December 23, 2020

"The combination of half-listening and overdramatization of the facts by the media creates an anxiety-driven stew."

Said Gale Ridge, an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, quoted in "Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated" (ScienceNews).

"Suddenly, overlooked local wasp and hornet species… hanging around in corners of people’s backyards for millennia become the subjects of panic-driven calls," she said. The solution, she says, is: "One creates a fresh storybook of information on which callers can relax, feel comfortable and thrive." 

I was just wondering, whatever happened to the murder hornets. I was pleased to get an answer and even more pleased to encounter Gale Ridge, who has a way with words: 

half-listening and overdramatization... anxiety-driven stew... a fresh storybook of information... 

Such helpful phrases! I must remember to use them. Have you been half asleep? Have you been half-listening? Someday you'll create a fresh storybook! But for God's sake stop slurping the anxiety stew!

71 comments:

Lucid-Ideas said...

"I was just wondering, whatever happened to the murder hornets."

I hear they cast ballots in Georgia. Their jobs complete, they went back home.

The registration names like B. Nice, B. Careful, B. Knees, B. Utiful, etc. should've been a dead giveaway.

Yancey Ward said...

Murder hornet panic will be resurrected by the media right around September 2022. It will require mail in voting for that forthcoming election.

Yancey Ward said...

It will be that or the great Adenovirus Scare.

Birkel said...

Now do EVERY OTHER STORY the MSM covers.

Fernandinande said...

No "insect politics" tag?

overdramatization of the facts by the media creates an anxiety-driven stew.

IOW, there's nothing unique about the MSM's bug reports.

Joe Smith said...

"I was just wondering, whatever happened to the murder hornets."

Whatever happened to the 'Africanized' (racist!) killer bees?

Whatever happened to Baby Jane?

Life is full of mysteries.

Rest assured, some egghead scientist got an enormous government grant to study a problem that doesn't exist...like 'global cooling--global warming--climate change.'

Bob Boyd said...

Murder Hornet Stew

Lucid-Ideas said...

@Joe Smith

"Whatever happened to the 'Africanized' (racist!) killer bees?"

BeeLM. Feelers Up Don't Swat.

rhhardin said...

Rush is milking some important annoucement to the length of the first segment, I imagine. Going to morse code listening instead.

Crimso said...

"Paging the ghost of Murray Gell-Mann, paging the ghost of Murray Gell-Mann."

mikee said...

If the Murder Hornets are as bad as the news media presented them, the giant waspy bastards are wreaking havoc even now. And nobody is reporting on it because if they try - MURDER HORNETS kill them.

Murder hornets could be fulfilling or exceeding our expectations. And we will never know until they move on, and the piles of bones are discovered.

Dave Begley said...

The other thing is that number chyron that is always on CNN. There's no perspective.

So, 300k have died. Buti in a country of 330m, is it that bad? How many over 80? What is the excess death number?

Alex Berenson was interviewed by Joe Rogan; one of Ann's favorites. Three hours long. Should be interesting. I'll listen.

Dave Begley said...

I'm commenting on the anxiety driven stew that the Fake News created in order to get mail-in voting, crash the economy and get rid of Trump.

I've always hated the media. It goes back to my high school days about how they always hyped the weather.

Ann: Don't delete me. It is semi on-topic.

Crimso said...

"It goes back to my high school days about how they always hyped the weather."

Remember Iben Browning? They ran wild with that as well.

Rick.T. said...

Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated
-----------------
No shite, Sherlock. If they can't get and keep your eyeballs on the page or on the screen, they can't sell them. Which is the whole purpose of media, not to make you better informed. Some would do well to remember this.

(Not directed at anyone in particular.)

Nonapod said...

So, 300k have died. But in a country of 330m, is it that bad? How many over 80? What is the excess death number?

There was a study that appeared in the Johns Hopkins newspaper that suggested that the virus “had no effect on the percentage of deaths of older people” and “has also not increased the total number of deaths” in comparison to historical data. (Of course it was promptly removed due to it being used to support “dangerous inaccuracies” on social media).

At any rate, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if after all the dust has settled it turns out that thoughout all of 2020 there wasn't an appreciable increase in total deaths from all causes year-over-year.

Sebastian said...

"Have you been half asleep? Have you been half-listening?"

Sorry, no. Fully alert to prog BS at all times -- Covid, elections, Russia hoax, climate, you name it. Of course, we are especially alert to the half-listening prog panickers.

"Someday you'll create a fresh storybook! But for God's sake stop slurping the anxiety stew!"

We see it every day. It's the main function of the MSM--serve up anxiety stew to create a fresh prog storybook. From murder wasps to racist WASPs.

GingerBeer said...

What a great new name for the Cleveland baseball team, "Murder Hornets." That or "Flaming Cuyahogas."

boatbuilder said...

I’m guessing carpenter wasps and cicada killers . Big and scary but harmless to humans (except for property damage.
Also cicada killers are really sick bastards-if you’re a cicada.

gadfly said...

“The combination of half-listening and overdramatization of the facts by the media creates an anxiety-driven stew,” Ridge says.

WXMI - Fox17 - Grand Rapids copied and pasted FOX News' falsely reported incomplete information surrounding the president's threat to veto the Coronavirus relief bill.

Trump calls COVID relief bill "a disgrace."


WASHINGTON D.C. — President Trump calls for the COVID relief bill to be reassessed and money earmarked for Americans raised.

In a video released on Twitter, he described multiple provisions for money being sent to Pakistan, Belize, Egypt, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., for the prevention of Asian Carp, construction projects at the FBI, and stimulus checks for immigrants.

He says not enough money is being given to small businesses, singling out restaurants being in particular need.

"I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple" Trump said. "i'm also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items in this legislation."


The Republican version of the Covid Relief bill approved was supposedly from the "Trump administration."

The bill has already been passed by both houses and vote counts make the bill "veto proof."

The bill passed was a massive $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package and $900 billion COVID-19 relief measure combination. Trump cannot have one without the other and the passed bill must stand as is and the lameduck president is lamer than usual.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Sorry, no. Fully alert to prog BS at all times -- Covid, elections, Russia hoax, climate, you name it. Of course, we are especially alert to the half-listening prog panickers.”

But that is you, and not the air breathers who get their news from the MSM, or maybe even worse, Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

wild chicken said...

"Alex Berenson was interviewed by Joe Rogan"

Alex really helped his brand by switching from anti-pot to anti-lockdown.

Something's gotta work.

PM said...

"Here comes SkyLab!"
"It's the Killer Bees!"
"Y2K!"
All blown out of proportion
except for Hillary Clinton.

iowan2 said...

The bill has already been passed by both houses and vote counts make the bill "veto proof".

Not if the clock starts ticking after 11:59:59 today.

madAsHell said...

I'll repeat my macro-schizoid hypothesis.....like macro-economics.

The media news reports are purposefully composed to just slightly outrage the reader. Schizophrenics use outrage in the same way to draw you into their fantasy.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The whole purpose of the media seems to be to create panic, fear, stir up hatred and gin up the latest disaster. You can't keep the people under control if you don't keep knocking the pins out from under them.

Covid is just the latest and biggest cudgel to keep us afraid. If it weren't Covid..they would try something else.

Case in point: In California this year 2020 we have had a big drought. No rain for months and months. In previous years...THIS would be the big cudgel. OMG WE ARE ALL GONNA DRY UP AND DIE!! Then the threats of turning off the water and rationing...for our own good of course would be all over the news. People would be encouraged to panic. To rat out their neighbors for watering lawns. It would be all over the news daily.

However, since Covid is working so well...the drought disaster (actually it is not. Drought happens periodically) is overlooked. Who needs drought....when we have Covid!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I do recall Drudge wanting us to lose our minds over murder hornet.

I don not recall feeling the need to be manipulated over obvious bs.

Laslo Spatula said...

I, too, have anxiety over Murder Hornet Stew.

I am Laslo.

Yancey Ward said...

And to think I was welcoming our new Murder Hornet Overlords.

Joe Smith said...

Those manslaughter hornets are totally flying under the radar.

Richard said...

We read the Autobiography of Lincoln Stephens in High School. In it, he explained how the newspapers would create a crime wave every few months by reporting every crime that occurred in the city.

narciso said...

surprise,


https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/joe_biden_tells_americans_our_darkest_days_are_ahead_of_us.html

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
I'm Not Sure said...

Re: "Darkest days are ahead"...

H.L. Mencken nods in his grave.

Nonapod said...

“Here is the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. So we need to prepare ourselves, to steel our spines. As frustrating as it is to hear, it’s going to take patience, persistence and determination to beat this virus.” - Joe Biden

Trump was and is always the optimist. He always interprets things in the best possible light. He'd proclaim things like we'd have a vaccine before the end of the year and our wonderful media would ceaselessly """fact check""" him insisting that "experts" say "There's no way!".

Conversely Biden is ever the pessimist, promising seasons of darkness and misery. It makes sense since the entire (D) party is the party of envy, revenge (marketed as "Justice"), and solutions to all problems being big government.

Personally, I think we are in for some darkness with Biden at the helm. If a president promises coming darkness, I guess we're in for it.

bagoh20 said...

Just wear a damned mask. No, it won't stop the hornets, but that's not the point.

I Callahan said...

Darkest days are ahead

5 to 1 says Biden invokes (or tries to invoke) martial law to "slow down the spread".

bagoh20 said...

"5 to 1 says Biden invokes (or tries to invoke) martial law to "slow down the spread".

That's a good bet. In recent years, the Dems have actually done over 127% of what they claim Trump did or wanted to do, even though he rarely did it. It's like they prepare you for the bad thing they will do by making up a scenario where Trump created the imaginary precedent.

Qwinn said...

As a programmer and data analyst of nearly four decades, I do object to Y2K being dismissed as a historical example of a fake news scare. The issue was very very real, and for once the hype accomplished something useful, in getting enough bodies (like mine) thrown at the problem in time to fix it by the deadline.

Joe Smith said...

I don't doubt Y2K was real.

I created advertisements at the time for a company who was smart enough to see the problem coming, and didn't have to 'fix' anything.

Rabel said...

Y2K was sold by the media and a whole hell of a lot of computer experts as unfixable, with inevitable and disastrous effects.

Qwinn said...

I don't recall it ever being described as unfixable. That's just silly. It's software, not gender or an election.

Qwinn said...

Incidentally, I believe Y2K will happen again in 2031 I think. If I recall correctly (it's been a while) Unix stores time as the number of seconds since some arbitrary date, and the variable that holds it will overflow in 2031. Last I heard about that was over a decade ago, though, no idea if it's been addressed at all.

stevew said...

I have learned that whenever they speak in a way that should cause anxiety or outrage to listen completely and challenge what they say.

I'm Not Sure said...

"I have learned that whenever they speak in a way that should cause anxiety or outrage to listen completely and challenge what they say."

Particularly when they repeatedly act in a way that is contrary to what they insist you do... *cough*wear a mask*cough* *cough*stay at home*cough* *cough*avoid family gatherings*cough*

It's almost like they don't believe what they're telling you.

mezzrow said...

Brunswick stew is a Southern dish that features a tomato base with beans, vegetables, and meat. Early Brunswick stews were often made with squirrel, rabbit, even opossum, but these days pork, chicken, and beef are common. The original thinking was to use local ingredients and those you have on hand, which remains the same today.

This Brunswick stew is made with cooked pork shoulder or leftover pulled pork, along with shredded or chopped cooked chicken thighs and vegetables. The barbecue sauce and a touch of cayenne pepper add rich flavor to the classic stew. This recipe is a good use of leftover meat and vegetables, as well as taking advantage of what ingredients are in your pantry.

Murder hornets are not recommended. Cornbread is recommended.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/brunswick-stew-with-pork-and-chicken-3052066

Biff said...

Gale Ridge? I looked at a condo in that development back in '97.

Browndog said...

Heh.

Althouse working overtime to distract herself, distract you, from the brave new world we all find ourselves in...

...thanks to her ilk.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

mezzrow said...

Cornbread is recommended.

Only if it's proper cornbread; i.e. not that sugared up crap that people try to pass off as cornbread these days.

CWJ said...

"The issue (Y2K) was very very real, and for once the hype accomplished something useful, in getting enough bodies (like mine) thrown at the problem in time to fix it by the deadline."

It wasn't fake, but it was overblown. The Italians did the bare minimum and came out just fine.

narciso said...

https://apelbaum.wordpress.com/2020/12/23/our-new-tammany-hall-bosses/

CWJ said...

How many murder hornet victims have been used to inflate covid deaths?

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Look, we've been talking for years about the decline in honeybee populations, and how catastrophic it is, and now we're supposed to be relieved that the murder hornets are only murdering honeybees? Apparently it's good enough that they aren't interested in murdering you, personally.

If it were a pesticide killing the honeybees, I think we'd see greater concern.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Incidentally, I believe Y2K will happen again in 2031 I think. If I recall correctly (it's been a while) Unix stores time as the number of seconds since some arbitrary date, and the variable that holds it will overflow in 2031. Last I heard about that was over a decade ago, though, no idea if it's been addressed at all.

That's the Unix 'epoch': The number of seconds since January 1 1970, and is used extensively in Unix, Linux and many other programs.

It's basically fixed. The standard way to store it (the system type 'time_t') used to be in 32 bits. Now everybody has moved to storing it in 64 bits.

If you are still running a pre-2000 (more or less -- different OSes fixed it at differnt times) computer with no software updates in 2032, your date will turn over to 1970. Other than a few bearded hobbyists who will want to see it happen, this is nobody.

Rick.T. said...

Look, we've been talking for years about the decline in honeybee populations, and how catastrophic it is...
------------------------

I find all the concern about honey bees fascinating. I get the concern from from a commercial standpoint but here in Tennessee we have eighty - eighty! - species of bees, wasps, ants, etc of pollinating insects occupying various natural ecological niches. People, honey bees are an invasive species not native to North America.

Howard said...

The native indigenous first nation Aboriginals called honey bees White Man Flys. Thanks to Johnny Appleseed and the Homestead App.

Daniel Jackson said...

Does that stew have potatoes?

h said...

I recall that a famous US scientist (was it Feynman?) said something like: if you read a newspaper article about something that you know well, and realize how poorly it is explained, it will cause you be skeptical about other newspaper articles on subjects where you are not an expert. Probably an AA commenter will clarify for me.

Browndog said...

Daniel Jackson said...

Does that stew have potatoes?


If it doesn't it's soup.

I don't make the rules.

mezzrow said...

@NorthOfTheOneOhOne
"Only if it's proper cornbread; i.e. not that sugared up crap that people try to pass off as cornbread these days."

If I'd wanted that, I'd have asked for cake. Put the mix box back on the shelf.

Where's your corn meal? Cast iron pan?

THAT kind of cornbread. My local cue joint makes an outstanding Brunswick stew, but I cannot abide the stuff they call cornbread.

Anonymous said...

"anxiety-driven stew".

Do you wear a mask? Do you get tested? Do you lock down? Do you have an app that warns you about other human-being infectious vectors? Have you become so smart, that you are hopelessly stupid?

Bunkypotatohead said...

Maybe it's worse to have spent 20 years blogging each day about NYT and Wapo panic inducing stories which turned out to have been bullshit.

madAsHell said...

@h

Gell-Mann amnesia. Named by Michael Chrichton for his friend the physicist Murray Gell-Mann that first noticed the phenomena.

The Godfather said...

Suppose that WHO or WHOever had decided in early 2020 that the new disease was "Chinese Flu". And the nations of the world had treated it like a bad flu: quarantines for elderly folks who were particularly at risk; expanded treatment facilities; public education about how to reduce exposure; etc. But no wide-spread mandatory shut-downs of businesses, schools, churches, etc. Would the world be better off or worse off than it is today?

Show your work.

Fernandinande said...

@h
Gell-Mann amnesia. Named by Michael Chrichton for his friend the physicist Murray Gell-Mann that first noticed the phenomena.


No, h described the opposite of the "Gell-Mann" effect.

Rather than "cause you to be skeptical" the G-M effect is knowing the fakenews is wrong about a subject you're familiar with, but unskeptically continuing to read the news about other subjects that you're not familiar with.

Chrichton, who, probably along with thousands or millions of other people, "discovered" it, says: "I refer to it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have."

stlcdr said...

People have based their lives around social media. Just like the frog in the pot, they don’t realize they are, indeed, slurping the simmering stew.

Big Mike said...

Opening sentences from Dave Barry’s annual review of the year gone by:

We’re trying to think of something nice to say about 2020.

OK, here goes: Nobody got killed by the murder hornets. As far as we know.

Kirk Parker said...

Qwinn, Churchy:

The year in question is 2038. And I'm not as sanguine as Churchy because the 'fix' he describes, while true enough, isn't really a fix at all, in the sense of a change to even a single line of code. Rather, it's just a side effect of the migration from 32- to 64- bit processors -- and I wouldn't bet on 32-bit entirely disappearing by then, especially in the embedded realm.

Sam L. said...

It was only the "Terror of the moment". There will be more; many, many more. Why I Don't Trust The Media, number 16579452684669.

hstad said...

Thank you AA for this feature/link. It illustrates the level of Covit - 19 fear produced by the MSM. In a World dominated by 'Dictators' and 'Autocratic' rulers I have no hope that we'll ever get to the bottom of the Covit - 19 porn fear produced by the MSM - Worldwide. I don't even trust data from the USA. The bureaucrats have produced such inflated numbers, due to the 20% monetary premium, I would bet that we are at just the 'common flu' level. Given this recent article from SF where over 600 + people died from overdoses and only 173 from Covit - 19, I'm wondering whether anything the MSM produces is creditable.

Anonymous said...

"elderly folks who were particularly at risk "

Let me say up front that I am an elderly folk who is particularly at risk.

I lived the hell out of this life. Who are you to show up now to 'protect' me?

Do you rush, like lemmings to a magic pill, vaccine?

Be the freedom, you think others are taking from you. Be the Freedom.

I lived the hell out of this life. Let me go. You...just be the Freedom. No man can stand against you. The time here is short. Live the hell out of it.