+
upworthy
Identity

The way some reporters are talking about Ukraine is revealing their implicit bias

The way some reporters are talking about Ukraine is revealing their implicit bias

Protests against war in Ukraine in Moscow, February 24, Moscow. Tverskaya street

Unless you’ve been camping in the middle of nowhere without cell service, you'll know that Russia invaded Ukraine last week. The war in Ukraine has had the world’s attention since before Russian troops stepped foot on Ukrainian soil. It seems everyone has been glued to their televisions or other devices looking for updates on the conflict, but some people are getting a bit more than an update. Several journalists in European countries as well as the U.S. have made statements within their newscasts that have raised eyebrows and made people ask what exactly they mean.

Listening to reports on the refugee crisis resulting from the invasion is interesting to say the least. While it seems the majority of reporting is free from bias, others are steeped in so much bias that it goes beyond implicit to explicit in many ways. A reporter from CBS, Charlie D’Agata, had to make an apology due to his on-air remarks; he said “this is a relatively civilized, relatively European—I have to choose those words carefully, too—city, where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that would happen,” after making a comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan.



A French reporter Philippe Corbé, for BFM TV, a 24-hour French news network exclaimed, “We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin; we’re talking about leaving in cars that look like ours to save their lives.” In an interview with the BBC, a former deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine said “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blond hair…being killed every day.” The comment went unchallenged by the anchors and was instead met with “I understand and respect the emotion.”

One would hope this would be the end of the comments by professionals showing their bias, but unfortunately, there are more examples. A journalist reporting for ITV from Poland said “Now the unthinkable has happened to them. And this is not a developing, third world nation. This is Europe!” Yet another reporter from the Telegraph expressed his sentiments, writing “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts, vote in free elections and read uncensored newspapers. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations.”

Unfortunately the bizarre statements continue without so much as a follow-up question in many of these instances. Comments like these imply that war is to be expected in developing nations, or because the people experiencing war in Ukraine lack a certain look they should be spared. It hasn’t gone unnoticed by journalists of color, or by people of color absorbing the news. In fact, a political commentator for MSNBC, Mehdi Hasan, rebuked the biased reporting while on the air asking the question while reciting quotes from news clips, “‘Well-dressed people’ and ‘this is not the third world,’ they really mean white people, don’t they?"

The question feels like it had to be asked after all of these on-air snafus, but bias is so sneaky that these reporters likely didn’t realize how their words would be received. Heightened emotions from empathetic humans can not only cloud your judgment, but allow for more bias to seep in as you consider your own safety when seeing people that look like you being harmed. No one is saying these reporters can’t be empathetic, but it’s uncovering the areas that should be worked through so the automatic thought isn’t that this shouldn’t happen to them because they look like us, but that this shouldn’t happen to people, period.

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

Keep ReadingShow less
Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Woman bakes cheeky curse word pies for her grandma and it becomes a quirky holiday tradition

2023's pie is an homage to her favorite word to use while stuck in traffic.

Canva

You never know where a holiday tradition will come from.

Tried-and-true holiday traditions certainly have their merit, but there’s something quite special, magical even, about discovering personal rituals that commemorate one’s unique life. In my household, for instance, nothing quite rings in the Christmas spirit like sipping my partner’s delicious coquito and putting up a cardboard gingerbread house for my cats.

The beauty of creating customized holiday traditions is that they can be as festive, sentimental, or as silly as you want them to be. And you never know how one small moment can become the catalyst for a tradition that sparks joy year after year.

For Jess Lydon, that tradition is baking expletive-laden pies for Thanksgiving. (This is your profanity warning—the images below contain swear words.)

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

Keep ReadingShow less

Peter Bence's piano cover of "Africa" by Toto

Peter Bence’s performance of “Africa” by Toto has over 17 million views on YouTube because of his creative reimagining of the song and, well, just about everyone loves “Africa.”

Bence is a Hungarian composer and producer who has become a viral sensation for his Michael Jackson, Queen, Sia, and Beatles covers. He has over 1.1 million followers on YouTube and has toured the globe, playing in more than 40 countries across four continents.

His performance of “Africa'' is unique because it opens with him creating a rhythm track and looping it by strategically tapping the piano and rubbing its strings to create the sound of shakers and congo drums.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Family posts a very chill note to neighbors explaining why their dog is on the roof

“We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door.."

via Reddit

Meet Huckleberry the dog.

If you were taking a stroll through a quiet neighborhood and happened to catch a glance of this majestic sight, you might bat an eye. You might do a double take. If you were (somewhat understandably) concerned about this surprising roof-dog's welfare, you might even approach the homeowners to tell them, "Uh, I'm not sure if you know...but there's a...dog...on your ROOF."

Well, the family inside is aware that there's often a dog on their roof. It's their pet Golden, Huckleberry, and he just sorta likes it up there.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

12 hilariously relatable comics about life as a new mom.

Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

All illustrations by Ingebritt ter Veld. Reprinted here with permission.

Some good not so good moments with babies.



Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

Illustrator Ingebritt ter Veld and Corinne de Vries, who works for Hippe-Birth Cards, a webshop for birth announcements, had babies shortly after one another.

Keep ReadingShow less