[coldtea]

I find that the word guzzle is dead accurate.

They consume a huge amount of the country's electricity not only for no clear benefit to society, but mostly for making it worse, with more social media posts, stupid videos, surveillance, advertising-led consumption, ai slop

As compared to productive uses, like lighting, food preservation, home warming, medical use, transport, and useful manufacturing.

[fc417fc802]

Did they pay market rate? Are they negatively affecting the other consumers through some unpriced externality? If they're such a burden then why is the government tolerating them?

[serf]

it's dead accurate for you because it aligns with your ideas on the subject.

if it had been for defense or some other such thing the media outlet wanted to celebrate it'd have been worded "Our defense apparatus sips only 23% of the country's power!"

tl;dr : accuracy isn't what aligns to personal interests, and journalists who choose to use language like this are (generally speaking) disinterested in accuracy and honesty as top priorities.

[coldtea]

Accurate is what reflects reality. Reality isn't neutral. Some things are bad, and worsen society, and others are good.

"Neutral reporting" presents a false equivalence between different options that seldom are equal.

And of course itself is based on an "idea on the subject": that the role of reporting is to have no values aside from information transmission.

The specific objection is even more bizarre: yes, if it was for something else it would have been worded differently. That's like there being a car accident described as "tragic" and someone objecting that if it was a wedding or a sports win that had happened instead they'd have described them as positive. Sure. Because they're different things.