🚀 go-pugleaf

 fred_s@anthrax.cisco.com:

 fs> Ford Prefect <remailer@bi-node.zerberus.de> writes:

 >> I'm the first to admit that a fair degree of insulation from the
 >> popular culture is essential for maintaining sanity in the US
 >> (indeed, I managed to remain ignorant of the OJ case for nearly four
 >> days myself), but as numerous posters have attested, the PSBWBF UL
 >> _was_ in very wide media distribution.  I know that San Francisco it
 >> was nearly impossible to avoid.

 fs> Apparently, the Murky news managed to avoid it.

That's interesting, as it's the just sort of low-integrity story I'd
expect to be snapped up by the Murky News.

 fs> I'm
 fs> not saying I don't go a day or two now and then and miss it due to
 fs> vacations and so forth but if it were as impressively well-publicized
 fs> as some here make it sound, there's no way I could be unfamiliar with
 fs> it.

"He's not famous; _I've_ never heard of him!"

 fs> The truth is more likely to be that it was one of those news
 fs> events that held some interest for a day or two on page 7 and then
 fs> life went on and most people (including me if I noticed it at the
 fs> time) probably forgot about it - except those who were fascinated by
 fs> it or who had a tangible interest in it (e.g. women's shelters, family
 fs> counselors, etc.).

That's pretty close.  In San Francisco it was primarily a broadcast
media story that peaked in '93.  The SF area TV stations covered it
heavily in the days preceeding the Superbowl, but otherwise it was
rarely mentioned in the off-season except in dubious media "public
affairs" dronings about spousal abuse or sports violence.  Prior to
Superbowl Sunday, however, I saw it referred to on each Saturday
evening local news broadcast I saw, and sometimes in considerable depth
- including interviews with abuse hotline personnel, etc.  As I said, in
'92 - '93 period, I am positive that I heard at least two-dozen
references to it on TV and radio, including NPR.

I don't remember seeing anything about it in The Comical, but I rarely
read it.  The Comical and The Murky News are scarcely exemplars of
scholarly journalism, but I still expect a slightly higher level of
research from newspapers.  TV, on the other hand, will spout virtually
any sensationalist, boohhoo nonsense that sounds juicy, so it's natural
that they made a bigger story of this UL.

 fs> There's too much news every day in our world for
 fs> most of it to be very memorable unless we keep getting hit over the
 fs> head with it.  And this was definitely NOT a "quit-hitting-me!" news
 fs> event.

It was for a couple of days, but not for a whole year...

 fs> ...Like the Simpsom trial (ugh!).

Don't get me started!