51–60 of 67 posts
I Agree with a lot of what this article says, except it doesn't provide a better solution for being informed. Seems to suggest ingornance is bliss.
This feels dangerous. Being obsessed with reading the news, watching endless cable news, getting steams of push notifications… yeah, unhealthy. But completely ignorance of what’s going on in the world is not something to be lauded. It’s how we’ve ended up in the situation we find ourselves in today, a fact free environment where politicians get away with murder (sometimes literally!) because so many people aren’t pay…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the counterpoint to this is that we are collectively getting more news and more updates than ever before and we’re still in the situation of today. I can’t argue with your premise because I agree, but the empirical data shows that if anything there is a positive correlation between accessibility of information and further descent into… whatever it is you’d describe is our modern situation. It may not be causative…
In the US, I think we are being intentionally DDOS-ed. This strategy was laid out by Steve Bannon in the old frontline PBS interview where he called the media “the opposition party.” “They’re dumb and they’re lazy, they can only focus on one thing at a time,” he said. “All we have to do is flood the zone. … Bang, bang, bang. These guys will never – will never be able to recover. But we’ve got to start with muzzle vel…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the counterpoint to this is that we are collectively getting more news and more updates than ever before and we’re still in the situation of today. I can’t argue with your premise because I agree, but the empirical data shows that if anything there is a positive correlation between accessibility of information and further descent into… whatever it is you’d describe is our modern situation. It may not be causative…
In the US, I think we are being intentionally DDOS-ed. This strategy was laid out by Steve Bannon in the old frontline PBS interview where he called the media “the opposition party.” “They’re dumb and they’re lazy, they can only focus on one thing at a time,” he said. “All we have to do is flood the zone. … Bang, bang, bang. These guys will never – will never be able to recover. But we’ve got to start with muzzle vel…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> we’re still in the situation of today. What situation are you talking about? The world is less violent, more affluent than 30 years ago, but appears to be the opposite due to 24/7 news cycle.
For those of us living in the US there is a clear backslide in corruption, attempts at voter suppression and increased economic inequality compared to just a few years ago. Expanding out to the entire world and choosing the arbitrary point of thirty years ago doesn’t change that fact.
Even for USA,
1. The 90s were the most violent period in terms of crime.
2. Corruption has neither increased or decreased in the last decade.
3. Other than the 2020 election during the pandemic, the number of votes cast has increased in every election contrary to your claim.
For years, I read many online newspapers a day, as well as journalism trade publications. I also did a little low-key activism, during an earlier tech industry gold rush, when caring was less fashionable.
Today, I read almost zero news, and have set up filters on social media to block most references to the awful.
I have a pretty good idea about some very bad dynamics going on, but I can't do anything about them.
Were I to dwell on the very bad news, throughout each day, I wouldn't be able to do any small bits of good. Such as by contributing to a non-evil startup. Or trying to get sufficient resources that I can afford to share more.
Some people need to be told to take a step back, before they're destroyed by empathy and futile problem-solving. Other people need to be told to care more, or to be less self-centered. Other people need to be told not to be so incredibly awful, that they are ruining everything for everyone else.
I decided I'm in the first group, and hope to shift into an overly-comfortable second group, then fine-tune to somewhere between the two.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those of us living in the US there is a clear backslide in corruption, attempts at voter suppression and increased economic inequality compared to just a few years ago. Expanding out to the entire world and choosing the arbitrary point of thirty years ago doesn’t change that fact.
You drank the kool aid. Even for USA, 1. The 90s were the most violent period in terms of crime. 2. Corruption has neither increased or decreased in the last decade. 3. Other than the 2020 election during the pandemic, the number of votes cast has increased in every election contrary to your claim.
> The 90s were the most violent period in terms of crime.
So any increase in violence from, say, five years ago to today doesn’t matter because it isn’t as bad as the 90s? ICE agents killing people and detaining others without recourse is just a big whatever?
> Corruption has neither increased or decreased in the last decade.
How did you arrive at that conclusion? Because the corruption of the current administration is widely known and goes beyond even the conspiracy theories of what the previous administration did.
> Other than the 2020 election during the pandemic, the number of votes cast has increased in every election contrary to your claim
Voter suppression does not mean “reduce the overall number of votes cast nationwide”. It is a deliberate attempt to prevent certain voters (i.e. the ones who are going to vote against you) from successfully casting a vote. And the simple act of trying to do that is notable even if it isn’t a success. If someone repeatedly tried and failed to break into your house you wouldn’t shrug your shoulders and ignore it.
If you’re ignorant of all of this then you’re proving yourself a great example of why paying attention to the news actually does matter.
Even when I go coldest turkey, I’ve found that actually important news will find me, often in a way that makes it easier to judge for myself whether it’s good or bad.