Drones over Manhattan

Word choice carries certain implications. That's why our politicians have small armies of specialists...colloquially referred to as spin doctors (although before having someone point it out to me, I'm aware that the crafting of a particular phrase to frame a subject is only one aspect to a spin doctor's craft)...to offer a "proper" framing of information being delivered to the public. It has become quite a science, using particular words to play on people's emotions and thus manipulate them to support a particular point of view.

Perhaps the most blatant illustration of word choice used to play on emotions can be found in the ever-popular abortion issue. "Pro-Choice" and "Pro-Life" are certainly better labels than "Anti-Choice," or "Pro-Murder," right?

Spin doctors want candidates and practitioners to stay on message, and reiterate the short sound bites ad infinitum. Perhaps this works with issues that people don't become invested in personally. Perhaps it works on a spectrum such that the use of these phrases still affects people despite being aware of the verbal trickery and manipulation. Or perhaps the simplest explanation is that too many people unskilled in the actual "art" of spin doctoring become armchair spin doctors, stealing dumbed-down terminology from headlines the way high-schoolers copy and paste online articles to pass off as their own work.

The reason I bring this up is the headline, "New Video: Drone Crash Lands in Manhattan" crossing my news ticker. A drone! In one of the busiest areas of New York City! A DRONE!

Drones have been in the news recently for being used to kill who-knows-how-many civilians in countries somewhere over in Theyhaveouroilistan. These are Predator drones...remotely controlled bomb delivery and video surveillance systems piloted by military personnel miles away from the target area. This is the image that is being ingrained into us both by the "See our nifty toys" division of the military and the humanitarian agencies denouncing their use.

But in New York! Our own soil? The images conjured up when I saw this headline were flashbacks to episodes of Dark Angel, where the police used small autonomous devices that buzzed about the city gathering video footage for surveillance purposes. And there have been headlines hinting that police departments would be interested in testing such technology.

Surely this would be interesting news! So I clicked on the headline.

What I got was more of a lesson in sensationalism.

As it turns out, someone took a radio controlled quadcopter with a video camera and started flying it around Midtown. After taking off from his balcony and bumping into several buildings, the copter finally took enough damage (or ran out of charge) and fell to the sidewalk, "narrowly missing" someone who called the police.

This was their drone. A toy copter with a camera onboard.

I suppose it can be, by strict definition, considered a drone. It flew. It had a camera recording its flight. Maybe it even transmitted the visual information back to a receiver at this guy's apartment, and he was flying it by the camera and not by giggling and randomly moving the control stick.

But this also puts a child's toy on par with a million dollar piece of military hardware. Or at least in the eyes of the news reporters, who in turn sensationalize it for the public, making it seem as if terrorists or big brother are hovering outside of your window to watch you undress.


There was a time when teachers and school librarians scoff at the idea of students using online resources for research; "Anyone can put something on the Internet without making sure it's true!"

They begrudgingly started allowing Internet citations as more news agencies started posting material on websites. The next thing I remember being on the banned list were Wikipedia articles, because "Anyone can post information to Wikipedia!"

Now they begrudgingly allow Wikipedia to be used as a "starting point" for research papers.

There's a taste of irony when I see how the accepted, vetted, trusted sources...such as this news channel...in a bid for ratings, and in an attempt to beat all the non-vetted, untrusted Internet sources, doesn't hesitate to skew news headlines beyond the point of being misleading.

Ratings through word choice. Manipulation of public perception through word choice.

Maybe teachers should re-emphasize the importance of the thesaurus when reviewing the Common Cores.