[2006alum]

Oh please, just stop. 

That damn BBC ridiculing those poor folks in Northumbria. . . .

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-51980820

From the same section in Google News, by the way.

Stop what? The Post is a right-wing rag! The left has them too - ever read the New York Daily News? 

BTW, the headline of the story in the link you shared is "Coronavirus: Toilet roll alternatives blocking sewers." Tell me who you think is being unfairly disparaged. I'm not seeing it.

It's much like the "Florida Man" headline phenomenon that is now so widespread it's basically taken on a life of its own - what is salient about a person's state of residence in reporting on their poor decisionmaking? It's a subtle form of ad hominem attacks that I think is silly, because that aspect of their identity has nothing to do with what they did anymore than their astrological sign, whether they're right or left handed, or whether they have a tattoo. You could omit the word Florida and the rest of the story would have precisely the same level of newsworthiness.

[2006alum]

Oh please, just stop. 

That damn BBC ridiculing those poor folks in Northumbria. . . .

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-51980820

From the same section in Google News, by the way.

Stop what? The Post is a right-wing rag! The left has them too - ever read the New York Daily News? 

BTW, the headline of the story in the link you shared is "Coronavirus: Toilet roll alternatives blocking sewers." Tell me who you think is being unfairly disparaged. I'm not seeing it.

It's much like the "Florida Man" headline phenomenon that is now so widespread it's basically taken on a life of its own - what is salient about a person's state of residence in reporting on their poor decisionmaking? It's a subtle form of ad hominem attacks that I think is silly, because that aspect of their identity has nothing to do with what they did anymore than their astrological sign, whether they're right or left handed, or whether they have a tattoo. You could omit the word Florida and the rest of the story would have precisely the same level of newsworthiness.