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America Needs To Stop With The Rampant Hyperboles
It is bad for discourse and mental health
4 min readSep 16, 2024
The United States is addicted to hyperbole. Everything is a crisis, an existential crisis, the worst, the best, and the most consequential. Headlines blare these words every day with zero conception of what they actually mean. Everything is hyperbolic. The system is designed to get clicks, elicit strong reactions, and create stress and dread. It is unhealthy and it is completely bunk.
It only takes one glance at the headlines to see these hyperbolic statements in action.
- What Kalamazoo (Yes, Kalamazoo) Reveals About the Nation’s Housing Crisis [This isn’t a housing crisis. 2008 was a housing crisis.]
- UN chief issues climate SOS, warns of ‘unimaginable’ catastrophe [Constant proclamations of doom. Also popular during the COVID pandemic.]
- VP Kamala Harris tells Fayetteville crowd November election most important ‘of our lifetime’ [Every election is categorized this way.]
- A “hyperactive” Atlantic hurricane season is nearing, forecasters warn [So far, it has been anything but. In fact, thanks to dust and cool ocean temperatures near Africa, the season might actually end up being depressed.]
