Perspectives

Beware of Absolutes

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

   Among image marketers, politicians are especially fond of using terms like only, first, biggest, or "in living memory," without putting the term in any context. For example, there was a time when a senator was regularly referred to as "the only Democrat holding statewide elective office in New Jersey." (This from a reporter who later got a job as a party publicist.) The statement was true. The senator was in fact the only Dem holding statewide elective office. The problem was that there were only three such offices: Governor and two U.S. senators. Other states may also have a lieutenant governor and an elected attorney general, but that brings the total of statewide elective offices to just five.
   A major literary magazine fell victim to image marketers when it wrote that "three of the past nine Presidents have come from Texas." Perhaps. But that partly depends on how one defines a Texan. Lyndon B. Johnson certainly qualifies, because he was born in Texas, raised in Texas, and until he became President, represented Texas in Congress. Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Texas, but grew up in Kansas and left at age 20 for West Point and spent his career in the military. However, if simply being born in Texas is the main qualification, that eliminates George W. Bush, who was born in Connecticut, despite growing up in Texas and serving there as governor.
   Moral to journalists: Be suspicious of all claims by political marketers.

   Speaking of definitions, keep this in mind when covering the rants of climate change deniers. Climate and weather are not the same thing. Snowstorms almost never hit Miami and South Florida. Likewise, a December temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit is highly unlikely for Manitoba, Canada.
   Fifty years ago, mockingbirds were rarely seen anywhere north of Virginia. Now, they are common in Northern New Jersey.
   Sixty years ago, outdoor ice skating was routine in that same area. Now, ponds rarely freeze over long enough to support skaters.
   One hundred years ago, skating on Central Park Lake in Manhattan was a popular winter pastime. You can't do it today.
   Climate is the general range of conditions throughout the year. Weather deals with daily changes. The issue, then, is not whether climates are changing around the world, but how much people contribute to that trend.

   Reporters and editors too often overplay a story, insisting that it "sizzle." That emphasis, however, neglects the steak. Example: The Y2K so-called "Millennium Bug," which supposedly would crash computer systems worldwide at the stroke of midnight as 1999 ended and the year 2000 began. This "danger" was based on the idea that computers only dated things with the final two digits of a year -- that is "00." Thus, the computer would not know whether the year would become 1900 or something new.
   Computer programmers for mortgage and bond issuers noted the problem 30 years earlier, and soon computers were reprogrammed to account for the new year 2000.
  That didn't stop the worry warts, however, especially those working for companies marketing software packages to prevent a problem that didn't really exist. Moreover, the doomsayers never did specify whether the Great Computer Crash would occur at midnight Eastern Standard Time, Greenwich Mean Time, or any of the 22 other time zones around the world.

   PANIC PERSPECTIVE -- Ebola is a dangerous and deadly disease that has killed thousands in several West African countries, and certainly needs to be dealt with. However, panic in America is misplaced, partly due to excessive one-side media coverage for several weeks. Within the past few days, however, mass media have added this perspective: There has been one (1) fatality due to the disease and two (2) patients diagnosed with Ebola infections. All three cases were in Dallas. The one death was that of a man who contracted the disease in Liberia. The other two cases were nurses who helped to care for the victim before he died.
   Population of the U.S. -- more than 300 million. Thousands of Americans die of influenza each year. Many more thousands die of smoking, alcohol, gunshots, obesity, and traffic accidents.