One day Henny-penny was picking up corn in the rickyard when—whack!—an acorn hit her upon the head. “Goodness gracious me!” said Henny-penny, “the sky’s a-going to fall; I must go and tell the King.” – Henny-Penny: The Sky is Falling!, English Fairy Tale
Public Safety Reporters are the Henny-pennys of fairy tale “news”.
They “report” on things like natural disasters (something so natural is hardly news), weather (isn’t that the weatherman’s work?), traffic (OpenStreetMap can take care of that), among other terrifying tidbits. Public Panic Reporters are busybodies: they scratch the surface, then go nuts, spewing so-called “news”. They’re ever-so-ready to chirp n’ chatter on Twitter about their personal fears.
Today’s example of the sky is falling comes from Jason Pohl. This guy is falling.
Jason is a Public Safety Reporter at the Coloradoan (aka USA TODAY, aka Gannett Company, Inc.). Below, he’s made a tweet, packed with devastatingly wrong info:
Devastating lies from Reporter Jason Pohl of the Coloradoan (soon to be working for Arizona Republic).
Lies, lies, lies. Jason, how much time did you spend researching your bosses’ childish numbers on kids and guns? Please, before you go writing about the topic of firearms, I beg of you: utilize gun truths at GunFacts.info. All it takes is a quick click. The truth is out there.
A haunting tweet by Jason Pohl, filled with lies. He needs to read GunFacts.info.
The lesson of this story? It lies upon the conscience of readers. To you, I ask, “Do you believe everything you read?”
“I do not,” say readers of this blog, including Foxy-woxy, Ducky-daddles, Turkey-lurkey.
Yes, that was a loaded question, with a charged answer. I already know the vast majority of this blog’s viewers are critical thinkers who question everything, gobbling up accurate facts n’ stats. Y’all exited The Matrix long ago.
Jason: I’m not picking on you. There are so many Henny Pennys out there, it’s hard to choose who to expose. Your “work” happened to roll across my news desk. I’m sure you’re not all that bad. I’m focused on setting the story straight for firearms facts. I’ll leave it to the rest of the universe to comb through your other stories/topics.
Wow. Interesting lies. Reporter Jason Pohl needs to find gun truths at GunFacts.info.
Yet I’m solidly skeptical of your remaining “news” stories, wondering what’s fairy tale vs. fact. Things look bleak. Are you a Brothers Grimm? Or an Adam Ruins Everything? I rally for the latter.
Perhaps there’s hope for the past articles you’ve composed. I dunno. Maybe nope. Yes?
Please seize the moment. Think twice, before pouncing to post lies, regurgitated by USA Today, who eats up numbers from skewed anti-gun groups like Everytown for Gun Control and The Brady Bunch & Co.
Above all, Jason Pohl, stay classy.
Jason Pohl enjoys drinking beer, a drug.
Jason Pohl finds this data to be staggering, even if the graph’s sourced by New York Times.
Alcohol is the drug of choice for 64.5% of Americans with a Substance Use Disorder, according to this graph that Jason Pohl didn’t tweet about.
#JasonPohl
@pohl_jason
@Coloradoan
#Coloradoan
#ArizonaRepublic
#FakeNews
#Everytown