Do people who make fun of media studies courses think that they already understand the media just fine, or do they think that the media is something that cannot (or perhaps should not?) be understood

— Michael Bench-Snowglobe (@MikeBenchCapon) December 12, 2020

I don’t know, but some of the more informative and best-written textbooks I’ve read have been in the field of media and media studies.

A lot of that derision is the quant/math nerd takeover: if you can’t represent it in a nice “beautiful” equation, it’s fake.

This: I've had trouble breathing in the past, and been on a ventilator and honestly, dying gurgling for breath on a ventilator is one in my top ten worst ways to die, for sure. Not as bad as dying of burns in a burn ward, but close. https://t.co/K3bWtdwmhW

— Ian Welsh (@iwelsh) December 16, 2020

Yeah, it’d honestly have been better if Covid killed people violently and in public, perhaps bleeding from the eyes and skin (like ebola), rather than dozens of thousands dying silently and invisibly, locked away from all contact.

Though not great for the people experiencing that, they’d still be dead and we would’ve controlled this pandemic far sooner and far fewer would’ve perished.

I fail to understand how most people can only learn from personal experience, and will only believe in things that directly occur to them, or perhaps to a very close loved one. Me, I learn from the bad experiences of others and then avoid those things. Just saves so much grief.