Pregnant Man Gives Birth 6 July 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in media, psychology, sociology.Tags: cbs, early show, illinformed, media, people magazine, pregnant man, press, thomas beatie, transgender, uninformed
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I talked about this subject before, but there is an update. CBS News reported on 04 Jul 2008, I believe it was on the Early Show (I am not sure because I only saw the video) that the “pregnant man” gave birth. The CBS “news” (and I use that term for descriptive purposes only) woman continued to call Thomas Beatie a man. They had a guest on to talk about it, and presented him as if he were some kind of expert, but he actually only worked for People magazine – one of the lowest forms of print journalism being just a step above tabloids. They asked him his opinion and he stated that Thomas sees himself as the father. Now, his statement itself was misleading if you weren’t paying attention to the words, but, for those that didn’t read my previous post on the subject, Thomas Beatie is not really a man and is 100% female. It should not be news at all that “she” gave birth considering she has a uterus and it was natural child birth.
Many people fear that in more totalitarian countries, the people are often uninformed by the press. In the US, we have a new trend, where the people are illinformed for the sake of sensationalism and ratings. This is very disturbing. People that don’t understand the science behind this controversy must be very confused from watchng the news, especially when CBS news reported that the birth was natural (e.g., no C section). Maybe if the news spent more time on the many more important topics out there (like, I don’t know, the war maybe), we wouldn’t be having this discussion. If news agencies would rather run stories that they think will get people to watch out of curiosity, that’s their choice, but you must be factual, otherwise, you are not fulfilling the role of jouralism in society.
And The Loudest Voice Wins Again 17 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in media, medicine, sociology.Tags: ama, cherry picking, childbirth, media, ricki lake
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There was a shining example in the news today of a critical problem plaguing America – idiots with microphones. To elaborate, there has been a trend for about 20 years now where the general population can’t separate fame from power and thereby assumes anyone famous (for whatever reason) has something important or intelligent to say (e.g., celebrities on the Bill Maher show, the political speeches at the Oscars, etc.). It’s not their fault. It is an inate psychological mechanism that causes us to assume that if someone is famous, they must be great. Unfortunately, today it just means they get a lot of camera or microphone time (e.g., Oprah, Paris Hilton, etc). The downside of this is that they are constantly either asked their opnion, or their unsolicited opinion is cast about the media like a thunderstorm, no matter how ridiculously stupid.
The latest shining example to which I speak is the recent media focus on Ricki Lake. Apparently, she made a documentary, “The Business of Being Born”, where whe implies something to the effect that giving birth at home might be a preferred option in general, and that giving birth at a hospital is unneccesary and religious doctrine imposed upon us by the AMA. Please read the story, I might be mis-paraphrasing.
The list of logical fallacies in her statement and philosophy are extensive, but for the sake of brevity, let’s hit the biggest one – cherry picking. She has given birth to two (2) children, and everything went smoothly. She was very lucky. To assume that all child births occur in such a manner is silly. The reason people give birth at a hospital with physicians is in case something goes wrong! Basic EMT courses teach that normal childbirth is a natural process and not a medical emergency. It is for the unfortunate anomalies where we realize the benefits of our current medical technologies – that still, unfortunately, aren’t prepared for every scenario.
Will someone please kindly ask these people to stop giving advice. But don’t take my word for it – I am just another idot with a media outlet.
