Media my weirdly specific knowledge has ruined
Over the years, I’ve acquired some truly niche knowledge that is highly specific. It’s ruined a lot of things for me. Here is a non-exhaustive list.
Subject matter: Education
Background: I’ve grown up around teachers, worked in educational settings, and now do research embedded within them.
What it’s ruined: Just about any show taking place in a high school setting. Specifically, I’m going to call out Pretty Little Liars because one day Aria’s mother decides she’s going to be a substitute teacher and like two days later she’s a full time English teacher. It doesn’t work that way. No one trusts brand new subs that much, they typically show videos and handout worksheets. Plus being a long term substitute takes a different license. Most states will let anyone be a short term substitute, but you need to demonstrate you have a degree in the content area to be a long term substitute.
Subject matter: Summer camp
Background: Camp Counselor
Media It’s Ruined: The Wet, Hot American Summer Franchise, the Friday the 13th Franchise, that camp show on Nickelodeon that everyone references when you mention camp. ALL I’m saying is that even when counselors aren’t being overtly negligent, they’re not ACA compliant. The ratios of campers to counselors is all wrong. It is the fault of the counselors that Jason drowned, there should have been at least two lifeguards on duty and if he couldn’t swim, he would not have been able to go past the shallow part of the lake. And you do NOT fuck around on the archery range.
Subject matter: Research
Background: Researcher
Media it’s ruined: Pretty much anything in which research takes place, but specifically (recently) Candyman. There is no way their IRB protocol would let them switch focus from students to the residents of Cabrini Green just like that, pulling the custodians in and recording them when they talked about the Candyman without their consent is not only unethical but coercive. Before we get to the summoning of candyman (something tells me the IRB would have hated that, too), their study would have been shut down for breach of protocol
