Cerebral Soup - The Archives
Welcome to Killjoy Central!
So I may have been dipping my toes into the dangerous waters of citizen journalism - but there always needs to be one kid around to point out that the Emperor is in fact running around in the nuddy sometimes.
I may waffle on a bit here on the ol' blog - but I usually make sure that I'm at least waffling on about something factual. This tends not to be the case with several stories from professional media outlets.
Our old favourite reputable storytellers news.com.au have now posted that the story "may" be fake. Well done lads and lassies. Amusingly enough Cerebral Soup is quoted as one of the sources for the debunking.
To clear a couple of things up - it's not just my claim that Hokkaido is the centre of sheep breeding and all things sheep - it's actual fact. Prof. Naomichi Ishige and the Hokkaido Prefectural govt seem to believe the same.
Shaun Davies (who commented on the previous entry) from ninemsn did write a corrected story, involving actual fact checking. It's a pity that his colleague who wrote the earlier story did not bother with the tedious process of checking facts - that would have been a real scoop for them I guess. Flying in the face of sensationalist, tabloid journalism.... a lone voice crying out against falsehood....
Ephraim Schwartz thinks "for all its good intents, citizen journalism is a form of fascism waiting to happen" - but you do have to compare that with professional news outlets who repeat false stories. Which is worse? That topic alone is probably several entries worth of discussion - but let me say I do already have the perfect boots for my citizen-journalist fascist outfit. And really we all know the right boots are key.
news.com.au: So perhaps the story, originally sourced from UK tabloid The Sun, wasn't watertight – but it did offer an opportunity for some early-morning wordplay.
Oh yes we published a story that was complete crap and xenophobic - but hey it's ok because gosh we could then make silly puns and have a jolly laugh!
You know what - fuck that. The story isn't actually funny. Let's put it in a different context - I've chosen Australia because well I am an Australian, and this is where a lot of the commentary about this has gone down.
Scene 1: Dazza and his mate Gazza are down the pub.
Dazza: So did you hear about the chick in Mosman, who bought a poodle online? She couldn't work out why it didn't bark or eat dog food.
Gazza: Yeah?
Dazza: Yeah so she takes it to the vet right and he takes a gander. Then he says to her right "I have worked out why your poodle is sick!" She looks relieved - the chick from Mosman right - and asks "What is wrong with my poodle then?"
Gazza: What does the vet say?
Dazza: He says right - get this - because it's a sheep!
Gazza: ......
exeunt omnes
Not amused? Ok try drinking a bottle of wine. Read it again. Remarkably - it's still not funny!
See it's only "funny" in the wacky Japanese context. 'Cause those Japanese - they are so wacky right? Look at the funny Japanese people - they eat food that's different (except when we go to a Japanese restaurant), and they look different!
Sure it works the other way too - and that's part of the reason for my personal frustration involved here. It's tedious enough spending so much time debunking myths about your own country, to then come online - where you naively assume that people with so much access to real information would actually read it - to see the exact same crap being spewed out by actual news sources. It's boring and tiring. Just ask any immigrant in any country.
There are lots of true wacky stories here in Japan - just as there are wacky stories in every country. The true stories are amusing enough without making up fake ones which show people from a particular country in a negative light. And that is all this story does.
Oh except for driving viewers to the site the story was published at. Hits = advertising dollars remember!
Which somehow makes it just that little bit more distasteful.
So feel free to call me a citizen journalist fascist killjoy. I prefer my news factual, and my jokes amusing.
Oh for all those who believed the original story - I've just come into possession of a large orange tower. Unfortunately I can't fit it into my rather modestly-sized Japanese apartment - so I'm looking to sell. Taking offers for either the entire tower, or for parts. Email me for a link to my PayPal account where you can transfer the cash.
Posted by mjd-s on April 27, 2007 4:07 PM