Stupid Media

What is it about the media (TV "Reports" in particular) that has a habit of taking something that is rare, and making people think it's a regular, common occurrence? I posted a news report about Warcraft a while back that is the sort of thing I am talking about. (Edit, heh, I say "a while back" which it turns out to be a week shy of one year!). They take an extreme example of something, and run with it, and apparently don't do a whole lot of research.

This video is about a woman that had a tongue piercing nearly kill her. I say "Woman" but she looks about 15. But regardless, she has a piercing, develops a nasty infections, and get's sick to the point of death. Nasty stuff.

Ya'll probably know that I have my tongue pierced, and have done for... er... nearly eight years or so. On top of this, I know probably a dozen other people that have had their tongues impaled.

My point is this - yes, infections CAN be nasty, and she's saying that this inch of metal nearly killed her. No, what happened was she probably didn't use common sense. For two weeks after my tongue was done, any time anything went near my mouth - food, drink, even kissing - I had to use antiseptic mouthwash. Biting nails was a big no no. On top of this, she's saying it was ten days before her neck ballooned - she MUST have felt sick before that happened, not to mention, her tongue would have been sore as anything and caused concern. The human mouth is, for want of a better word, Gross.

So now she's suing - which seems to be the norm for ANYONE these days that has something go against them. But if she's that bothered about the evils of piercings, why not take out the ear one, and that's assuming that's the only other piercing she has. I've seen people with old ear piercings get an infection in it, so it's not even a case of "it's healed so fine".

Even various piercing sites put information up saying that infection CAN happen, but is rare with correct aftercare, and all list the signs of infection with problems starting at the piercing site.

Now, granted, the girl in question could well have gone to a dodgy piercer - and even though that could have been the reason for her issues. But chances are it's the same person that did her other piercings and even her tattoos. It's likely that a series of really unfortunate events caused her to be so sick, but my main gripe isn't with her, it's the report itself.

Gah, Cranky Dan... Think I need some more bear tranquilliser.