So today I inaugurate my new Mainstream Media Hall of Doom (MMHOD). This will be an ongoing collection of current and past "this is really going to ruin your life" themes the media harped on and then promptly forgot as the next juicy story overtook it. You may have forgotten about these yourself, so I will archive them here.
Mainstream Media Hall of Doom (MMHOD)
- Swine Flu Outbreak (2009) Attack of the Sick Pigs!
- Cell Phones and Cancer (2004- current) Boy, *that* was an expensive call
- Water Shortage (2003 - Current - Does this mean Water World won't happen??)
- Global Fish Shortage (Current 2008 - Suddenly, food=fear)
- Worldwide Food Shortage (Rice Famine? 2008 "At the end of the day, you will pay the price for being a fussy eater.")
- Colony Collapse disorder (2007 So Long, And Thanks For all The Pollen!!)
- Bird Flu (2006-2007)
- Rogue Asteroid Strike (2004)
- SARS (2003)
- Terrorism (current)
- Global Warming (current)
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (1990s -2000's Angry cows on the warpath)
- Y2K Glitch (1999)
- Deformed Frogs (1995)
- West Nile Virus (2002-2005 Invasion of the Infected Vampires)
- Satanic Day Care (1980-1990)
- Hole In The Ozone Layer (1985)
- Acid Rain (Late 1980's)
- Global Cooling (1975)
- Population Explosion (late 1960's)
- Commies Are Going To Get Us! (1950s-1980s)
- Nuclear Annihilation (1950-1980)
I have color coded these in the following way:
Green - While it might have been real to some extent, if you never fretted about it, you'd be no worse off
Orange - Maybe you should (or should have) worried a little about this one.
Red - OMG, the Media was right! We're all DOOMED!
Black - An ongoing event (too early to tell...so you'd better worry yourself into an ulcer just to be on the safe side).
Of course, an item's color code will change if the situation warrants.
Originally Posted: 4/24/2008
Last updated: 11/15/2009
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6 comments:
Some possible additions:
AIDS - particularly, the heterosexual AIDS crisis.
Mad Cow (CJD).
Cell Phones and Cancer.
Satanic abductions and rituals.
Day care molestations.
Asbestos.
Lack of Landfill Capacity.
Vaccines and Autism
Yeah...some of those definitely need to be added (and will). Thanks - I knew I was forgetting some.
Some other additions:
The world-wide deformed frogs scare (1995). Served as the basis for any number of causes e.g. global warming; pesticides etc. Turned out to be part of a normal 50-year biological cycle that scares each generation unnecessarily.
Nuclear meltdown and disposal of nuclear materials (1970s). China Syndrome etc. This one is ironic since the global warming armies are not TOUTING nuclear energy. Apparently they want us to forget about their prior scary claims....never mind...
Nuclear winter. The science was clear that this was never a real threat - ever - even if the US and the Soviets blew their entire stock of fireworks for the entertainment of the cockroaches. This one is a sad - and now forgotten - last chapter in the otherwise extraordinary career of Carl Sagan. Proves that when you allow your emotions to override your brain you are never too smart to be stupid.
Soviet domination of the planet. Red Dawn etc. (1980s mostly). Nope, we were not all speaking Russian by 2000. Sorry.
US domination of the planet (1990s). Nope, in case you missed it, we just renamed the penny - now called a dollar. Sorry. (Thank you Mr. Maher for that joke).
Hey Sub - saw you updated your list. Surprised AIDS and Mad Cow apparently failed to make the cut. These both seem to meet your criteria - shaky science backing up the underlying mechanism, dire predictions, global panic and consequences falling way short of prior predictions. Any explanation? Too political?
Not too political. Too busy. I was dominating in Counterstrike (which is a priority) while trying to edit the list. I'm trying to add some sort of link to each one but what a pain...My patience has it's limit.
Got it. To help you out, you might check out (and link to) Michael Fumento's site - a known mythbuster. Not sure of the precise link. Happy Striking!
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