1/ This otherwise very good NYT article has the quote "The problem is, we are having to choose from either dying from Covid or dying from cops." A recent NY Mag had a similar quote. That people feel this sentiment is heartbreaking and telling. But doesn't
nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/…
nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/…
2/ journalism have a role to play in providing some context here? Strictly statistically speaking -- and of COURSE as humans we do not think in statistics -- it would take more than a century's worth of police shootings to kill as many people as have died of coronavirus so far.
3/ This is what worries me about certain forms of politicization in journalism: Were the subject the immigrant crime rate (often overestimated by conservatives) or the threat of global warming (underestimated), journalists would rush to add perspective to citizens' feelings.
4/ This isn't nitpicking: In the real world we inhabit, which is determined by how risky different things actually are rather than our (often flawed) perceptions, people need to make ACTUAL CHOICES about whether it is worth it to protest. And dying of coronavirus is orders of
5/ magnitude more likely than dying from police violence. It's annoying I need to even say this but of COURSE this doesn't mean police violence isn't a serious threat and that U.S. police don't need to be reformed massively. The reason journos are being shy on this point is they
6/ don't want to be seen as "against the cause." But that's not journalism!
