: Feel the burn…Goobers with (paint) guns…
In our current media environment, any goober with a sick idea can scam the press and then make money from it.
I have no idea if Hunting for Bambi is real or not. I haven’t done the necessary reporting. But the good people at Snopes.com are asking the tough questions about a questionable business in which men allegedly pay big bucks to shoot naked women with paintball guns.
FOX News, that paragon of journalism, ran this web article. Notice how the structural biases of journalism make it difficult for FOX to muster any incredulity. They’re too busy getting shocked reactions from the usual, oppositional suspects.
Could this be an elaborate hoax? A publicity stunt to sell videos? Here’s what Snopes has to say:
Moreover, in common with most web-based business hoaxes, the Hunting for Bambi site displays a curious lack of contact information. Its putative parent company, Real Men Outdoor Productions, is indeed a registered Nevada corporation, but that in itself doesn’t mean much, as anyone can register a business for a small fee. (The address listed for Real Men Outdoor Productions corresponds to the address of another registered Las Vegas company, Clean Your Carpets Inc., whose corporate status has since been revoked.) Perhaps more significant is that no business address or phone number is to be found on the Hunting for Bambi site, and several readers who expressed interest in booking a “hunt” have told us their e-mail inquiries to the Hunting for Bambi folks went unanswered. Those are rather odd business practices for a legitimate company looking to book customers at $10,000 a pop.
Snopes is still investigating. But I’ll place a wager on this Las Vegas business being nothing more than a producer of sex videos. But who cares? What’s really interesting here is the possibility that the press has been scammed for lack of a little critical thinking.
Ah, but wait. Who cares about that? Hunting for Bambi made great “news” video. The segment I watched was compelling in exactly the same way as a bad car wreck…but with sex! Man, that has got to be TV news nirvana. You won’t see any embarrassment from the TV news folks. They achieved titillation. Let the print jockeys sort out the truth.
THAR SHE BLOWS!!!!! You know Doc, this is just so wrong on so many levels, I don’t really know what to say, except I hope you’re planning to take a vacation before school starts in the fall.
I just had another thought – does Mrs. Rhetorica know you’re looking at this stuff?
Well…ahem…it’s there for the seeing.
Anyway, while this does appear to be just another slam on television, I do make two points that I think deserve attention.
1- No TV people will be embarrassed by this.
2- The FOX article demonstrates the fairness bias to the exclusion of critical thinking. (yes, yes, I know I took a snarky shot at FOX re: the “paragon” crack…but, hey, it’s an easy target).