• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    5 months ago

    That doesn’t really matter when the media knows that the more it reports on lurid crime, the more people pay attention, meaning the more they can charge for advertising.

    The consumer of commercial news is not the customer, they’re the product.

    • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      Mmm… well it does matter from the context that actual violence is down. When we’re talking about violent crimes.

      It doesn’t matter when talking about this other problem, that the media is essentially a constitutionally protected capitalism and greed factory.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        5 months ago

        It doesn’t matter in terms of what people believe, how they vote and what policies are enacted since those are all based on fear.

                • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  Yes. Because not everything that appears intuitive, is fact. This is how disinformation is spread. It is a vulnerability in the human psychology.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    4
                    ·
                    5 months ago

                    If you were right and people researched things they heard on the news, disinformation wouldn’t spread. And Biden wouldn’t have to say that violent crime is historically low.

                    I mean I have no idea why you think he would bother saying it if most people researched this stuff.

        • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 months ago

          But it does matter. It matters very much that they’re voting and behaving based on things that are not actually real. It matters that Biden’s telling the truth, and evidence supports him. Does it mean his message is going to resonate with voters? Probably not. But it goes to the heart of our current predicament to observe that the world that exists in people’s heads doesn’t resemble the one they actually live in. We are in a self-fulfilling doom loop.

          If we grant that crime is down but that Biden should act like it isn’t down because people think it’s up, then we’re venturing off into a very dark wilderness where nothing is true and facts no longer matter. That’s a world where people like Trump thrive.