[deleted]
I Hate the News (2006)
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#22> This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at lea…
The observation may not be relevant for extreme situations like those mentioned. However, even then, most people around you will know, so unless you live in a cave you will get the information on time. Comparison with martial arts is inapropriate. Also, there are other things you could do to protect (and inform) yourself that do not demand payment with your most scarce resource.
> However, even then, most people around you will know, so unless you live in a cave you will get the information on time.
Some people are just tuned out regardless. My mother is perpetually outraged/shocked that her mortgage is going up every month despite me telling her for months that yes, that is what happens when the central bank raises interest rates. She is 100% one of the people who would fail to see the writing on the wall or do anything until the bombs were dropping.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#23I agree completely. It's a complete waste of time making us more miserable.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#24Well this sure has aged poorly.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#25> Most people’s major life changes don’t come from reading an article in the newspaper; they come from reading longer-form essays or thoughtful books, which are much more convincing and detailed. Gonna need a source on this one, chief.
Good luck, author died in 2013. This was written in 2006 and it's safe to say people consumed media differently back then
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you'll need to worry about how he feels about you not following him on Twitter considering he died 10 years ago.
I guess for context I'll add this is Aaron Swartz, a cofounder of Reddit, and fierce advocate for free speech. He was federally prosecuted for wire fraud in 2013 for downloading academic journals from MIT, faced up to 30 years in prison, and committed suicide just before his trial. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz
I had seen his name thrown around but I didn't know the story. Thank you for sharing, from the layman's perspective it really seems like an overreach of federal prosecution.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#27As a queer person watching a slew of recent anti-LGBT laws pass, I wish I could have the luxury of just ignoring the news and not caring. Aaron was 20 when he wrote this and it shows.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#28Read it if it affects your circle or you are going to act on it. Otherwise consider if you could be doing something better with your time. I used to read the news assiduously until I realized I could not act on it in a satisfactory way. Would that I could do more.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#29It's alright for one person to think this way, but if everyone did we'd be in a bit of trouble as a society. I think the reality is in the middle anyway, i.e. very few people are desperately gripped to each and every story, and if you think you're supposed to care about every story then you're missing the point of the news. Chances are enough people will care about each story to make it worthwhile running, even when…
Some people should definitely think that way though, specifically people prone to depression, suicide, and so on. If you're grappling with dark thoughts, the news is a pretty nasty hole to fall down. Aaron was sadly one of those people who probably was right that the news wasn't for him.
avoidance behavior is a bad response to mental issues. Even if it works temporarily, in the long run it shrinks your world and reduces your confidence. It's why people with panic disorders are taught to confront stressors and learn to adapt, not lock themselves in their house.
Regarding the news, a practical issue is of course that it doesn't always work. If you're privileged, self-employed or what have you, you can dodge a lot of issues for a while, but not always. Aaron himself ironically and sadly enough found himself at the center of the news years after he wrote this. That the news is just what happens to other people is an adolescent idea that will at some point be shattered.
I've got a lot of Ukrainian friends who did a lot of coding out of a bunker the last year and a half, and over there nobody has ever told me they stopped reading the NYT and their issues went away. That's most of the world, the news is real, only very few people are so removed they can just ignore the world for decades.
Re: I Hate the News (2006)
#30I do wonder whether encouraging people to exist entirely in their bubble is healthy. I agree with the article to a point. I don't really have a "daily news ritual," though I tend to stumble across major stories. But enough people being isolated from the news can result in an uninformed populace. People continuing to vote R or D simply out of habit. I mean, I'm unlikely to vote anything but D for the foreseeable futur…
For whatever reason liberals always seem to be the ones who withdraw into their bubbles. The problem is this leaves the other side the opportunity to capture various government organizations, like SCOTUS.