Ignore the news

I like all of this except for "Watch satirical shows that poke fun at the news, and get the gist about what’s going on in the process."

Absolutely not. All you're doing is trading one form of emotional manipulation for another.

I understand what's going on by 1) scanning written commentary. Oddly enough, when the emotional manipulation is out in the open, it has much less effect, and 2) watching CNN's "Reliable Sources", a somewhat unreliable account of the business of news reporting. The meta story -- what editors and reporters decide to cover and why -- gives me the big news stories and the way they were slanted on different outlets.

Don't substitute comedy for this 24-hour-news mishmash. Bad. Idea. Comedy is always about biting satire and conformity, many times directed at large groups of people. All you're going to learn is how to fit in with some kind of group the comedian is a member of, and we need a lot less of us vs. them in the world.

Exactly. Tim Ferriss talks about ignoring the news in his book "The Four Hour Work Week". This blog post makes exactly the same points. Regurgitating a sub-chapter of Tim Ferriss gets you to the front page I guess.

Sometimes, as a minority, it's important to affirm your presence.