Exploiting Tragedy By Blaming Technology
from the whatever-gets-the-page-views dept
Earlier this week, an 18-year-old deaf girl in Austin, Texas, got hit by a train as she walked along some tracks, and was killed. Likely because of her role as Miss Deaf Texas, the case has gotten some national media attention, and has been featured on the front page of the CNN web site. Today, there's another story there, with the headline "Deaf beauty queen was text-messaging when hit by train", followed with a lead that further infers the text messaging had something to do with her death. Forgive me for explaining the obvious, but it's pretty much completely irrelevant that the girl was sending or reading text messages when she was struck -- from behind -- by the train. Remember that she was deaf? Her death resulted from a tragic set of circumstances, but CNN has to blame something, apparently, to keep people's interest, so why not the text messages?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Blaming technology?
CNN never "blamed" the phone or text messaging for the accident, they simply "played on readers' emotions" by relating the fact hat she had just texted her loving family to give her a ride moments before her death.
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Re: Blaming technology?
I will agree that in the article they play with the heart strings of talking to the family at the last minute. Sad to say but this may be Darwinism at work, if I couldn't hear I would probably not walk on railroad tracks.
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Re: Re: Blaming technology?
"Deaf beauty queen was text-messaging when hit by train"
Maybe she was hit by the train because she was a beauty queen? The headline mentions that as well...no one would ever tie the deaf part to the reason she was hit, huh...these damn misleading headlines.
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Bad Taste
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Darwinism in action
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Re: Darwinism in action
(Hell, if you are not deaf..don't do it!)
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Blame where blame is due
Seems to me that text messaging while walking, or while standing on railroad tracks is relevant to the story. Not that the technology is to blame, merely the object of her distraction.
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Re: Blame where blame is due
Exactly...text messaging or not, a deaf person should probably not walk on train tracks alone. From the wording of the story, she had finished her messaging when she was hit...it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the actual accident.
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Maybe...
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Blame whoever you can...
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Re: Blame whoever you can...
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Why???
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CNN is desperate of course
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This is Ridiculous
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Re: This is Ridiculous
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The moral of this story according to CNN...
"IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, DO NOT TEXT-MESSAGE ...SINCE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT TEXT-MESSAGING INCREASES YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING HIT BE A TRAIN"
...according to CNN.
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aw, come on...
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Trains
She probably thought she'd be able to feel the vibrations long before a train got close enough to her, so that she'd be able to move out of the way. A 19 year old freshman was killed near my place in a similar scenario, and he was able to hear just fine.
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Exploiting Tragedy By Blaming Technology...
If you're deaf, are you going to sit on train tracks and text message your friends?
seriously, this girl died because of a little thing we call "Natural Selection"
Call me insensitive, but this girl obviously lacked intelligence.
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So lets forget the technology, forget that the was deaf (it really has no bearing here), and take this as a lesson:
DO NOT WALK ON THE TRACKS LEST YOU MIGHT GET HIT BY A VERY BIG VERY HEAVY TRAIN
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Texas
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Re: Texas
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Re: Texas
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....maybe..suicide.......Just a thought
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I don't think the blame lies with the text messagi
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comment
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At least she wasn't on myspace
"Deaf beauty queen was uploading racy photo to MySpace when hit by train"
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Cruelty
Did she die because she was stupid? NO.
Did she die because she was texting? NO.
She wasn't walking ON the tracks, she was walking along the tracks. The "plow" attached to the front of the train that extended past the sides of the train is what struck and killed the woman.
Did she die because she was deaf? YES: she didn't hear the horn.
Does the article infer that texting killed her? NO. But it does play on the readers' emotions by connecting her and her family with a "last goodbye", if you will.
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Re: Cruelty
A young woman died.
Did she die because she was stupid? HELL YES.
Maybe it should have read: "Deaf Beauty Queen, Dumb as Well?"
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She was BLONDE!
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Puh-leez
Was this girl stupid to be walking on or near railroad tracks? Yes! How far out do these things extend? No more than 2 feet on either side would be my guess...What deaf idiot walks 2 feet away from railroad tracks?
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DUH
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Um, do I have to be the one to state the obvious?
Just because it's tech oriented doesn't mean you have to reflexively protect it. It can take care of itself.
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That aside, it brings to mind a great piece on the difference between correlation and causality, especially when the correlation itself is spurious: The Arrogant Worms' "Don't go into politics":
George Washington was the president
But now he's dead (dead)
Mackenzie King was Prime Minister
But now he's dead (dead)
So don't go into politics
You'll end up dead
... and so the song goes. (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Don't-Go-Into-Politics-lyrics-The-Arrogant-Worms/9398D6E9849 115C248256B260026D735)
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So you're saying everyone in texas is a moron?
I'll refrain from agreeing so I don't get flamed :-)
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Texas
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I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, thats not my intent/
"Well it's true that there are idiots in every state. But they all eventually find their way to Texas."
Nah, just all the republicans.
No, I'm not a democrat.
No, I'm not a republican.
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If you are who you say you are, I am sorry if my comments have upset you. As I only have this article to go on, I'm sure you can understand why I said what I have.
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dumb?
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Re: Andrea
~ That's very insightful of you. Well done for not considering anyone else in this thread as having experience with deaf people or being deaf themselves. And as for the Deaf community? This is an individual case where one person who is deaf got herself killed. The people on this board have responded as such and have not discussed the Deaf community as a whole.
I feel you shouldn't bring your same embittered attitude from one news site board to the next and make wild accusations on the people who post here.
Doesn't the fact that the 40+ people that have posted here show you in some small way we all actually care?
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This story brings new meaning to the phrase: "Deaf and dumb"
These were your words.
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Re: Deaf beauty queen was text-messaging when hit
There was no tragic set of circumstances. She was stupid enough to walk on the railroad tracks, even though she was deaf and obviously couldn't hear a train coming. The only thing to blame was _her_ - and it's not particularly tragic (except to her family), just "evolution in action". Train 1, Idiot 0.
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variety
and others:
the police not CNN are who said she might have been distracted
there are not vibrations on tracks
and she wasn't walking ON the tracks, there was an oversized snow plow that extended 16 inches over each side of the car, so I'm sure she was along the side of the tracks where she thought she'd be fine
read one of the articles
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Woo! 16 freakin inches! thats almost a foot and a half! She was standing RIGHT on the edge of the tracks.
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Re:
Making no sense at all.
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"... McAvoy, who was estimated to be "no more than a foot" from the tracks ..."
right from the article.
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trains are quiet
trains only blow their horns at guarded crossings, and they aren't audible until they are passing you, not before. it's not like in the movies where trains always make a racket.
with that said, the cause of death here was stupidity, not texting, and not deafness. come on...who walks that close to train tracks?!
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