[bradhe]

> But a headline designed to make incorrect impression just doesn’t help.

Yet this is basically all we get. Because it makes people click. It’s so hard to tell what’s real and what’s exaggerated these days. And if you try to make the case that something is exaggerated, you come off as a right wing nut job.

[ibejoeb]

For example, here are some excerpts from just one other LA Times article:

> Many hospitals also say they’re too full to accept any more patients or ambulances

> when paramedics are allowed to drop off patients at a hospital, the emergency room is often so crowded that there aren’t available staff members

> Hospitals across the state are sending away ambulances, flying in nurses from out of state and not letting children visit their loved ones

> canceling surgeries and erecting tents in their parking lots so they can triage the hordes

https://archive.is/VxZL9

If context matters, I'd expect an organization like the LA Times to be capable of addressing it. It's so frustrating to have to work backward just to find out if anything is remarkable. At this point, this kind of thing is seriously affecting the well-being of the audience.

[sjg007]

So where are the hospital ships?

[ibejoeb]

The one that was deployed is now being overhauled in drydock in Portland.[1]

But what's the point? I posted this article to criticize the LA Times' handling of the messaging. If you wouldn't mind taking a look at the original article from which those excerpts are drawn, I think you'll get it.

1: https://www.marinelog.com/shipyards/shipyard-news/vigor-wins...

[ithkuil]

> And if you try to make the case that something is exaggerated, you come off as a right wing nut job.

Doesn't it depend on the topic? I mean, remember when right wing news outlets were exaggerating the hordes of migrants invading borders etc and "left wing nut jobs" yelling that people are blowing things out of proportion?

I don't think each if these tactic necessarily belong to one political orientation. It's just a particularly infuriating way humans communicate and deal with verbal conflict.

Nowadays the general level of education is much higher than a century ago, yet there is still a long way to go; hopefully we'll have many more centuries to learn how to build a public discourse more effectively.

[justin66]

> It’s so hard to tell what’s real and what’s exaggerated these days.

You had to click through and read a few words in order to determine what was meant in the headline by 'little chance of survival.'

> And if you try to make the case that something is exaggerated, you come off as a right wing nut job.

In this case, you come off as perhaps just a little bit lazy?

edit: in the original complaining post about this topic, songgao links to a 4-post twitter thread that explains how EMS will handle things succinctly and nicely. The first post underneath is someone saying "So will they be left at home to die?"