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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: epicure who wrote (50518)6/12/2002 10:51:00 AM
From: Lane3  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 82486
 
dog bites boy in hyped incident really wouldn't be my choice for top story.

Don't you realize this is Fox? Don't you know the priorities? PC run amok is most definitely a top story. "Dog charged with racism" is right up there with "Hospital allows gay atheist to get treatment."



To: epicure who wrote (50518)6/12/2002 2:57:54 PM
From: J. C. Dithers  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 82486
 
I think for my top stories I'd like things on India and Pakistan

An earthquake, say, that kills 5,000 in Pakistan would get a small lead-in on the front page of a U.S. newspaper (5,000 Die in Pakistan Quake; story on p. 16"). If it happened on the same day, the dog that killed the woman in San Francisco would get much more front page coverage. On the local TV news, a dog that was rescued from a well would be a bigger story than the earthquake.

This is not a matter of misplaced priorities (IMO). It is human nature that the particular is more interesting than the general. Stories close to home are more interesting that those that occur on the other side of the world. Tragedies that befall people we imagine to be like ourselves are more interesting that those that befall people whom we perceive as different, such as those from a foreign culture.

It's not that we don't lament the dead in Pakistan, it's just that we don't relate to them as readily.