General Discussion

Jokerman

(3,518 posts) Wed Mar 23, 2016, 11:43 AM Mar 2016

"Bombing in Belgium has HUGE impact right here in Indiana."

That was an actual intro to a "story" on the local news this morning.

The "huge impact" was that a former IU basketball player now lives in Belgium and...wait for it...he's been in THAT airport.

Epic fail on the "localization" of an international story.

8 replies

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Highlight:

"Bombing in Belgium has HUGE impact right here in Indiana." (Original Post) Jokerman Mar 2016 OP

Hehehehehe - now that's malaise Mar 2016 #1

Pittsburgh does that as well. Orrex Mar 2016 #2

well if you care about innocent people being slaughtered it does have an impact MariaThinks Mar 2016 #3

Then that's how it should be framed Orrex Mar 2016 #4

Vice does an amazing job of that. Humanizing the "enemy". maxsolomon Mar 2016 #6

Its not real unless it affects someone like you, someone you know, or maxsolomon Mar 2016 #5

And if you happen to know someone who was once in Belgium you can claim victim status... Human101948 Mar 2016 #7

Hell, a former St. Mary's (CA) player was in it at the time! KamaAina Mar 2016 #8

malaise

(268,693 posts)

1. Hehehehehe - now that's

Reply to Jokerman (Original post)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 11:44 AM

Mar 2016

desperate for a connection

Orrex

(63,172 posts)

2. Pittsburgh does that as well.

Reply to Jokerman (Original post)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:04 PM

Mar 2016

Stuff like "Breaking news: Area students locate Belgium on a globe." Stuff like that.

I don't recall seeing this so much before I moved to Pittsburgh, but I suspect that it's become all the rage. Small-town American narcissism requires a local connection first and foremost.

MariaThinks

(2,495 posts)

3. well if you care about innocent people being slaughtered it does have an impact

Reply to Jokerman (Original post)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:07 PM

Mar 2016

Orrex

(63,172 posts)

4. Then that's how it should be framed

Reply to MariaThinks (Reply #3)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:14 PM

Mar 2016

They should report the actual tragedy and make the victims seem like real human beings rather than footnotes incidental to some random local with only the most tenuous connection to the region in question.

maxsolomon

(33,244 posts)

6. Vice does an amazing job of that. Humanizing the "enemy".

Reply to Orrex (Reply #4)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:34 PM

Mar 2016

Their report from Yemen, among the Houthis and the wholesale destruction the Saudis have wrought, was incredible. Fathers, mothers, brothers, all telling their stories, showing where they hide from the bombs, talking about their dead families.

maxsolomon

(33,244 posts)

5. Its not real unless it affects someone like you, someone you know, or

Reply to Jokerman (Original post)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:31 PM

Mar 2016

someone from your town. People are tribal; local news knows that's the only way to get them to listen. The government knows that, that's why we can conduct our drone war on anonymous bystanders.

Not DU, of course! We're the best!

Human101948

(3,457 posts)

7. And if you happen to know someone who was once in Belgium you can claim victim status...

Reply to maxsolomon (Reply #5)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:42 PM

Mar 2016

Brutal senseless carnage does have some fringe benefits.

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

8. Hell, a former St. Mary's (CA) player was in it at the time!

Reply to Jokerman (Original post)

Wed Mar 23, 2016, 01:20 PM

Mar 2016

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Former-Bay-Area-basketball-star-narrowly-escapes-6965250.php

A former Bay Area college basketball star who was inside the Brussels airport at the time of Tuesday morning’s terrorist attacks said he is grateful to be alive after he took off running from the explosions and saw victims sprawled on the floor maimed and bloodied.

Brad Waldow, 24, a former forward at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, was inside Brussels’ Zaventem airport around 8:30 a.m. when he heard screams. Waldow said he had been standing at the heart of the explosion site just minutes beforehand.

“It was just pandemonium,” he told The Chronicle in a telephone interview from Belgium. “Everybody just started screaming and running, and we knew something happened.”...

Waldow, who plays center for the Port of Antwerp Giants in Belgium, was about to fly to Italy to play in the FIBA Europe Cup — but he never boarded his flight.

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