Manufactured fear
Feb. 3rd, 2010 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderplanetThe following is a meandering, late night train wreck of thought.
Yesterday while I was working in the basement, I caught up on some radio programs.
One of the programs that I listened to was an episode from Are We Alone. The specific episode was called "Vaccines: Give 'Em Your Best Shot."
I know I've got a few friends who are concerned about vaccination. That's not what I'm writing about today. This post is because a newspaper article about the Toyota recall pissed me off again.
It's uncommon that a newspaper article would annoy me, I know.
At about 35:03, there's an interview with Philip Alcabes, Author and Professor of urban public health at Hunter College.
At about 37:47, Professor Alcabes made a very good point when he responded to the issue of manufactured fear. What he said was "...there are lots of money making interests, and in a larger sense, power making interests at play here. Officials create scares or promote scares because it makes them look more effective when the scary thing doesn't happen."
The issue being covered was, of course, much broader, and I'm doing it a bit of a disservice by quoting it out of context, but it's the seed that inspired the post. This brings me to today's news about car recalls.
Lawyers advise Toyota drivers of legal danger of driving after product recall
Holy Fucking Shit! Scary headline! Super-scary, Careening, Toyotas! Several very common and popular cars are on the recall list! Just take a look at this scary shit, right from the article!
Oh yeah, and then there's this. "[Mr. LaHood] later claimed his remark was 'a mis-statement.'"
I suppose that "mis-statement" is probably the bone that the Democratic Party threw to the United Auto Workers (UAW) after the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was abandoned. After Ford and GM allow the UAW to briefly view the bone, the UAW will make a nice contribution to the Democratic Party. Everybody wins!
Back to the issue of the exploding, careening, baby-eating, asbestos and lead-paint filled Toyotas.
We have a Pontiac Vibe* at home, one of the cars on the Toyota recall list, so I looked up what the issue was back when it was first announced. Fewer than 100 cars out of the 16 million in the recall have been affected so far. All of the affected cars developed the problem over a noticable period of time, all had 'high mileage,' typically more than 100,000 miles.
Of course that's addressed in the article, too. About three-fourths of the way down it says:
And that's what we call responsible reporting. Thanks for protecting me, Ray LaHood! It was totally worth giving up the EFCA for.
Now everyone go back and listen to the radio program. And vaccinate your kids fer crissake.
*The Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota Matrix with a slightly different trim package, UAW member assembled in the U.S.
Yesterday while I was working in the basement, I caught up on some radio programs.
One of the programs that I listened to was an episode from Are We Alone. The specific episode was called "Vaccines: Give 'Em Your Best Shot."
I know I've got a few friends who are concerned about vaccination. That's not what I'm writing about today. This post is because a newspaper article about the Toyota recall pissed me off again.
It's uncommon that a newspaper article would annoy me, I know.
At about 35:03, there's an interview with Philip Alcabes, Author and Professor of urban public health at Hunter College.
At about 37:47, Professor Alcabes made a very good point when he responded to the issue of manufactured fear. What he said was "...there are lots of money making interests, and in a larger sense, power making interests at play here. Officials create scares or promote scares because it makes them look more effective when the scary thing doesn't happen."
The issue being covered was, of course, much broader, and I'm doing it a bit of a disservice by quoting it out of context, but it's the seed that inspired the post. This brings me to today's news about car recalls.
Lawyers advise Toyota drivers of legal danger of driving after product recall
Holy Fucking Shit! Scary headline! Super-scary, Careening, Toyotas! Several very common and popular cars are on the recall list! Just take a look at this scary shit, right from the article!
Barack Obama's transport secretary, Ray LaHood, urged the owners of affected cars to stop driving them and "exercise caution until repairs can be made".
Oh yeah, and then there's this. "[Mr. LaHood] later claimed his remark was 'a mis-statement.'"
I suppose that "mis-statement" is probably the bone that the Democratic Party threw to the United Auto Workers (UAW) after the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was abandoned. After Ford and GM allow the UAW to briefly view the bone, the UAW will make a nice contribution to the Democratic Party. Everybody wins!
Back to the issue of the exploding, careening, baby-eating, asbestos and lead-paint filled Toyotas.
We have a Pontiac Vibe* at home, one of the cars on the Toyota recall list, so I looked up what the issue was back when it was first announced. Fewer than 100 cars out of the 16 million in the recall have been affected so far. All of the affected cars developed the problem over a noticable period of time, all had 'high mileage,' typically more than 100,000 miles.
Of course that's addressed in the article, too. About three-fourths of the way down it says:
"This is not a problem that develops suddenly... There are warning signs that will indicate that your vehicle might have a problem, such as the accelerator pedal becoming harder to depress or slow to return to its normal position.
In the rare event that Toyota drivers notice that the accelerator pedal is hard to depress, slow to return or is unsmooth during operation, they should contact their nearest Toyota dealership."
And that's what we call responsible reporting. Thanks for protecting me, Ray LaHood! It was totally worth giving up the EFCA for.
Now everyone go back and listen to the radio program. And vaccinate your kids fer crissake.
*The Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota Matrix with a slightly different trim package, UAW member assembled in the U.S.
