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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

scientificamerican.com

581–590 of 980 posts

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Subreddits like r/pics are packed full of thinly veiled death threats towards the sitting president or Elon Musk. This is just blatant misinformation. Since r/pics is the only example you've chosen to give us, let's evaluate it: I've scrolled through the current first 50 posts in Hot, and 0 of them are death threats, thinly veiled or otherwise. "Packed full", indeed. And here, so it isn't simply my word vs. his; th…

Yeah "packed full" is probably a bit too heavy here. To pick a few examples though: - The nazi punching thread had several moderated comments ranked near the top which were presumably calls to violence. - The Mitch McConnal thread has many people looking forward to his death, hoping he goes to hell, and a few deleted comments. - A musk thread has "eat the rich" and storm the capitol. Not super highly ranked. I didn't…

That helped the issue click into place - NONE of the past 15 days are unremarkable. And again, ITS BEEN 15 Days!

If you stop your thought at just “people are losing their shit”, thats seeing half the world.

I’d say thats disingenuous, because it misses or dismisses the incredibly alarming actions that have precipitated them.

If you genuinely care about it, then you might be interested in knowing why people are responding like this. For example, people generally hate Nazis, and punching Nazis is a popular idea.

DO people expect themselves to be polite when the see a takeover and destruction of their government? “it looks like pre WW2 Germany out there, do pass the salt dear.”

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Subreddits like r/pics are packed full of thinly veiled death threats towards the sitting president or Elon Musk. This is just blatant misinformation. Since r/pics is the only example you've chosen to give us, let's evaluate it: I've scrolled through the current first 50 posts in Hot, and 0 of them are death threats, thinly veiled or otherwise. "Packed full", indeed. And here, so it isn't simply my word vs. his; th…

[flagged]

Reddit? Or the circumstances of Trump’s presidency?

Hacker News is radicalizing, and is very likely going to have to decide if it’s going to be pro MAGA or not.

What did people think the response was going to be once Trump did everything he said he would? People would lie back and let things happen?

In America? The land of the second amendment? I mean people should be happy, after this liberals are going to be proud members of the NRA.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reduced my news intake to a daily email from reuters + HN. Special thanks go to AI, as reddit and others no longer allow reading content without login.

Interesting. What's your setup ?

A World Wide Web browser.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#584
post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely take a break from social media and talk with some real people. Lots of people voted for trump aren’t radical actually none that i know are. I come from a small town in a red state and yes they completely disagree with democrats on pretty much everything but the stuff you read on reddit is so far fetched and extreme I don’t know how anyone would take it seriously. They believe people hate Americans and everyone…

> Lots of people voted for trump aren’t radical actually none that i know are. The same can be said for the supporters of many radical and terrible historical regimes. I'm not radical, I'm simply pushing this radical boulder along, and I can stop it whenever I wan tooo-oops."

[flagged]

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#585

I don't have outrage fatigue. Outrages are outrages and they are what they are. Are there many exaggerations and fake outrages? Sure. But things like the USA's current constitutional crisis are real. What I struggle with isn't fatigue at outrage, it's knowing what to do about it. I think violence is going to become more common, but I don't particularly think it will be effective. So less so than outrage, it's the fee…

This felt useful to me:

> Make sure you are talking to people and doing something. The logic of “move fast and break things,” like the logic of all coups, is to gain quick dramatic successes that deter and demoralize and create the impression of inevitability. Nothing is inevitable. Do not be alone and do not be dismayed. Find someone who is doing something you admire and join them.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#586
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was just as much "large pain" being inflicted on people in the previous 4 years, it just didn't affect you personally.

Statements like this seem to originate in that environment polluted by propaganda that the previous comment mentions. For example, I genuinely don't know how someone can look at something like the dismantling of USAID as anything but an increase in "large pain". Sure, there are almost certainly individual programs within that organization that are wasteful and aren't the best use of our tax dollars, but there is (or…

I don't think anyone is saying that the US shouldn't have an organisation that distributes aid. But I think it is right to pause it when it is doing things like funding Politico magazine.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#587

One thing to consider for those of us who are more sensitive to online outrage is to just quit social media all together. I’m technically gen z and I’ve been off of social media (aside from HN, WhatsApp and discord) for years and you wouldn’t believe how great it’s been for my overall state of mind. Reddit, instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, etc are all the equivalent of digital junk food and I’d argu…

I have tried to quit social media many times, but I end up using something again after a few weeks. It usually happens when I'm too tired to think about anything like games, or to read an article, or when I have a lot of waiting time without a lot of entertainment (eg airports). I wonder what do you do during those times?

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you mean like Time magazine or LA Weekly?

I meant a curated list of interesting articles for me sent as an epub to my kindle weekly...

You mean like what happens if you subscribe to TIME on your kindle?

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#589
post #570

Living in Poland ruled by trumpists for 8 years I have these experiences: - Get subscription of high value newspaper or magazine. Professionals work there, so you will get real facts, worthy opinions and less emotions. - It is better to not use social media. You never know if you are discussing with normal person, a political party troll, or Russian troll. - It is not worth discussing with „switched-on” people. They…

I’m getting outrage just by reading this comment.

edit: it makes me curious about how that works!

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Subreddits like r/pics are packed full of thinly veiled death threats towards the sitting president or Elon Musk. This is just blatant misinformation. Since r/pics is the only example you've chosen to give us, let's evaluate it: I've scrolled through the current first 50 posts in Hot, and 0 of them are death threats, thinly veiled or otherwise. "Packed full", indeed. And here, so it isn't simply my word vs. his; th…

Only skimming the headlines is dishonest. Read the actual threads.
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