# Why hasn't the media rubbed our noses in COVID deaths? It might be the thing that saves us **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [November 27, 2020, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555 "2020-11-27T05:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/21 "2020-11-27T18:26:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > After reading responses (so far) in this thread (which have been very good) I am still of the opinion that there needs to be a channel (be it YouTube or better, news networks) showing the tragedy that is happening in hospitals around the country. Blur peoples faces for anonymity. I doubt that would work. People would just call it fake news. I recall several months ago the Chinese crematorium controversy, where some people suggested China was hiding the numbers of bodies (to disguise the coronavirus death toll). We would see videos of basically unused crematoria, and others showing lots of “business”. Either or both sets were probably several years old, of course. (Right now in Italy people are showing almost empty hospital videos to show that COVID is “not a big deal”, said videos being from several years ago.) I never got to the bottom of the crematorium controversy, and frankly didn’t care enough to do the research: we knew China would lie about the death rate because they didn’t want to get embarrassed (or something worse). A few videos wouldn’t even give us good data. The WHO and other organizations couldn’t get their data either, but the death rate was less important than taking the steps needed to curb the virus. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/22 "2020-11-27T18:48:21Z")
Totally. The masses need to be shocked in order for something visual to change their behavior and beliefs. The lack of gruesome symptoms is another insidious tool of this virus. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/23 "2020-11-27T18:56:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > The media spews numbers every day. > > But they don’t show pictures of overwhelmed hospitals and refrigerated trucks piled with the dead. I see stories on hospitals and staff overwhelmed along with stories on freezer trucks. I don’t have cable so I’m watching the 3 over-the-air networks. [CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-surge-hospital-staff-nationwide/), [NBC](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavirus/north-texas-icu-beds-could-be-maxed-out-in-one-week-hospital-executive-warns/2489154/), [ABC](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/tired-bone-hospitals-overwhelmed-virus-cases-74282532). [They still have bodies in freezer trucks in NY since march](https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-bodies-coronavirus-spring-freezer-trucks-sunset-park-pier-20201123-hqk3zpqtznhbfl45ab6s6aswtq-story.html). That has a great picture of trucks framed up with the Statue of Liberty. How much more heart-string journalism do you need? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/24 "2020-11-27T19:10:40Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If you (general “you”) are a bit lucky you will be in your 70s-80s someday. I invite you to consider how ok you would be with society deciding you dying is kinda ok. This squared. It is obscene when a person volunteers an ‘other’ to die. Offer yourself up to die, not me. Obscene, I tell you. Obscene and reprehensible. I ask all Dopers to call out posters when they do that-after all, we are supposed to not be jerks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/25 "2020-11-27T19:32:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I think airing testimonials from COVID long haulers would be more effective than showing dead bodies. People tend to take a cavalier attitudes towards death. “If I die from having Thanksgiving dinner with my family, then I guess I was meant to die.” Or, “I’d rather die happy than live bored and lonely.” But maybe if they were exposed to stories of young and middle-aged people who are stuck in the limbo of chronic fatigue for months on end, they would realize what’s really at stake here. > > I think people who previously were COVID deniers/downplayers but who now see the light due to their own misfortune would be able to provide the most effective testimonials. The people who won’t listen to Dr. Fauci might be swayed by Bubba in the trucker’s cap, speaking passionately if not eloquently in Appalachian-inflected English. Not all of them, of course. But many of them might. Very well said. And in a sane world of thoughtful humans you’d be right. But … I’m sure by now most of us have seen ads run by the various anti-smoking campaigns that show somebody speaking through their tracheotomy or lying bald and frail in their hospital bed with advanced lung cancer. With pictures of them once young and strong and now dying or dead at age 50-something if that old. Here’s the archetypical ad I’m thinking of, blurred because it’s a bit shocking to the genteel reader: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEDpJTTDZP8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEDpJTTDZP8) Heart-tugging stuff, especially if you have dealt with cancer in your own extended family. But is it effective? How many people don’t start smoking or quit smoking from those PSAs? I don’t know. My gut is “darn few”. I do agree with the OP’s contention that until this becomes emotionally real it won’t be real enough for most Americans to alter their behaviors enough. I just don’t think a COVID morgue channel or COVID crippled survivor channel will make it believable _enough_ to the people we need to convert into believers. For all the reasons said so well by so many posters above. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/26 "2020-11-27T20:33:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I do agree with the OP’s contention that until this becomes emotionally real it won’t be real enough for most Americans to alter their behaviors enough. > > I just don’t think a COVID morgue channel or COVID crippled survivor channel will make it believable _enough_ to the people we need to convert into believers. I suppose one could argue that _something_ has already done this effectively enough, for the countless millions who have indeed altered their behaviors significantly, even without having been touched directly by death or severe damage in their own household. Particularly when you see language like ‘convert into believers’, not to mention charged labels like ‘covidiot’ and ‘maskhole’, there does look like a lot of emotion already in play. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/27 "2020-11-27T20:50:13Z")
I think if anything, it should be people in essential occupations and healthcare workers that are shown. These are the people who you\* are endangering by refusing to wear a mask or socially distance. \*not you, but the intended person to be persuaded. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/28 "2020-11-28T02:07:17Z")
I see PSAs everyday from the federal, state, and county everyday. Not to mention the nearly daily updates from governors and mayors. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/29 "2020-11-28T15:07:12Z")
I would have to agree with this: if it were Ebola visiting our shores, people would be social distancing on their own - guaranteed. Higher mortality rate, and it’s a brutal way to go. Even with people who are symptomatic, most people just feel like crap for a while - nobody obviously wants to experience that, but that’s not enough to scare people into completely isolating themselves from everyone and everything. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/30 "2020-11-28T15:11:29Z")
I think we might see a change in the next few weeks when the healthcare system literally collapses in some locations. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/31 "2020-11-28T16:38:24Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t watch much broadcast TV, but I do watch a lot of streaming content, like Youtube. During the election campaign season, it seemed like I was bombarded by negative political ads every five minutes. But I haven’t been bombarded with any PSA’s about COVID. > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > I see PSAs everyday from the federal, state, and county everyday. Not to mention the nearly daily updates from governors and mayors. Right – unlike broadcast franchise licensees, YouTube does _ **not** _ have a Public Service mandate. So someone who mostly gets their infotainment from such sources would see much fewer PSAs than someone who consumes more regular radio/TV (be it directly off the air, or the on-air signal conveyed through cable/satellite/streaming). > [@SayTwo](#): > > In other words, what do you see as the benefit of ‘driving it close to home’? I suppose, get **everyone** to say to themselves "OK! OK! We get it! We **will** wear masks, we **will** stay home, we will avoid big gatherings, _do whatever it takes for however long it takes!_ " Sorry, no, we’re NOT going to get everyone there. > [@Magiver](#): > > I see stories on hospitals and staff overwhelmed along with stories on freezer trucks. > > I don’t have cable so I’m watching the 3 over-the-air networks. [CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-surge-hospital-staff-nationwide/), [NBC](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavirus/north-texas-icu-beds-could-be-maxed-out-in-one-week-hospital-executive-warns/2489154/), [ABC](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/tired-bone-hospitals-overwhelmed-virus-cases-74282532). > > [They still have bodies in freezer trucks in NY since march](https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-bodies-coronavirus-spring-freezer-trucks-sunset-park-pier-20201123-hqk3zpqtznhbfl45ab6s6aswtq-story.html). That has a great picture of trucks framed up with the Statue of Liberty. > [@SayTwo](#): > > I suppose one could argue that _something_ has already done this effectively enough, for the countless millions who have indeed altered their behaviors significantly, even without having been touched directly by death or severe damage in their own household. Right – the story is out there and it all has had effect, just that it has not worked to the point that would satisfy some of us. I suppose that there is among some people a sense of _“how come we are **not** getting from across the country the same sort of alarmed pulling-our-hair out OMG WE’RE DOOMED, DOOMED I TELL YOU reporting that we were getting out of NYC in March/April??”_ Well, not to be too callous about it: in November, as opposed to April, there is something else consuming all the OMG WE’RE DOOMED bandwidth in both the regualr media and the various online bubbles. Also, as **asahi** mentions, in much of the country it has _ **not** _ gotten to the point of imminent collapse just yet. A lot of people are not going to react until the pileup of bodies is happening _in their home town where they see them._ ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/32 "2020-11-28T21:24:12Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I think we might see a change in the next few weeks when the healthcare system literally collapses in some locations. What does it look like when a healthcare system literally collapses? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/33 "2020-11-28T21:41:39Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Quite apart from the patient privacy issues (which are considerable), I don’t think this would have quite the effect on public opinion that you think it would. _Some_ people are motivated effectively by fear. Those people are already doing more or less what you probably want them to do. The science seems to indicate that conservatives are more motivated by fear than liberals. That’s why the right uses so much fear-based messaging. The one thing Trump wouldn’t treat like something to fear was the pandemic, because it’s a real threat, unlike the other things he pushed as “out to get you.” So it’s those very fear motivated people who are the most likely to not wear masks. Studies show that one reason may be that it isn’t a personalized danger. Right leaning people tend to rate the risk of contracting COVID higher if it is personalized as some evil that is out to get them, rather than a natural phenomenon that doesn’t care who it infects. Left leaning treat the risk the same either way. Granted, I got all this from Rebecca Watson and “Skepchick,” who discuss these studies on her YouTube channel and website. Rather than fill the screen with videos, I’ll just include normal links (which include transcripts and sources): 1. [Conservatives respond better to fear based strategies.](https://skepchick.org/2020/08/study-conservatives-are-terrified-and-thats-why-theyre-conservative/) 2. [Conservatives respond better when the threat is personalized.](https://skepchick.org/2020/11/tricking-conservatives-into-caring-about-covid/) ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/34 "2020-11-28T21:59:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The science seems to indicate that conservatives are more motivated by fear than liberals. That’s why the right uses so much fear-based messaging That’s nice. It’s sort of the opposite of what’s going on with masks and lockdowns though, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/35 "2020-11-28T22:09:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s also a lot of uncertainty in what the number of deaths is. If an 83-year-old contracts COVID and dies, did they die of COVID, or of old age? My grandfather died of pneumonia when he was 94 and they had no problem listing pneumonia as the cause of death. There’s no reason COVID should be any different. We don’t have a problem determining COVID as cause of death. We have a problem with a political faction full of people who emphatically don’t want COVID listed as a cause of death, ever. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/36 "2020-11-28T22:15:12Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > That’s nice. It’s sort of the opposite of what’s going on with masks and lockdowns though, don’t you think? Not at all. What conservatives want is avoid negative press for themselves and Trump. To achieve that, the subordinate goal becomes to persuade folks that COVID is no big deal. And _that_ is the message they are using the personalized fear and loathing to sell. The liberals, once again, are coming directly to your home to enslave you by wearing masks. It’s a direct assault on your rights! They’ll make you breathe CO2! Be afraid, be verrrrry verrrrrry afraid! The fear-based marketing doesn’t necessarily correlate to a realistic fear. In fact, it’s better if it’s a _fake_ fear that nobody can actually reassure. Did I lose 2% of my freedom overnight? I’m not sure, but gosh, Fox says it’s true, so I’d better go buy more ammo. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/37 "2020-11-28T22:18:27Z")
That’s all rather silly. “Freedumb from masks” messaging isn’t about fear of libs coming into your home with lock on masks. “Loathing” sure but they aren’t synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/38 "2020-11-28T22:28:45Z")
oh believe me there are several “real Americans” and “real American news” on Facebook who are telling people that hospitals are lying to get more money and the governments lying to get control and the mask don’t work … I hear it several times a day. from my relatives … ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/39 "2020-11-28T22:35:52Z")
There are people who seriously think wearing a mask will _increase_ their chances of being infected. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/40 "2020-11-28T22:40:03Z")
Health officials 9 months ago thought people fiddling with improperly worn masks would do more harm than good. You can’t slap “fear” on anything someone is resistant to or concerned about. It’s something that makes you feel good about, because you don’t have stupid fears like that other guy, but it isn’t useful for understanding what’s going on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555.md?page=3)