A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Feelings

Photo of Ken Shepherd.
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Ann Althouse has an excellent take on how the right images can tug on heartstrings and emotionalize and simplify for news consumers what should be an area for dispassionate, objective inquiry.

In a February 4 post to her blog, she writes:

Here's my question. How many people look at that picture and think the polar bears were living on some ice and it melted around them and now they are stuck?

And, yes, I realize a polar bear can drown... if, say, it's exhausted and swimming over 50 miles. But basically, these things can swim 15 miles easily, at a speed of 6 miles an hour, and they use the edge of an ice floe as a platform from which to hunt. Where's the photograph of the bear chomping down on a cute baby seal?

And, no, I'm not denying that there's global warming, even as I sit here a double pane of glass away from minus 12° air. I'm just amused at human behavior, such as the way it is possible to feel arguments at us. In particular, we are susceptible to argument by animal. We love the animal, if it's pictured right, in a way that pulls our heartstrings.

Althouse is definitely on to something. In January 2006 I wrote about how population changes in a species of frog were being blamed on global warming, even though there are other more immediate causes that just as easily explain why the buggers were croaking.

And of course for some media outlets, including ABC, this tactic is a two-way street. In June 2006, we at the MRC's Business & Media Institute tracked how the network was begging viewers to submit what they considered eyewitness evidence of the impact of global warming.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


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I am fully convinced that i

I am fully convinced that if someone found a way to kill off all the cockroaches in the world someone would want to protect the last of the breed as an endangered species.

And for all you people in Chi

And for all you people in Chicago, sorry for the loss of the Bears,  that and you have to put up with that global warming of -35 wind chill.

America is best described by one word, freedom... Dwight D. Eisenhower

It's Bush's fault! ! ! !

It's Bush's fault! ! ! !

If those polar bears are upse

If those polar bears are upset at all, it's because they're too far away to eat the photographer.

Pretty picture, though.

Aero - interesting point, I'v

Aero - interesting point, I've been amazed all along at how people just go "Ohhh aww aren't they cute" when discussing polar bears.  They will TEAR YOUR ASS to shreds, given the chance.  They are very aggressive toward humans (from what I have always heard - I will humbly withdraw this comment if properly corrected).  What's more, they are 'cannibalistic' - saw a special on the National Geo Channel (I had been drinking rather heavily this particular evening, so I could) where a male PB stalked a female and her two cubs.  Ended up eating one of the cubs.  Not for the squimish, that's for sure.  Quite a wake up call - wild animals are very brutal. 

They're aggressive. One of

They're aggressive. One of my geology profressors was relating an experience during one of his expeditions to the far north in which his guide told him the story of a German family who (for some reason) went camping up there, a polar bear came sniffing around the tent, the father stuck his head out to see what was outside, and didn't last long.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone." - Bill Cosby

I notice they didn't show thi

I notice they didn't show this photo of a defenseless, cuddly, polar bear stuck on a small piece of ice.

Not for the faint of heart. He has dinner.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”   H.L. Mencken

Wait a minute. . . you mean t

Wait a minute. . . you mean these poor polar bears are NOT stranded on the last remaining chunk of polar ice? Well. . .why then would anyone post a picture implying that they were? Huh? You mean these people are lying propogandists who will do anything to push their agenda of global government and control? Well, then, that explains it.

BTW - I would love to have a polar bear skin rug hanging on my wall.

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!´´
--Patrick Henry

So...this photographer was cl

So...this photographer was close enough to see the polar bears needed his help? Did he do anything about the polar bear's plight? No? Why not? What are we supposed to do about it? He was there!

This crap is just ridiculous. Somehow...somehow 'Mother Nature' has managed to run the universe just fine for billions of years, then these 'men' supposedly evolved from apes and (only the white males) proceeded to screw everything up. Now Mother Nature relies on these same men to help her survive...she needs them, she will die without the help of man.

If we humans have managed to just totally screw up everything, how can anyone that holds that opinion even hope to believe that humans can somehow fix it?

Gun Safety Tip #8: No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey. (www.imao.us)

As of about 11 PM EST Monday

As of about 11 PM EST Monday evening, our friends at www.truthout.org have this picture as one of their centerpiece headline sob stories.

This quote is particularly why I love this site.

This quote is particularly why I love this site.

In particular, we are susceptible to argument by animal.

Where else do you get this stuff in the buffet of stuff on this site?

ACA

...

Hillary Clinton says:  "I want to take those profits."