Another Mass Shooting

Tragically, the term "mass shooting" is a regular part of our vocabulary now. It hurts to follow the news of yet another mass shooting. News is developing about a shooting at a club in Fort Myers, Florida, claiming the lives of two victims and injuring several more. Is there any reason to believe politicians will work together to formulate a solution? I have no confidence there. Nor do I have confidence that our media will exert pressure on politicians to work together to do anything that might change the course of gun violence.

There are mass shooting trackers and databases now, such as Gun Violence Archive. Mother Jones has a database of shootings from 1982-2016. As I write this, it has not yet been updated to include the Fort Myers shooting.

As Kieran Healy wrote in July 2012, America is a violent country. Healy's follow-up post in December 2012 is definitely worth revisiting. 

Two Sociologists Talkin' Baseball

It's finally baseball season! Matt Loveland, a sociologist at Le Moyne College, is passionate about baseball. If you follow him on Twitter, you'll see him occasionally tweeting about baseball. I wanted to get his take on a few baseball matters. He generously agreed to an interview.

I'm making a prediction: instant replay in MLB is going to make little or no difference beyond slowing down game.
— Matt Loveland (@mtloveland) March 30, 2014

So, you get to slow down the game to decide if you're going to challenge? And then not do the replay? Nothing is certain! #modernity #mlb
— Matt Loveland (@mtloveland) March 31, 2014

Todd Schoepflin: So, Matt, I gather from some of your tweets that you’re not in love with instant replay in MLB. Why not?

Matt Loveland: I'm actually a little bit conflicted. Mostly I think it's unnecessary and going to do little more than lengthen games by bringing managers out to question calls they'd previously just have been upset about and fumed in the dugout. I know umpires get calls wrong, but do they get enough wrong to justify these stoppages? Mostly what I've seen so far is managers coming out just to give his assistant enough time to see the replay, and then when it's clear the call was right, going back to the dugout. I know there have been successful challenges, but will replay guarantee they get all the calls right? I'd guess it'll mean less than perfect improvement of a percentage of correct calls that was already high to begin with (I also imagine these data are available or have been written about). I really liked the NY Times piece by Brayden King and Jerry Kim. I don't think fans really appreciate the warts like they ask, but I don't think getting rid of the warts will make the game appreciably better, at least in terms of casual enjoyment as a fan.

How am I conflicted, you ask? As a fan of the Brewers, if replay helps Milwaukee by correcting bad calls that's great (it already has), but as a fan who also just likes to watch random games, I really don't care for the added delays and confusion. Maybe that'll get worked out. More as a sociologist, I guess, I just get annoyed that we sometimes sacrifice what can be a fun pastime for the sake of legalistic certainty. It's the downside of rationalization - it kills the opportunities for spontaneous emotion. At the same time, maybe it'll cut down on managers yelling and screaming and getting ejected which seems like a good thing. But, we all know that's fun to watch...

TS: Speaking of conflicted, I’d like to get your thoughts about watching baseball in the performance enhancing substance era. When you watch games, does it enter your mind that some of the players are cheating, that the playing field isn’t level? Is this something you care a lot about? If so, what do you do with those concerns—do you just put them away when you consume the game?

ML: This is something that I feel like I should care about. I really don’t. In particular, I’m a Brewers fan and the team’s star player Ryan Braun got caught with elevated testosterone levels. It was a lot of drama because he said he was innocent, he won an appeal of suspension with MLB, and then his name showed up on paperwork indicating he’d used the services of Biogenesis – a PED clinic. I don’t care that he used the PEDs, at least not that much, but I do care that I got duped because I believed him. And then I care because why should I care about that, and it just makes it harder to justify being a sports fan, and that makes me sad because I want to have fun enjoying sports. And, why can’t I just enjoy it!?

TS: Do you agree that baseball has been eclipsed by football as America's national pastime?  Is it too obvious to say that baseball is just too slow moving for our culture whereas football is fast, hypermasculine, and hyperviolent, therefore more reflective of American culture and more entertaining for consumers? As an aside, we know most of an NFL or college football telecast is commercials and pauses in between plays. In a three hour telecast you mostly get commercials and announcer blabber, but the plays happen fast and in violent bursts.

ML: I really don’t know about that question. I think the answer depends a lot on the data, and I don’t know which data are right. I know national TV ratings and average attendance overwhelmingly go to football all the time, and it does appear to have the more wildly committed fans. That being said, I also think that baseball is able to put on a lot more games every year. There are only 8 home games a year in the NFL and for several of the teams by the end of the season it’s hard to find fans in the stands. MLB teams have 81 home games a year, and sure there are places like Miami that seem to have real trouble filling the stands all year, but I think that’s the exception. And then you’ve got to consider all the other levels of professional and semi-professional baseball that go on every year. Put on a baseball game and people will come, Todd. People will most definitely come. Other football leagues have never really been as successful as the other baseball leagues. Mostly this question just makes me think of Carlin.

TS: I know you're a fan of minor league baseball and enjoy going to AAA games. What do you like and appreciate about the minor league baseball experience?

ML: I prefer the experience of minor league games over the big league games. Don’t get me wrong, big league play is better, and I love the feeling of a big crowd at an MLB game. It’s nice to be a part of that many people all focused on the same thing and reacting to the exciting plays. Then again, there is something special about being committed to a minor league team. I was at a Syracuse Chiefs game once, it was early in the year and it was cold and rainy. I got talking to an usher who’d worked at the stadium for many years, and still does, and he commented about liking the small crowds because it felt like they were playing the game ‘just for us.’ There is something to that. I think it’s an identity issue as much as about liking baseball. I do like the game, but I like being a fan too, and when you are a fan of something most folks aren’t, I think that’s a nice feeling. You also get the opportunity to say ‘I saw him when…’ once a player makes it up to ‘the show,’ and that’s fun. As a result of following teams like the South Bend Silverhawks and Syracuse Chiefs as closely as I have for the last 15 years or so, there’s a good number of big league players I saw ‘back in the day.’

There is also the fact that I just like having access to a game. That’s three hours that I don’t really think or worry about much else. You don’t even really have to pay total attention. Just sit there, enjoy a beverage or two, and hang out with friends. It’s a great venue for that, and in a way I don’t think football can match. Downtime in a football game really feels like downtime, and when you are in the stands for a televised game you really notice it. Football games have terrible flow, and the TV timeout has to be the worst fan experience there is. This sort of returns to the issue of replay, because what it’s doing is creating new downtime, an artificial disruption, that doesn’t fit the flow of the game.

The End (or perhaps to be continued, after Matt and I get together this summer to watch a minor league baseball game in Buffalo!)

Interview with HOTT News Founder Steve Rose

I hadn't talked with Steve Rose, the founder of HOTT News, in several months. I just finished interviewing him. Here is the full transcript of our interview:

TS: You always have interesting opinions about the cable news business. Where do you think you stand in the cable news landscape and what do you make of your competition?

SR: Let's start with the facts. We're the hottest. No one brings hottness like HOTT News. Our on-air talent (and off-air talent) are all hot. So we've got the edge there. Substance doesn't matter (obviously) but we also score highly on substance. Without even trying (in fact, in trying not to have substance) we actually have more substance than our competitors. It's true in daytime and in prime time.

TS: Can you be more specific?

SR: I can, but I like to avoid specifics. C'mon, this isn't rocket science. CNN is floating in the deep end, flailing its arms wildly in search of a life jacket. MSNBC is busy doing a fine impression of Fox News. Current TV lasted a few weeks. So we're shooting up the charts.

TS: You compare MSNBC to Fox News. Isn't that false equivalency?

SR: Nope. Increasingly, they are offering the same product. Obviously one is from the left and the other is from the right. No doubt Fox News is better at inventing reality. But overall, MSNBC and Fox News play loosely with a different set of half-truths. MSNBC just hired David Axlerod and Robert Gibbs as contributors. That kills their last shred of credibility. Period.

TS: But isn't it perfectly reasonable that MSNBC take advantage of their political insights?

SR: It's perfectly unreasonable. MSNBC's slogan should be "Inside Baseball" or "Horse Race Politics." That's all they have to offer. In that vein, Axlerod and Gibbs make a lot of sense. But the genre is called cable news for a reason. We are supposed to be in the business of delivering news. MSNBC and Fox News are both terrible at delivering news.

TS: And CNN?

SR: If there's a cruise ship disaster, you dial up CNN. Otherwise, don't even bother.

TS: Your network continues to be a lightning rod for criticism. One observer even called  you the "Hooters of cable news." How do you respond?

SR: Awesome. That's right on target. I need to tweet that person immediately and offer a job. That's pithy and pitch perfect. That's the kind of honesty we need right now. Is the person who said that hot?

TS: I'm confused.

SR: Don't be. Americans need news and they need it now. They like news delivered by hot people. We offer  real news by really hot people. Don't over think it. This is good.

The End.

Lost in the Supermarket

I spend lots of time in the supermarket. They are everywhere in my suburban community. My two children behave pretty well in the supermarket. I put my one-year-old in the cart and hand my four-year-old groceries to put in the cart. Once in a while, there's some soothing music from the 1980s to enjoy. In all, it's not a miserable experience, so I always volunteer to do the shopping for our family.

I would shop more happily if people didn't stop dead in their tracks to text or use their mobile device in some other way. It's not uncommon that I'm cut off by a person who stops suddenly to check their phone and start tapping. Today, a woman walked slowly in front of me, barking at someone through her phone: "YOU CALLED BOTH MY PHONES!!!" I don't know why she brought two phones to the supermarket, but I'm sure she had a good reason. And then the idea came to me: maybe one day they'll make the aisles bigger and make special lanes for people to use their mobile devices. Right now, the supermarket feels like a crowded highway. One day, maybe the supermarket rulers will figure out a way to ease the traffic. One tip for those folks: lay off the giant-size carts, but keep those little carts coming. Small carts and lanes for texting and making calls, there's your recipe for success. Thanks. Gotta go now and listen to The Clash.

HOTT News Adds Pundit to the Mix

HOTT News--set to debut next month--has hired a full-time pundit to cover the 2012 presidential election. Che Clinton, who will only say his educational background is having a Ph.D. in punditry, is excited to join the HOTT News team. "I join the cable news industry at a critical time. CNN is on life support, FOX News is completely discredited, and MSNBC has hit a ratings ceiling. No one can find Current TV in their cable package. So here we come."

Curious about his first name, I asked if it was a tribute to Che Guevara. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who that is. Che is short for cliche. I specialize in cliches. You know, you can't spell my name without cliche!" I asked Mr. Clinton what kind of political expertise he will bring to the HOTT News round table. "Not much. Basically, I just repeat what I hear other people saying, but I say it in more interesting ways. Analysis is paralysis, as I like to say. Analysis is for goons is another. Primarily, I'm here to fun chat." Fun chat? Did I hear that right? Mr. Clinton continued: "Cable news excels at manufacturing controversy. And the talking heads are admirable in their blowhardness. But there's no fun. Except for Bill O'Reilly's quizzes about pop culture from the 1960s. That's super fun. Aside from that, it's miserable. Talking, talking, talking. It's bad enough to be stuck in an airport. Can you imagine being stuck in an airport and having to watch CNN? OMG, I'm having a nervous breakdown just thinking about it."

I asked Mr. Clinton if he wanted to share any observations about the 2012 presidential contest. "This election is going to be about paper or plastic. 2008 was all about the kitchen table. You know, the kitchen table as a metaphor for families hunkering down to figure out their budget and pay bills. Well, any pundit who says "kitchen table" or "pocketbook" is working with yesterday's cliches. This year the big cliche is "paper or plastic," meaning when you go to the grocery store you're given the choice of paper or plastic. Personally, I ask for both, because the paper sack is a perfect container for my empty cans and bottles, and I use plastic bags to seal up my one-year-old's poopy diapers. Sorry, TMI! But really, "paper or plastic" as a metaphor for grocery bills is going to be my bread and butter cliche. Bet on it."

Wow, he sure is good. I have to admit, I'm likely to tune in when Mr. Clinton mans the cliche machine next month on HOTT News.

HOTT News Developing Show to Compete with 60 Minutes

Lee Roger Hodgson, Developer of Programming for HOTT News, plans to take on 60 Minutes. Hodgson grew up watching 60 Minutes and has profound respect for the show. "Ed Bradley was my hero growing up," said Hodgson, "He was an outstanding journalist." But Hodgson believes the show needs a serious tweak, and that's where HOTT News enters the fray. Hodgson envisons a thirty minute show with shorter segments. Tentatively, the program is called 30 Minutes. Hodgson explained what he has in mind: "The premise is that sixty minutes is just too long. So why not cut it in half? We're thinking four segments, each of them slightly over seven minutes in length. Fast and fun, baby! And no commercial breaks. Instead, the occasional advertisement will scroll at the bottom of the screen. We're also toying with the idea of our correspondents occasionally wearing corporate logos for a revenue stream."

I asked Hodgson if investigative journalism would be the key feature of 30 Minutes. "Absolutely not," he said without blinking. "No no no no no. No. We plan to take the investigative journalism out of investigative journalism. I mean, maybe a correspondent will be able to slip a piece of investigative journalism by us once in a while. But ultimately, we regard investigative journalism as a thing of the past."

So what does Hodgson have in mind? And if it's not investigative journalism, how does he expect 30 Minutes to compete with 60 Minutes? "Did you see Anderson Cooper's interview of Michael Phelps?" Hodgson asked. "That was brilliant! Cooper palling around with Phelps, the two of them playing a video game. That was inspiring television. You won't find a television executive who wasn't impressed by that. I won't kid you, that's exactly the kind of thing we want to do. Infotainment. What the world needs now is more infotainment. We believe that's the direction 60 Minutes is heading. Believe me, we won't be out-infoentertained by 60 Minutes!

So there you have it: 30 Minutes will offer short segments of infotainment without commercial breaks. Sounds to me like 60 Minutes will soon have a serious competitor to confront.

In Times Square, HOTT News Establishes A Presence

Walking through Times Square recently, I noticed a muscular man wearing only a purple Speedo. Times Square is pretty much a circus, so a man in a purple Speedo isn't far outside the frame. But he wasn't just another guy walking through the streets. He is going to be on-air talent for the soon to be HOTT News. The man plans to deliver a daily weather forecast in his purple Speedo. His on screen name? Purple Rain. Must be a homage to Prince, I assume.

Keep in mind that HOTT News has not actually gone to air yet. Tourists didn't seem to care that HOTT News isn't yet on television or that Purple Rain has never been on TV. Fans lined up for his autograph and excitedly took pictures with him as he delivered a three-day forecast through a megaphone. "Tomorrow we'll have plenty of sunshine, but on Tuesday you should expect strong winds, and by Wednesday, the sky will open up and bring....you guessed it...purple rain!" The crowd roared.

Purple Rain basked in the attention. He seemed comfortable in his Speedo and looked ready for prime time. "How do you stay in such great shape?" asked a middle-aged woman in the crowd. Without hesitation, he replied: "I have my own workout program. You'll see it someday on my DVD." It was like he had waited his entire life for the question.

Black History Month

There is so much amazing African-American history. African-American history is American history. I was inspired and influenced by my history courses as an undergraduate and graduate student. Walking through my local grocery store this morning, I was stopped dead in my tracks by this display.

This is a peculiar effort to acknowledge Black History Month. How about some BOOKS? How about some HISTORY? What's worse, this attempt at recognizing Black History Month or ignoring it altogether? A shabby display of magazines is not history. African-American history should be celebrated, not degraded.

In Cable News Wars, HOTT News Sees An Opening

HOTT News is the brainchild of Steve Rose, a young man who describes himself as a "rich kid from Malibu." He is busy courting investors as he develops a twenty-four hour news channel. He does not consider himself an expert in cable news. At 24-years-old, he depends on a wise source to understand the history of cable news: his father. "My dad tells me that CNN used to be relevant, which is hard for me to believe," says Rose, finishing a game on Xbox. Rose doesn't care much for news, except to the extent that it can make him money. Rose is rich by virtue of inheritance. Other than the Jaguar he drives, he does not possess a lot of material goods. He is determined not to squander his riches. Even with slight understanding of the cable news industry, he sees opportunity: "Look at Current TV. Actually, don't. It'll hurt your eyes. What's going on over there doesn't make sense. 'Let's go left of MSNBC.' How is that a successful strategy?"

Rose flips through the channels as we talk, staying on MTV for a while, then ESPN, and lands on Fox News. "Everything about Fox News has already been said, so I won't repeat it. I'll only say that the clock is running out. Sooner or later, their viewers will get it. And then they'll change the channel." So where will the viewers turn? Rose hopes it will be HOTT News.

Rose has a vision of a channel in which news is delivered in unconventional ways. "The anchors and reporters will be, shall we say, hot. Very hot." But won't that compromise the integrity of the content, I ask him. "Integrity? You live in America, right? Where do you see integrity? Integrity has left the building. Enter hotness." Confused, I probe for a clearer description of what viewers can expect if HOTT News comes to fruition. "Look, it's not going to be a case of opinion masquerading as news, or news hiding behind a thin veil of supposed objectivity. This is not your parents' cable news station. This is MTV meets ESPN meets the old CNN." That doesn't make any sense to me, so I ask again what he means. Frustrated, he offers a blunt answer: "Hot people delivering news and opinion. But finally, you'll know which is which. That's it." Is he concerned about what demographic he will attract, or what segments of the population he will leave out? "Absolutely not," he says with confidence. "Everybody likes hottness shaken and stirred." Still confused, I thank him for his time, and leave the interview very concerned about the future of cable news.

Extreme Couponing, Extremely Processed Food

When I watch Extreme Couponing on TLC, I think mostly about food. When I first watched the show, I was a little bit impressed by the themes of saving and thriftiness. It struck me as a countercultural message, considering how many families live in debt and how people are so good at throwing money away. It was kind of nice to see people rack up big savings. As I watched more episodes, that message got lost. I paid more attention to what ended up in all those grocery carts. What I noticed was a lot of junk food and the absence of actual food. I saw a lot of sugary cereals land in the cart, along with boxes of pasta, sugar-filled beverages, and unhealthy products posing as healthy products (bottled water with vitamins isn't healthy when it contains a lot of sugar. Nor is bottled water flavored with artificial sweeteners). I also saw lots of frozen dinners getting thrown into the cart. Here's what I haven't seen: apples, bananas, broccoli, or carrots. Or other fruits and vegetables. Or meat and fish that's not in a frozen package. Who knows, maybe these folks buy produce in other places. Maybe they head to farmers markets on occasion. Maybe they buy lots of organic goodies with the money they've saved at the grocery store. I haven't watched every single episode, so maybe some decent food gets mixed in once in a while. All I can say, based on the episodes that I've seen, is that the show features processed foods that are unhealthy. It seems to suggest that savings only come when you buy junky foods at grocery stores. This brings to mind Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, page 157, in which he points out that "bogus health claims and food science have made supermarkets particularly treacherous places to shop for real food." Pollan advises consumers to stay out of the middle of grocery stores, because processed food products dominate the center of the store: "If you keep to the edges of the store you'll be that much more likely to wind up with real food in your shopping cart." Furthermore, he advises getting out of the supermarket when possible: "You won't find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmers' market. You also won't find any elaborately processed food products, any packages with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients or dubious health claims, nothing microwaveable, and, perhaps best of all, no old food from far away."

I want to point out that some episodes featured people who bought items for charitable purposes. I've seen two episodes in which people used their couponing powers for good, donating their bounty. And I also want to say that I know food costs a lot of money. I do most of the grocery shopping in my family. Many times I've come home from the grocery store having spent $150 and had little to show for it. I do a lot of shopping at grocery stores--I live in Buffalo, NY, so farmers markets don't happen year round in my neighborhood. And I definitely buy some processed foods. So I'm not here to say that people should buy exclusively fresh and healthy foods. Not everybody has access to affordable healthy foods. And lots of people who do have access to healthy food without financial constraints make questionable food choices. My purpose here is not to harshly judge the shoppers themselves. I actually think they have some form of talent for being able to save a ton of money at the grocery store. My main criticism is that the show celebrates big savings on food that is hazardous to our health. The contemporary grocery store enables bad eating habits across the socioeconomic spectrum. And that's not entertainment.

Church Sign - "Forget About Yourself"

I took this picture yesterday in Kenmore, NY. Have to say, I wouldn't mind dropping in for this sermon. "Forget About Yourself" is an interesting message, but good luck achieving it in this culture! It seems to me that "Forget About Yourself" is a countercultural message considering the Me-Me-Me-Me-Me society in America. Nonetheless, it's intriguing to see a message that goes against the grain.