AND NOW MATHEMATICAL & EDITORIAL PROFILING TOO?

Everyone has an opinion about racial profiling. But there are two other kinds going on every day.

Mathematical profiling can be explained this way. 1 + 1 = 2000. Whenever something happens, like it did with two New Trier HS students in a recent hit-and-run case, an entire group of humanity gets judged in the media. In this case the entire 2000+ New Trier student body. Crazy! But often that's the one-and-only image the public takes away -- be it New Trier, France, China, the entire oil industry, or whatever else is too big and complex to really think through.

Editorial profiling is equally absurd. News channels like CNN shoot thousands of feet of action and on-site interviews. Like the Gulf oil-spill, the Kagan court nomination, the wars overseas. Next, the news editors sit down and assemble all this raw footage into a tightly-packed mix of dramatic moments sure to generate maximum impact on the audience. Violent longshots, bitter he-said-she-said disputes among the people being interviewed, plus as many closeups of hurting, crying victims as we can get. Bingo, you've got yourself a news program with a touch of explanation plus a ton of excitement.

Both these types of profiling are meant to tear at the audience's heart more than their head. I mean, Isn't this what news in America is all about these days? Action! Drama! Conflict! If a few facts slip in, well that's OK so long as they don't slow down the action.