• TheOldRazzleDazzle [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I know I'm almost wilfully missing the point to say this, but it's pretty much common practice in reporting to say a given crime is at an "all-time" high without any statistical evidence. Gotta keep that suburban anxiety ramped up to justify those police budgets. It just so happened that it came back to bite them on this one.

    Also, not even two decades?

    • Three_Magpies [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I remember early in Covid when everything, every day was "setting a new record."

      "Plano, TX set the record for most new infections. But New York City set the record for most deaths. But today, Sacramento set the record for largest per-capita increase over a 24 hour period. Meanwhile, Orlando set a new record for deaths for the age group 30-55."

      It made absolutely no sense but it kept people glued to the screen. If a record is being shattered every day like yes I get things are going on, but maybe 'breaking the record' isn't the most valuable metric for understanding what's happening.

      • zxcvbnm [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah competing for peoples attention in commercial media is a race to the bottom, and social media engagement algorithms accelerate the problem.