From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Thu Jul 09 1998 - 06:59:17 MDT
In a message dated 98-07-09 05:06:00 EDT, harv@gate.net (Harvey Newstrom)
write:
> I was born here and have lived here most of my life. When I was
> younger, I don't remember all the violence we have now. Every day there
> is some sort of armed robbery or shooting reported in the local paper.
> Often there are three or four shootings. Every few weeks a child is
> shot accidentally.
As I've written before in connection with discussions of "tort reform", mass
media accounts of any emotionally charged subject are a poor source of
authority upon which to form an opinion. In the tort reform debate, the
operation of what I call the "sensation filter" is obvious to anyone who
actually works with the subject matter on a day-to-day basis. Lawsuits that
DON'T result in large verdicts simply aren't reported, because they aren't
sensational. Therefore, counting news reports of large verdicts is a
completely meaningless exercise, if one is trying to really guage the impact
of the tort system on various social issues. Likewise, an account of a person
who owns and may carry a gun, but who never uses it, or simply deters a crime
by brandishing the weapon isn't "newsworthy". One rarely sees a news account
of a dog that DOESN'T bite a person. Accordingly one can draw few meaningful
conclusions about the safety of dog-ownership from news stories about dog
bites.
The rigorous collection and analysis of statistical information about social
phenomena is itself a relatively boring enterprise. Newspapers and television
channels make money by reporting interesting things. See, for instance, the
recent flap about CNN's apparently erroneous report about the use of nerve gas
on defectors in Laos durng the US war there. Unfortunately, mass media
stories have a very great impact on the formation of public and private
opinion on important social issues. Sober analysis of rigorously collected
statistics takes a back seat to sensation.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<burchg@liddellsapp.com>
Attorney ::: Director, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must
be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
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