Hysterical Headlines (Funny or Absurd) for March 23rd
Bottom Line: These are the daily doses of nonsense in the media and my hot takes on them...
Excerpt: Under intense scrutiny over last month’s high school shooting in Parkland, Broward County’s elected sheriff is getting by with a little help from his friends.
Scott Israel’s supporters last week hired crisis management firm Mercury to help Broward County’s top cop deal with the mountain of political and media pressure facing his agency. Israel’s backers are paying the firm through a “dark money” 501(c)4 non-profit they created last week, called People for a Safe Broward.
While it’s unclear exactly who is behind the effort and how much money is involved, Jennifer Blohm, an attorney representing the organization, confirmed Thursday that “People for a Safe Broward retained a public relations firm to assist the organization in its support of law enforcement in Broward county.”
Hot Take: So, the priority by those around the Sheriff with a crisis in confidence about safety in the community and concerns of leadership starting with the Sheriff is to hire a firm to manage the PR? Wow... There's a lot I could say but I don't think I need to.
How the Internet Has Broken Our Brains Luke O'Neil, Esquire
Excerpt: Much like psychologists are supposed to avoid armchair diagnoses, it’s unethical to project Internet Broken Brain onto someone you don’t know personally, but ... it is similar to the scumbag’s sixth sense. A real scumbag can parachute into any town or any situation and easily sniff out the guy holding drugs.
The worst part is, we do this to ourselves (allow our brains to be coopted online). Try as we might, many of us simply can’t look away. Another recent poll found that 46 percent of people wished Twitter would go away. “Kill it and hope it dies,” as they put it. Thirty-two percent said the same of Facebook.
Hot Take: Pragmatism. Pass it on... More days than not I wonder about how many people really take time to critically think, or even know how to any longer... Maybe it's because brains have been broken by the lowest common denominator(s) who're often the loudest online. Check out my gun safety story from today. If that's lost on you – you too might be a victim of this condition. The good news is that close-minded "internet broken brain" can be fixed through repeated therapy of opening one's mind to information rather than pure rage and emotion alone.
Until Monday...