animatronic
Senior Member
Can you take your time problems somewhere else? This is a grammar forum
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Rob Ford's Toronto
- Thread starter MetroMan
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Can you take your time problems somewhere else? This is a grammar forum
ROFOMOFO
Active Member
All these tweets of Rob Ford sightings reminds me of this, possibly Jim Carrey at his funniest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iVx6gyj8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iVx6gyj8Q
dforthandbview
Senior Member
11/9 just doesn't have the same amount of pizzazz.
Jimmi T
Senior Member
Always fun to go back in time to when the crack scandal first broke on here!
pud99
Senior Member
Ha. But not any longer, though. I have been rehabilitated. (It was expensive, but very quick, and amazing.*)
*It reminded me of spelling bee camp.
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DTGeek
Active Member
Because most of the "journalists" who write this tripe aren't much brighter than the average voter. These hacks are only capable of following the same generic template they are used to reading and writing. They don't possess the critical thinking skills to adapt their reporting to the unique elements of this situation.
Everyone should be aware to take what they read in most media with a huge grain of salt. Michael Chrichton summed it up with this:
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.â€
Cooper
Senior Member
Metro Man is the creation of his audience as much as of himself. People are/were clamouring for information. He had friends/sources who had a little more access to inside gossip, right or wrong, so he shared. Sure, his head swelled alongside his audience, but there were no shortage of "MM, help us" posts, either. Once that happened, it was pretty clear that he'd one day fall from grace. So it goes...
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The researcher in me got to ask how much of the above average success rate has to do with self-selection vs. efficacy of the intervention.
AoD
hper
Active Member
Yeah, MM's 'hit' rate may be weak lately, and there is an element of 'internet celebrity' that's mildly annoying. But when he was on, he was on. And he did start this thread (pre-2010 Elxn) that everyone seems to enjoy, after all. So credit where it's due. As a relative newcomer here, I thank the guy for that.
Yaitsme
Active Member
And I hate to say it but MetroMan nailed it. LOL
"Once the video is out, again Rob will go on his usual "I'm only human" victim cry tour admitting that he lied because he has a problem but will continue to be Mayor because the people called him and told him to stay. But the stack of shit is piling up leading to the next election as each of these scandals offend or even attack every demographic segment one by one. By October 2014, he'll have nothing but the most fervent nut cases behind him."
pud99
Senior Member
It is worth reading the entire passage from the late Michael Crichton’s 2002 essay “Why Speculate?” (including to find out why he named the effect as he did):
Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this, in what I call the Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. (I call it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have.)
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I’d point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all.
But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn’t. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.
BTW: Murray Gell-Mann is a very remarkable person: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann
Also note that, in the penultimate paragraph, Crichton identifies the Doug Ford Jr. Horseshit effect.
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I’d point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all.
But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn’t. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.
BTW: Murray Gell-Mann is a very remarkable person: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann
Also note that, in the penultimate paragraph, Crichton identifies the Doug Ford Jr. Horseshit effect.
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ThoughtArcade
Active Member
It's a fair question. The first thing that I would say, is that Caritas has generally viewed success -- since it is difficult to quantify -- as a 5 year period of abstinence. Complete abstinence. That means, you came in for alcohol? That doesn't mean you get to smoke pot and call yourself clean.
This comes from the belief that drugs are not at the core of the issue -- it's a socio-behavioural-emotional response which needs to be changed. And once that happens, the need for that self-soma is easier to fight.
Given this criteria, until the last couple of years, the success rate was somewhere between 65%-80%. It fluctuated though, as it was very dependent on the population base or residents that we had. Caritas always had a secret weapon that other rehabs did not. In addition to the methodology, there was a side-effect -- after spending 25 months with a group of people who share the same concerns, you had a built in peer group and community whose relationship to each other was built on trust, knowledge of each other and a kind of brotherhood knowing that they endured something which most people could not. Knowing that they were part of that community (The Caritas community), had a *very* strong effect after the program. If you messed up, there were 10 people -- *true* friends, who weren't going to let you slip further. Just knowing that would happen was a *huge* weapon against using again.
So, that's the good news that Caritas could boast about.
Here's the other side:
While the success rate is accurate, it's skewed because it relates only to people who FINISHED the program, and it's 25 months. Two years. Two HARD years.
Most people made it through the first couple of weeks -- but if there was not familial/work/self-imposed pressure to stay, I would estimate that perhaps 4 or 5 out of every 10 people who enter the program actually finish it.
So if you look at success ENTERING the program vs. FINISHING the program, you get very different numbers.
I have always felt that Caritas missed the boat on marketing itself. It always tried to be accepted in the same way that a Homewood was accepted. I felt that missed the point. Caritas should be, and should have been truer to its nature. Never mind brochures, and gentle talk. Just lay it out: "Caritas: You've tried those mamby-pamby rehabs, now try something that works. The hardest program in Canada. It sucks being here, but it's better than dying."
Just like Buckleys.
Kat_YYZ
Senior Member
they hadn't seen it, but they knew it existed. They had overheard on the Project Traveller wiretaps that some Dixon guys had a video of Ford smoking crack. Of course they could have overheard lies, but they didn't think so at the time. They knew about the video before the Star did.
Jimmi T
Senior Member
Was back in my hometown Etobicoke the other day. I was bored as hell of that place when I moved a couple of years ago but now with all the craziness surrounding the Ford scandal and Project Traveller it feels kind of exciting! Of course, I always have to check out 15 Windsor and the Dixon towers when I'm in town. I almost went into Steak Queen but it looked too shady.
DeathSilver
Active Member
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