch to reporting on the summertime ground surface temperature (80C/180F) – it’s a bigger and scarier number than the air temperature so go for it! But it, alas, it is actually a normal summertime land surface temperature and has been for years and years. But the Doomers at parody news site The Guardian know that their readers don’t know that.
The media continues to hype a fear monger whose 50 year old predictions have been wrong about everything
“60 Minutes” brings back Paul Ehrlich to make more scary fear-based predictions of the future. He’s been wrong about everything for more than 50 years – so why does the media do this nonsense?
Propaganda comes to restaurant menus
A little more information on restaurant menus could encourage people to choose meals with a lower climate footprint, according to a new study, which found that adding climate impact labels to foods was an effective strategy to reduce red meat consumption. Source: Beef burger or fish sandwich? Climate labels on menus can encourage people to eat less red meat, study shows | CNN To be fair, all restaurant menus are designed to encourage your purchase of higher profit items. They use…
Yesterday’s hyperbolic headline: “Plasma ejections could impact Earth, wreak havoc today” – but we survived
Ridiculous and pointless frightening headline keeps everyone in a state of anxiety and acts as click-bait. This was from more than a day ago. A day later, we – surprise! – survived.
No it didn’t: Story of cute missing white woman “became a national obsession”
In missing person case after case, the media provides saturation coverage – but only if the victim is an attractive, young, blue-eyed blonde woman. The inherent racism and sexism of media news directors is astounding.
Quote by H.L. Mencken: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep …”
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
The role of media in establishing public consensus
Link to an essay on the role that “technical authority”, media propaganda, and how “consensus of experts” are used to influence the public and to exert control over us. This essay is an eye opener.
Methods of subtle media propaganda
Every time someone not following the face mask meme contracts Covid-19, the media makes the lack of face masks the story. Yet when a large group of health care workers, with 100% face mask compliance is diagnosed with Covid-19, mention of face masks vanishes. According to the CDC, 90% of those diagnosed with Covid-19 were face mask wearers – suggesting the media’s focus on face masks or lack of one as the cause of contracting Covid-19 is propaganda messaging.
I attended a Covid-19 party and you won’t believe what happened next
Stories about people attending Covid parties and then getting sick are poorly sourced and in general, probably never happened.