Comments on: Google Searches for Information about Tiger Woods vs. Afghanistan

By: What Stories Are the Media Covering? » Sociological Images

What Stories Are the Media Covering? » Sociological Images — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:12:20 +0000

[...] check out our posts on google searches for information about Afghanistan and Tiger Woods, the “dithering” meme, Leave a Comment Tags: discourse/language, media, [...]

By: Manly Monday: Tiger Woods’ Hole In One (Or More) | Twanna A. Hines @ FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com | sex. dating. relationships.

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:33:38 +0000

[...] Several people recently asked, “You write about relationships. What do you think about Tiger Woods?” As I’ve said before, If PERSON A cheats on PERSON B with PERSON C, it’s really no one’s business except the parties involved. Tiger is neither my father, lover, husband nor an acquaintance. Right now, I wouldn’t necessarily want to be in Elin Nordegren’s shoes. That said, I’m uninterested in her & her husbands’ personal affairs. In fact, I think the fascination with love lives of the rich & famous says more about our country’s penchant for gawking than it does about our spry young Tiger’s alleged ability to wear women out. Pssst! If you’re interested in theories about Americans’ general views on cheating, I’ve previously written about the topic over at Huffington Post. (Link: Political Sex Scandals: Obama, McCain & Palin.) I also recommend Google Searches for Information about Tiger Woods vs. Afghanistan. [...]

By: Nicola

Nicola — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:26:23 +0000

I guess this is a prime example of the Agenda Setting Function theory (not so much an injection theory, in my opinion). It happens all the time, constantly, because someone is always deciding what gets reported in the media, in whatever form that may be. The whole Tiger Woods thing is a pretty obvious and bizarre example, though.

By: styleygeek

styleygeek — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:11:36 +0000

I agree. I search for news topics when I am not able to find out much about them from the media. For instance if there is a big earthquake in a country I care about, but that Australia as a whole does not, there might be a tiny paragraph on some news site saying “Earthquake this morning in Bolivia: 300 people believed dead so far.” and I will want to know exactly where, what magnitude, whether there are aftershocks, how to donate money, etc. So I will google it.

For Afghanistan and other big stories, there is no need to search because there is sufficient information easily available in any news source you read.

For the Tiger Woods story, I haven’t actually seen anything about that in the news and didn’t know about it until I read this blog post, and since all I know now is that there was some sort of wreck (car crash?) and something about affairs, I am now going to go google it just to know what you are talking about. It’s not that I care much about Tiger Woods or sensationalist celebrity news, but my curiosity has been piqued, and the way it was mentioned here as though it was something EVERYONE knows about makes me feel a little deficient, so I’m going off to fix my deficiency.

By: Doro

Doro — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:52:33 +0000

Agreed. I sometimes watch old TV news from 15 or 25 years ago when they air. Once, I almost didn’t notice that it was old news because it was basically stuff that happens over and over again – a huge number of people lose their jobs, bombs in Israel, etc. Ongoing stories often only barely qualify as “news” because they are not necessarily new.

The internet searches might also be influenced by the fact that in the case of Afghanistan, many people probably feel that the media tell them everything there is to know, while the Tiger Woods story, at least to me, felt as if there was a lot of things that weren’t on the news and that there might be new info on it within the next hour.

By: cb

cb — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:42:01 +0000

I agree that this is sad. But one thing is you have to expect that when news breaks, it will be popular for a short time, and probably taper off. Afghanistan is an ongoing story, while celebrity deaths and scandals are individual events. I’m sure we’ll still be talking/reading about Afghanistan next month, next year, while I hope we are not talking about Tiger Woods’ mistress. I definitely believe that celebrity news is too popular, with both the media and the public, but I wanted to throw that out there.

By: shale

shale — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Frankly, I think we live in a world that profoundly dis-empowers people. I think it is very hard to watch the news when we know that there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Imagine yourself helplessly watching a loved one suffer, and then imagine how hard it would be to love the world.

Anyways. I don’t think it’s illusion; it’s probably something like hopelessness, but also more. Hopelessness is just a feeling; powerlessness is a position within a broader social organ.

(So anyways, I think I’m agreeing with Jamie above.)

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:44:44 +0000

Yeah, it’s tough. And as my friend says, “It’s always a slow news day in the Middle East.” It’s like that elephant that we know is there, but people just talk around it or refuse to acknowledge it.

Maybe it’s the illusion of hopelessness that I think many people seem to share in the face of politicians or economic matters now. I dunno, but keep that tabloid crap out of my brains!!!

By: Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist

Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:04:55 +0000

This really f–king makes me angry. I read a lot of news and blogs that vary on topics. I read political news, I read blogs about racial/POC issues (like Racialicious and Stuff White People Do, Muslimah Media Watch), and for lighter reading, I enjoy reading film critique blogs written by film snobs.

I saw an article on the Hollywood Reporter the other day that “MICHAEL JACKSON” was the most searched keyword on Google for this year. Really? WTF? Nobody cares about dying troops or Afghans or Iraqs, yet people make a big f–king deal over a dead pop star who was probably a child rapist.

re: Jon & Kate 8– that’s the reason I stopped reading CNN. I was dismayed to see that “MOST READ/MOST E-MAILED” articles were about celebrities, sex scandals, and/or gossip.

I FUCKING GIVE UP, OK!!!!!

By: MeToo

MeToo — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:35:14 +0000

Macon D has an interesting post on the role of race in the Woods fixation — http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/12/care-more-about-messed-up-love-life-of.html