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Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

theatlantic.com

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Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#2
I was surprised to learn that Bukowski submitted poems and stories to The Atlantic in his early, hungry years. In my lifetime, I've only known it as an outlet for partisan opinion pieces.

On the occasions that I do visit the site, I wonder what he would say about what The Atlantic has become. Not in terms of how it would suit his political biases, but in the agenda first, logic last, unimaginative partisan hackery. I imagine him ranting at length or condemning them eloquently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDiLfQUBnyA

Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#4
> After controlling for household income, education, age, gender, race, marital status, and political views, I found that people who were “very interested in politics” were about 8 percentage points more likely to be “not very happy” about life than people who were “not very interested” in politics.

If we could locate these philosopher-kings from Aristotle and put them in charge, then ignoring politics might be safe.

But your disdain for bossing others around isn't reciprocated by the Chads and Karens seeking office.

This, detachment from the swamp is a sin of omission. You and your wallet will be punished.

Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#6
post #4

> After controlling for household income, education, age, gender, race, marital status, and political views, I found that people who were “very interested in politics” were about 8 percentage points more likely to be “not very happy” about life than people who were “not very interested” in politics. If we could locate these philosopher-kings from Aristotle and put them in charge, then ignoring politics might be safe.…

Interestingly enough, Plato's proposal for creating an ideal city-state had specific instructions for how to breed philosopher-kings.

He advocated eugenics, and he also recommended lying to the citizens about how it was decided who would be paired up with who.

So...I'm not sure we should go down that road?

Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#7
post #4

> After controlling for household income, education, age, gender, race, marital status, and political views, I found that people who were “very interested in politics” were about 8 percentage points more likely to be “not very happy” about life than people who were “not very interested” in politics. If we could locate these philosopher-kings from Aristotle and put them in charge, then ignoring politics might be safe.…

I am very interested in policy, but I do not watch the news.

Why? Because it contains no actionable information that changes my decisions: I'm still going to vote in every election, I'm still going to research the candidates when the time comes, I'm still going to volunteer at the polls...

The news is trivia, generally speaking. When I have a more active life in politics I'll take the Chomskian approach to news, but for now I'll vote with my ideals (which don't change with the passing tides of the news cycles)

Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#8
post #4

> After controlling for household income, education, age, gender, race, marital status, and political views, I found that people who were “very interested in politics” were about 8 percentage points more likely to be “not very happy” about life than people who were “not very interested” in politics. If we could locate these philosopher-kings from Aristotle and put them in charge, then ignoring politics might be safe.…

As a hypothetical, can you imagine a scenario where nobody voted or put faith in the political class?

From this perspective, participation only validates the farce.

Re: Reading too much political news is bad for your well-being

#9
post #8
post #4

> After controlling for household income, education, age, gender, race, marital status, and political views, I found that people who were “very interested in politics” were about 8 percentage points more likely to be “not very happy” about life than people who were “not very interested” in politics. If we could locate these philosopher-kings from Aristotle and put them in charge, then ignoring politics might be safe.…

As a hypothetical, can you imagine a scenario where nobody voted or put faith in the political class? From this perspective, participation only validates the farce.

My (apparently unpopular) point is that non-participation affords no solace.
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