“You see the dynamic all the time”….
One newspaper (or broadcaster) runs a story and, within hours, the rest of the media pick it up and repeat it, sometimes with their own spin, but with the basic facts unchecked. Thus, a core error gets repeated and repeated until it becomes part of the narrative, pulled out for ever more whenever the issue is raised, becoming part of the received wisdom, simply by dint of constant repetition.
Discussing with one senior official a particularly egregious example of an error-ridden story which had spread through the system, in frustration he described the process as akin to journalists eating each others’ turds.
h/t Mystery Meat
England’s future . . .
Time: the future. Place: Britain
A clear starry moonless sky looked down upon a frozen Britain . A deep depression had passed through and deposited unprecedented quantities of snow on town and country. Snow ploughs and gritting vehicles had cleared a way through on the major routes, but footpaths and side roads were still not negotiable. A stationary high had now settled across the country and in the windless air the temperature was plunging steadily, already below -10C. On the hills giant wind turbines stood motionless in the still air. They were giant impotent icons of a failed religion and stark monuments to onerous and now pointless taxation over many years. In the gloom they seemed to point accusing fingers up into the sky.
At the control centre of the national Power Grid there was a nervous quiet, punctuated by short bouts of hushed conversation. They knew the crisis would occur in an hour’s time, at about 7 am. They had already made the dreadful decision as to which towns would be made to experience suffering and death by being deprived of power. This was a different world from the last time there were serious power cuts in 1970. It was now totally dependent on computer and related technologies. Owing to decisions made (or, to be more accurate, not made) in the first years of the century, the nation was grossly underpowered for such a circumstance. The domestic demand was already high, as almost everyone had left the heating on over night.
Some people had managed to get through to places of work. Cleaners turned on the lights and the great machines of industry began to hum. The power consumption crept up towards the critical point.
As it happened, pure accident relieved the men of the Grid of the responsibility of decision. In a remote rural area a giant high voltage transformer had not received its scheduled maintenance, as an indirect effect of the pressure on energy prices. Although worldwide energy was cheap and plentiful, ever-increasing green taxes, coupled with political instability, had made it otherwise. In that transformer, now working at full load, partial electrical discharges were producing solid debris and potentially explosive gases from the increasingly contaminated insulation oil. Suddenly, a bridge of conducting particles formed and a spark occurred. Into the arc poured the power supply for a whole area. The explosion was spectacular, showering the surrounding area with molten metal and blazing oil.
The adjacent area, also working at full load, experienced a surge and the automatic circuit breakers dropped out. So the dominoes began to fall across the country. By chance, an astronaut in the Spacelab was looking at a Europe whose shape was beautifully picked out by the street lights, when a black stain appeared in the middle of Britain. It spread rapidly and the entire island seemed to disappear off the face of the earth.
The first to die were among the elderly and infirm. As temperatures plunged they did not know what to do and gradually sank into a hypothermal coma. Next were younger people with disabilities such as breathing difficulties. People with gas and oil central heating suddenly had the realisation forced on them that, without electricity, their control systems did not work. Virtually untouched were people in remote rural areas, who had wood and coal burning stoves and plentiful supplies in store. Many people turned on their gas ovens and rings to try to obtain some life-giving warmth, but in consequence of the demand the gas pressure went down steadily and the distributors began to cut off supplies.
Water froze in the pipes and most households were without drinking water or sewerage. The trappings of modern civilisation, which only hours before had been taken for granted, now seemed as illusory as a mirage in the desert.
Some brave souls went out to seek supplies from the shops, but the shops had not opened. Without electricity the tills did not work and even the few who had staff who could perform mental arithmetic could not maintain accounts and stock control. Looting spread, as normally law abiding people saw the lives of their families under threat. The men at the Grid desperately tried to restore power area by area, but the consequent instant increase in demand foiled their efforts.
In hospitals emergency power generators switched in to protect those in intensive care, but some failed due to poor maintenance and the patients died. Emergency services were hopelessly overloaded and telephone networks began to break down. As local doctors’ surgeries began to open they found that they could not access patient records, which were all on computer. Seasonal flu again became a fatal disease as patients in high fever could not be kept warm.
So death and disease marched across the land. The economy collapsed and anarchy reigned. And it was all due to a Government White Paper in 2003 entitled “Our energy future – creating a low carbon economy”.
Prof. John Brignell, England
The story does add a dollop of verisimilitude to the Big Lie of Apocalyptic Global Warming.
Most journalists being leftists, this is part and parcel of their secular theology. Many of them also seem to share the tendency to laziness, being unwilling to invest time, effort and brainwork in their product.
Rename that to Canada, the US, ALL of Europe, it all still fits.
Of course there is no mention of the actions of the circling vultures, who will get to witness the west on its assembled knees.
Splendid.
The story also misses one other key point, these two container ships are “Ice-Class’, and are specially built to handle arctic ice.
More sloppy reporting.
So… ice breakers + custom built ice ships= open arctic for everyone.
On another note, it appears that the arctic ice retreat is finished (or within a day or two) for this summer with the ice exceeding that of last summer and the summer before measured at the point when the ice stops melting.
Ah the unpredictability of old man Global Warming.
A new mantra for the media “Let them eat turds”.
Too bad for the msm queenies many of ‘them’ go to independent sources (web sites like SDA) for news and we don’t/won’t swallow their ‘processed’ offal.
“…journalists eating each others’ turds.” LOL
The word for the day – copraphage
The internet is not to blame for the falling of traditional news, it’s the inaccuracies, bias and laziness that is to blame.
“Eating each others turds” is an appropriate phrase for those who have lost the will to hunt. Just open the chute and gobble it all up.
Rather than fight who is the boss
And spend money again for new election
Use this money for better spending
Cut unnecessary spending and
If Afghanistan is important for them
For us Canada is more important than USA and others countries
Therefore take care of inside before think of others or at least made simultaneously or made step to how to spend it
Rich bank getting richer and small business are hurting more now and number of unemployment is increasing the solution is such as:
I think people who lost their job is priority
They need to get their unemployment benefit for longer period of time until they can find a job and not loose their home and life
I think people who are in disability of cause of car accident must get benefit for as long as they can back to work if not they must not to the trick of insurance company to cut their benefit within two years
NDP said if Harper agreed for help unemployment rate he will stop the new election
why some peopel like so many people hurt for small to be happy balance the country fairly
we should now refer to “jurnos” as SFB ( st!t for brains)
Why are we worried about the Ice Melting?
Don’t we know that the Crust (surface) of the planet floats on the molten mantel?
Don’t we know that the Core Mantel boundary is Irregular in density & composition that may create height differentials of up to 8KM.
Don’t we know the Landmass is lighter than the dense oceanic crust, and that the denser oceanic crust is forced under the Continental Crust?
Don’t we know the Oceanic Crust in returned to the mantel at subduction zones, these zones existing beyond the continental shelf? The Oceanic Crust & the Continental Crust do not have a “fixed” height relationship to each other
Don’t we know that the relationship between the density of the oceanic Crust (plus water) & the lighter continent crust (minus ice) will determine the point that the land mass meets the high water mark?
JMHO
The snow storm desolation scenario symbolized by the failed wind turbine puts me in mind of a favourite lament oft spoken by an ancient Newfy lady I met long ago:
“As forlorn as a lost god in a cornfield”.
It was years later before I realized the Anglo-Irish “cornfield” meant “wheat field” and “lost god” was a pre Christian harvest effigy whose making and worship stubbornly survived for eons among those few farmers not quite sure about putting all their eggs in one basket.
Holy cow. Bet the people in Cambridge Bay and Coppermine are going to be some surprised when suplly ships show up next year!
Just what the hell are they putting in the water and air over there???
A little context never hurt a story either. for example, it might have been helpful to explain that the RCMP schooner sailed through the ice-free Northwest Passage back in the 1940s. And the boat was only made of Douglas Fir.
Also, British captains reported from their Arctic voyages in the 1800s that the Arctic was occasionally ice free.
Anyone see a pattern here? Sometimes the Arctic is choked with ice, sometimes it isn’t.
the only remarkable thing about this story is that our media is more child-like.
I neglected to mention that it was the RCMP schooner the St. Roche.
At least they didn’t report that the ships were solar powered.
That’s what happened with Columbine.
If you read the new book about it, or listen to interviews with the author, he shows that the initial stories weren’t true but just got repeated, going on over ten years now.
Stuff about the “Trenchcoat Mafia” was just bunk for example, or that the killers were “loners” and had been bullied.
I think journalists were projecting their own feelings about being misunderstood nerds on Dylan and Kliebold, but that’s just my crazy theory!!
I could never get the primary school teacher to track how the whisper circle game could wind up with such a vastly different secret popping out the end than that going in.
they never INVESTIGATED how each kid got the words wrong and rephrased it for the next one. Later I suspected some of them had a different buzz phrase at the ready and were just doing mischief.
it’s a guy thing, eh?
I think it’s time to re-word that old phrase about rather having a sister in a whorehouse than a brother in politics.
“The Museum’s newest in-house curated exhibit on climate change and its impact on the oceans and the Arctic is now open. The exhibit provides a new “oceans” perspective and offers a fresh look at climate change. Visitors will better understand the fundamentals of global warming, explore its impact on the oceans, the Arctic and land environments and will find meaningful solutions to encourage change.”
From the Vancouver Maritime Museum. This is the same museum that houses the St.Roch, the stern of which has dry rot.
http://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/main.jsp?page=186#
Johnlee, that link is priceless. So they allow their star attraction to rot while budgeting for a climate exhibit that will bring a ‘fresh look’ to the issue.
I wonder if that means they’ll be telling people that satellite imagery of the Arctic ice only goes back to 1979, that Polar Bear populations are five times what they were in the 1950s and that wind and ocean currents have major impacts on ice extent?
“Discussing with one senior official a particularly egregious example of an error-ridden story which had spread through the system, in frustration he described the process as akin to journalists eating each others’ turds.”
Precious!
Kathryn, that might be a new word for O’Reilly!
“As forlorn as a lost god in a cornfield”.
Sgt Legaune- I think the explanation is much simpler than the one you came up with, Your friend was dyslexic.
beMay os.
Kathy Shaidle wrote “That’s what happened with Columbine.
If you read the new book about it, or listen to interviews with the author, he shows that the initial stories weren’t true but just got repeated, going on over ten years now.
Stuff about the “Trenchcoat Mafia” was just bunk for example, or that the killers were “loners” and had been bullied.
I think journalists were projecting their own feelings about being misunderstood nerds on Dylan and Kliebold, but that’s just my crazy theory!!”
Are you referring to the one by Dave Cullen? Looks interesting…
Dave in PA (“Most journalists being leftists”), don’t forget this inconvenient truth:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/31622?page=2
“As it turns out, the preponderance of journalists are Democrats. And socialism, with its idyllic, “progressive” programs, has formed an increasingly important role in Democratic policies. Who wants to investigate a possible dark side of your own party’s plank?”
“We’ll get to that. First—why are most journalists Democrats?”
“Unsurprisingly, self-selection plays an important role in choosing a job. People choosing to do work related to prisons, for example, commonly show quite different characteristics than those who volunteer for work in helping disadvantaged youths. Academicians have very different characteristics than CEOs—or politicians, for that matter.”
“Harry Stein, former ethics editor of Esquire, once said: “Journalism, like social work, tends to attract individuals with a keen interest in bettering the world.” In other words, journalists self-select based on a desire to help others. Socialism, with its “spread the wealth” mentality intended to help society’s underdogs, sounds ideal.”
“Most journalists take a number of psychology, sociology, political science, and humanities courses during their early years in college. Unfortunately, these courses have long served as ideological training programs—ignoring biological sources of self-serving, corrupt, and criminal behavior for a number of reasons, including lack of scientific training; postmodern, antiscience bias; and well-intentioned, facts-be-damned desire to have their students view the world from an egalitarian perspective. Instead, these disciplines ram home the idea that troubled behavior can be fixed through expensive socialist programs that, coincidentally, provide employment opportunities for graduates of the social sciences.”