The Hyperbole Rules

   Journalists, they are all about the reporting of facts about events that have transpired that have been deemed to be noteworthy, right?

   Journalists, they all religiously stick to the who, what, where, when, why order of operations when composing a story which is intended to disseminate information accurately, right?

   Journalists, they are all above reproach, never for a second using their exposure to the masses to spread propaganda or make exaggerated claims of dubious veracity or quantifiability, right?

   No.

   The most cursory review of most magazines, newspapers and websites that have deemed themselves to be reliables sources for news reveals that there is either little to no editorial control of content, or that there is a direct effort to create content that is intended solely to distort facts or situations, and to foreswear reliable sources, evidence, and rationale.

   Take for example, the reporting on drought conditions anywhere in the world. Can there be any doubt as to the scientific accuracy of an article covering drought conditions?

   Yes, specifically if the article contains any assertions that "we are running out of water." That statement right there, especially if it's been inserted by the writer into the article as a statement of fact and is not quantified as an opinion or is not noted as a quote from an interview of a person being affected by the drought, is just plain bad reporting.

   Here in Colorado, USA, that statement pops up in newspaper reports whenever the weather turns unseasonably dry or is dry for any duration whatsoever, or can be construed as possibly becoming dry via exaggeration of the "potential" for a prolonged dry spell. 

   This happens so often that I have become convinced that, even though NOAA has a large research facility in Boulder, not one of the news sources publishing the stories about drought apparently has access to any of the esteemed scientists / meteorologists that are walking the halls there.

   Scientific fact. Water does not "run out". It simply moves from one place to another via transpiration into one of three states of matter, or it flows out.

   Water is matter, either fluid, steam, or solid, and it covers over 70% of the earths surface - and always has, at least for the past 4 billion years of earth's history (according to researchers who published findings in August of 2020 that have not been contraindicated).

   Matter, for those that are not aware, cannot be created or destroyed. The Law of Conservation of Matter, which is taught in Chemistry 101 and general elementary science classes for those who have no interest in Chemistry, explains that rather well.

   Matter can change it's physical state however, and that's exactly what it does all day, everyday. Water has a cycle, known appropriately as the "water cycle" - liquid to gas (via evapotranspiration) then back to liquid (via condensation) and from there to precipitation. 

   The water cycle is constant and unfailing, with the observable variable that water moves around the planet when it's cycling, so sometimes water that was one place ends up going somewhere else. 

   The people who once benefited from the water that was in the former place start fretting when that happens, and start proclaiming that "we are running out of water!"

   No, a thousand times no. The water has simply gone somewhere else in some other state of matter, and if you want some of it, you better go to where it is now. It's not a new process, it's how the planet has always worked.

   To further cast light of the current journalistic tendency for hyperbole, let's look at the terms that are now being used to describe events (weather and otherwise) that have occured over the past few years.

   For starters, let's look at all the "geddons." Everything is a geddon these days. If something occurs that is either larger or more prominent, it becomes a geddon. Blizzards have become snowmageddons, a heavy presence of bugs have become cicada or locustmageddons, traffic jams are now carmageddons, a lack of employable people has become a labormageedon - the list goes on (and you can add "aclypse" or "pocalypse" to a otherwise pedestrian event, too).

   Generally, one can spot the hyperbole just by counting how many times the words "raged," "erupted," "torrential," "violent," "wanton," and "unbelievable" are used to describe what has transpired (or threatens to transpire).

   Not to be all hyperbolic, but hypercole has become so commonplace in news reporting that we may have reached a point of exaggersaturation.

   Yeah, I coined that term.