Latest news with #publicoutrage
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- South China Morning Post
China pet clinic runs over ‘untreatable' dog called Lucky to ‘get owner insurance payout'
A pet clinic in China killed a sick dog called Lucky by running over it with a car after realising it could not save him, sparking public outrage. Advertisement The border collie's owner accused the You Bai clinic in northern China's Inner Mongolia of murdering her beloved pet. She said the three-year-old animal, which was considered a member of the family, was run over by a car at the behest of the clinic. The unidentified woman said she sent her pet, called Lucky, to the clinic for sterilisation on July 10. The clinic told her they could not find a blood vessel to carry out the procedure and had to discontinue the operation. They said they would keep the dog to monitor its status. Surveillance footage from a street camera shows a car speeding towards the border collie. Photo: Weibo Three hours after the owner left the clinic, they called her and said the dog had been involved in a car crash.
Harvard Business Review
09-07-2025
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Leading in the Age of Outrage
Public outrage is becoming an ever-present threat to businesses and leaders in today's hyperconnected and polarized world. It travels at lightning speed, disrupting decision-making, damaging reputations, and stalling progress. It's no longer enough for leaders to know how to manage a crisis; today's leaders must learn how to lead in a world of constant crisis.
Forbes
08-07-2025
- General
- Forbes
2 Reactions People Have To Celebrities Who Cheat, By A Psychologist
The scandal is the same but the outrage isn't. Research explains why some people blow up over ... More celebrity cheating and some couldn't care less. When cheating scandals dominate headlines or flood social media, they tend to stir up a wide range of public emotions. Some people may react with intense outrage. On the other hand, others seem surprisingly indifferent or even unfazed. Intense emotional investment in any celebrity's life is not random. Many fans develop strong parasocial relationships and tend to put celebrities on pedestals, admire them and even trust them like close friends. So, when those public figures betray expectations, it can feel deeply personal. While anger is a common reaction, parasocial emotional closeness isn't the only determining factor in how people react to these scandals. A 2024 study published in Behavioral Sciences explains why some people tend to be unfazed by such news. Researchers set out to explore why public reactions to celebrity infidelity vary so widely. To examine this, they surveyed over 1100 Japanese adults across different age groups and regions. What set the study apart was that unlike earlier studies that relied on hypothetical scenarios, this one examined real-life celebrity cheating scandals that had sparked massive online backlash in Japan. The researchers specifically investigated how people's 'belief in a just world' (BJW), that is, the idea that people get what they deserve, is related to their emotional responses and tendency to blame the celebrities involved. This study is among the first to reveal that a belief in a just world may actually reduce condemnation of high-status individuals in morally unambiguous situations like cheating. Here are two factors that shape how we judge celebrity infidelity, according to the 2024 study. 1. Believing The World Is Fair Can Soften Moral Outrage One of the main aims of the study was to examine how a person's belief in a just world (BJW) influences their reaction to celebrity infidelity. Belief in a just world is the psychological tendency to believe that people generally get what they deserve, wherein good people are rewarded and bad people are punished. This belief often serves as a justice motivation, pushing people to restore moral balance when they witness wrongdoing. While initially the researchers expected that individuals with a strong belief ina just world would show more outrage toward celebrities caught cheating, the results showed otherwise. Naturally, the researchers assumed that immoral behavior like infidelity violates someone's belief in a fair world, which can create psychological discomfort. So, people may feel compelled to condemn the wrongdoer to restore a sense of justice. However, the researchers found that people with a stronger belief in a just world reported lower levels of anger, disgust and blame toward the cheating celebrities. BJW, in fact, had a negative direct effect on blame. Moreover, there was also an indirect effect. It reduced negative emotions, which in turn reduced the tendency to assign blame. In short, this belief actually dampens emotional reactions, which then leads to a more forgiving or indifferent stance. The study suggests that when infidelity is not seen as a criminal act (as is the case in Japan, where it's considered a private moral issue), people with a strong belief in a just world may not see it as a threat to justice. They may tend to, instead, interpret the celebrity's status like the wealth, success and fame, as a sign that they are fundamentally 'good' or 'deserving.' As a result, they feel less compelled to condemn them. On the contrary, this also implies that people who don't hold a strong belief in a just world may be more likely to see infidelity as a serious wrongdoing. They may even demand accountability because they don't assume things will automatically balance out and hence, may feel a stronger need to express outrage or publicly condemn the celebrity to restore some sense of justice. These findings challenge the assumption that justice-oriented beliefs always lead to punishment or moral outrage. Ultimately, this shows that our sense of justice doesn't just shape what we judge but also whether we feel the need to judge at all. 2. Strong Emotions Drive Harsh Judgements While BJW plays a strong role in shaping how you view cheating scandals, the study also found that raw emotional reactions, especially anger and disgust, are also one of the strongest predictors of public condemnation. Researchers asked participants in the research to rate how they typically feel about infidelity, focusing on three key emotional responses: anger, disgust and a sense of feeling dirty. This was again measured with regard to real-life celebrity cheating scandals. Researchers found that participants who felt more intense negative emotions when thinking about infidelity were much more likely to blame the celebrities involved. This shows that moral judgment is often emotion-driven rather than rational. People tend to react first with their gut when they are feeling disgusted or morally repulsed. It is only later that they justify those feelings with logic or reasoning. In fact, the study found that these emotions acted as a direct pathway to blame. The stronger the emotional reaction was, the harsher the judgment was. They even found that people with a lower belief in a just world still showed high levels of blame when negative emotions were present. This indicates that even if someone doesn't think of infidelity as a legal or societal issue, their emotional response can still push them to publicly condemn the behavior. This is especially true when that betrayal feels deeply personal or morally offensive. When it comes to infidelity, it's not always what you think, but more about what you feel first, which can eventually fuel the fire for the way you react to a celebrity scandal. Every Story Doesn't Need Your Reaction While these stories may flood your feed and even dominate conversations with friends or family, it's important to remember that you see only fragments of a much larger picture. No matter what the reasoning behind your judgment is, it can still miss the mark and be partly, sometimes even entirely, wrong. This is not because the act is justified, but because no matter how personal it feels, you don't know the full context. More importantly, it's worth checking in with yourself if the energy you're spending on someone else's choices is bringing you clarity or just creating more noise. While it's human to react, not every story deserves space in your mind. Sometimes, the wisest thing you can do is protect your peace and step back from what was never yours to carry. Curious how emotionally invested you are in celebrity lives? Take this science-backed test to find out: Celebrity Attitude Scale
CBC
04-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
First Nation seeks court ruling on Alberta ending coal mining moratorium
An Alberta First Nation is asking a judge to review the provincial government's decision earlier this year to end its moratorium on coal mining. In an application for judicial review filed this week, Siksika Nation says Alberta failed in its duty to consult when in January it lifted its moratorium on new coal mining projects on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Siksika Nation, 95 kilometres east of Calgary, says the effects of coal mining in the Rockies threaten treaty rights and the land that supports its livelihood. It's the second time Siksika Nation has challenged a United Conservative Party government's coal mining decisions. When Alberta lifted its long-standing coal policy in 2020, Siksika challenged the move in court, but proceedings were discontinued the following year when public outrage spurred the province to reinstate the policy. That policy flip-flop prompted coal companies to sue Alberta for a combined $16 billion, arguing that the reinstatement and effective moratorium amounted to expropriation of land. The province recently reached settlements with two companies involved in the lawsuit for undisclosed amounts.
South China Morning Post
23-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
Public outrage as China online sellers pull teeth from black dogs to ward off evil spirits
A live streaming session in China during which the teeth of black dogs were extracted on air 'raw and without anaesthesia' in an apparent attempt to ward off evil spirits has sparked public outrage. The online controversy began to unfold on June 12 when an online viewer surnamed Meng, from Jiangsu province in southeastern China, reported that she stumbled upon a live stream session in which people were prying open the mouths of black dogs and using crude tools to extract their teeth. At first, Meng assumed the items being sold were fake, but she soon realised they were real. The people holding the live streams pull open the mouths of black dogs and extract their teeth. Photo: handout According to photos shared by Meng, the snouts of several dogs were wrapped in white cloth and placed on a workbench, and bloodstains on their teeth were clearly visible. 'Whenever someone placed an order during the live streaming, he would immediately pick up his tools and extract a tooth,' Meng told Cover News. She left a comment in the live stream chat questioning what was going on, which prompted the seller to block her. One seller, surnamed Li, claimed that teeth from older dogs fetch higher prices due to a belief that they are more effective at warding off misfortune.
