It's really fucked up that you can have a 25⁰C clear day in the middle of winter – 30⁰C above normal – and voice assistants like Siri will describe it as "beautiful" or a "nice day outside". I think about these little micro-normalisations all the time.
@shibacomputer Well it's not wrong, though. It *IS* a nice day 🤷
The fact that it is a sign for a larger problem does not really influence the niceness of the day itself.
if you deny your self the joy in anything that has a questionable context there is not much left...
@DJGummikuh @shibacomputer Exactly. Something can be both beautiful & troubling (as is much art & literature).
Mar 21, 2023, 1:49 PM@shibacomputer I'm reading "Dirty truths: reflections on politics, media, ideology, conspiracy, ethnic life and class power" (1996), and was shocked that the author, Parenti, had already pointed out this mechanism of obfuscation back then:
"[..] Worse still, the ill effects of global warming and ozone depletion are actually celebrated by TV weather reporters, who operate by an unwritten code: "sunny" and "warm" are good, "rainy" and "cold" are bad. [..]"
@hko woah! I'm going to need to check this out. Thanks for putting it on my radar.
Mar 21, 2023, 1:55 PM@shibacomputer The book is quite eclectic, going down all kinds of rabbit holes. I enjoy it a lot, but fair warning: the mix of topics might be jarring when encountered unprepared :)
The table of contents is public, here:
https://archive.org/details/dirtytruthsrefle00pare/page/n7/mode/2up
