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I Hate the News (2006)

aaronsw.com

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Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#141

Post by vinhboy »

xnull6guest wrote: post #116

I completely disagree with Aaron, who here seems to jump rather quickly to the (merely asserted) conclusion that the news (i.e. the world) doesn't affect him. (Without this same news we would not have heard of Snowden OR, in an ironic twist, of Aaron himself). Furthermore, how ironic is it that we're discussing this itself on a self-purported news site? The news, even global news, absolutely affects all of us even if…

So I browsed the comment thread, and you are the first "disagree" I found. I am going to join you here.

I think one of the most wrong thing in the article is this statement.

> Indeed, reading a voter’s guide is much better: there’s no recency bias (where you only remember the crimes reported in the past couple months), you get to hear both sides of the story after the investigation has died down, you can actually think about the issues instead of worrying about the politics.

Yea, no... A big fat screaming no. A voter guide is a propaganda piece that has ZERO substance. Maybe for the propositions they give a little bit of pros and cons, but for the candidates, they give you nothing. The only way you can discern who is a lying asshole is by following the news. Maybe the conclusion will be they are all lying assholes, but at least you'll be informed of that.

I also think that saying I don't follow the news because it does not personally affect me is short-sighted and self-fish.

For example, those Christians minorities getting slaughtered by ISIS has nothing to do with me. But hearing their stories and learning about them through the news will certainly teach me a bit of compassion that I will need in some random tangential decisions I make later.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#142

Post by sparkzilla »

WaxProlix wrote: post #133
sparkzilla wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest that you develop a thicker skin when dealing with feedback. Not everyone thinks what you are doing is helpful or beneficial. I can't speak for Swartz, but his article clearly says that he considered ALL news to be bad and even unhealthy, including your 0.1%. So to claim common ground, or to speak for him, is self-serving. As for Grasswire, I think your solution to trying to improve the news won't work. As s…

It seems to me that you could be a bit better at criticizing; you give this guy a hard time for having a thin skin, but you're being really antagonistic. I agree that his original post in this thread seemed a bit sales-pitch-y, and I resent that too, but you come off as being on full attack. Chill out a little, people will probably pay MORE attention, rather than writing you off as an angry competitor.

I am not a competitor (see post above).

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#143

Post by emerod »

chez17 wrote: post #38
bkurtz13 wrote: post #21

He uses voting as an example. Which begs the question: why vote? If you're living within a corrupt, self-serving political system (we are), then naturally the only people who run for office will be products of that system. If a candidate who genuinely wants to change the status quo somehow manages to slip in, they will be prevented from achieving anything meaningful once inside. No matter what, none of these people h…

Well the majority of people aren't voting and our system is clearly going to shit on a major level. The point is that it's your civic duty to vote, people fought and died for your right to vote, and it's the best non-violent way for you to impact your world. It boggles my mind when people advocate for others not to vote. You know that's what the power structure wants right? An apathetic population. How on earth can p…

The so-called "civic duty to vote" is really a civic duty to support whatever is done by the representatives chosen by the plurality of voters. As a task supposedly necessary to maintain democratic society, it is lacking in any personal responsibility; and its practical consequence mostly consists in accepting whatever the people in power decide to do.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#144

Post by emerod »

n1ck wrote: post #96

I stopped watching the news about a year ago. I have only benefited. My mood is much better (due to not constantly hearing about horrible goings on), and I have more free time. I have not found that I am out of the loop on anything relevant to my life. I still follow blogs and news sites (and of course, Hacker News). And I still feel that I am aware of important world events such as what is going on in Brazil right n…

I have found that reacting to news in "real time" (for example, as it is fed to me through TV or Facebook) leads to a loss of perspective. The purported urgency of the story overwhelms its broader significance. Discovering news items later or second-hand enables me to research multiple perspectives after some people have had time to digest the event. On the other hand, sometimes the first-hand accounts get edited to have sensational elements removed, and the sanitized versions are less informative.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#145

Post by emerod »

_bfhp wrote: post #33

How would Lawrence Lessig feel about this article? Lessig obviously believes that the U.S. political parties' activities are consequential to everyone's lives. Aaron seems to reject the notion of the implicit involvement, in a democracy, of every citizen in the affairs of their government. We supposedly elect (a significant portion of) the government, we pay for its activities, so we should care about what it has don…

The notion of implicit involvement is a PR strategy for legitimizing a government. If a majority of the population do not feel implicitly involved, they will not care if the government is overthrown.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#146

Post by Dirlewanger »

emodendroket wrote: post #56

The link to Twitter at the end seems a bit ironic since Twitter offers all the things he's criticizing, except without the promise of any substance.

I don't think the way to interpret his post is to stop reading all news, but to do due diligence and learn how to filter out the shit and focus on the essentials. Not paying attention at all to what's going on in the world makes for an ignorant and useless citizen. Especially since getting everyone to go along with Aaron's suggestion of filling the time digesting news with a book will never happen.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#149

Post by robotresearcher »

eos_styx wrote: post #138
asgard1024 wrote: post #117

Here are two ideas for non-traditional news, that would reduce the information overload, and make news more interesting and healthy: - Actionable news. Only news to which you can (or have to), as a citizen, take some action. Examples: Changes in law, cultural events that will take place in the future, openings of new institutions, planned political demonstrations or petitions. - Old news. Only give news about somethi…

If you like the sound of second one check out 'The Week'. It's a news Magazine that comes out once a week. It's the only paper news I read.

or Time, Newsweek, The Observer, etc. The weekly paper has been around forever exactly because of it's ability to condense and review the week's news.

Re: I Hate the News (2006)

#150

Post by emodendroket »

Dirlewanger wrote: post #146
emodendroket wrote: post #56

The link to Twitter at the end seems a bit ironic since Twitter offers all the things he's criticizing, except without the promise of any substance.

I don't think the way to interpret his post is to stop reading all news, but to do due diligence and learn how to filter out the shit and focus on the essentials. Not paying attention at all to what's going on in the world makes for an ignorant and useless citizen. Especially since getting everyone to go along with Aaron's suggestion of filling the time digesting news with a book will never happen.

I guess. Also, following the link to his Twitter it's full of -- get this -- links to news articles.
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