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"Why are young people not having children?!" (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 year ago by [M] to c/childfree@lemmy.world
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[–] -1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I'm with you in the first half, but people are reading way too much into the connotation of "left alone". Anyone who at least read the full headline would not see the mother being accused of anything. "left alone" is merely descriptive and does not demand nor suggest that someone's actions or even negligence caused it.

Trying to write an accurate, comprehensive, short headline is tricky if trying to dance around this level of presumptuous offense.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I thought the same as you did before coming in here thinking the headline was fine but reading some other comments I can see their point of view. Different people just see different things, it's all just perspective. You've really gone on an unhealthy crusade in here demanding everyone see your side and that it's the only valid one.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    I can understand sensitivity to potentially troubling interpretations of a phrase, however:

    I hope that all of that negative shit condenses itself into the world’s most pristine Lego that haunts whoever came up with that tone and headline

    This is more than "oh some folks might have a reading other than intended" it's demonizing someone for writing a headline that almost certainly intended no ill will. That seems really unfair to the headline writer.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I think it’s because left alone implies intention, and an explanation is only offered at the end of the headline. Whereas other phrasing can avoid that. Baby found alone after mother dies, for instance. Or even Baby found alone by police after mother dies.

    Honestly, if I’m going to overthink it, I think it’s because of the cultural tropes of the U.S. and advertiser-driven media. Saying that the police rescue the baby sort of sets up the sentence for misinterpretation, but police rescuing the baby instead of merely finding it is more emotive - it drives engagement, it reinforces the notion that police are protectors.
    And following, left alone vs found alone. Police rescue baby found alone […] is sort of narratively poor. There’s a disjoint that I’m sure someone smarter than me can describe, but Police rescue baby left alone […] is a better ‘fit’, even if it’s factually looser. It may have to do with cultural preconditioning where people expect police intervention only when the parent has taken an action.

    Heck, Baby left alone after mother dies is saved by police, establishes the narrative without burying the lede, and it even keeps the left alone phrase intact while establishing context before moving to other narrative.

    But anyway, my point, I guess, is that the title is editorialized for the wrong kind of drama, and that’s dumb. The situation has its own drama if they would appeal to empathy, rather than people’s desire to bootlick and see evil everywhere.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    I think people are overthinking a headline that the author likely gave very little thought about it. There was a dead mother, a baby that was alone as a result for days, and the footage we have is police bodycam footage, so the police involvement is another key salient detail, and beyond that, no information was disclosed so they didn't have it.

    I'd say in terms of being "clickbaity", it's pretty low on the list. You pretty much have as much of the story as there is a story as of yet just by reading the headline. ACAB crowd may take umbridge at the police ever doing anything good, but at the end of the day any people can do a right thing, and this is the sort of thing that one can respect as police activity, though one would perhaps wish for a more neutral sort of party to conduct an initial welfare check over someone being conspicuously absent without signs of violence or threat. One might also hope that a neighbor would be better situated to actively check in, but if the house is locked and she wasn't that close with her neighbors to give them a way in, there's a limit for what they could reasonably do. Perhaps that's the story that was missed, the importance of a more robust support network with your neighbors that might have better mitigated this tragedy, or depending on the circumstances of her death, avoided it altogether.

    Baby left alone after mother dies is saved by police

    If one starts with the assertion that "left alone" is somehow accusatory toward the mother (I disagree), this retains the same issue. It just moves the police involvement to the end. One issue is that it's a little awkward to have "after mother dies" between the subject and verb. It also omits the fact the baby was alone for days, if the baby was saved moments after the mother's death, that's significantly different.

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