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The power of ignoring mainstream news

joel.is

91–100 of 108 posts

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#91
I'll just share my news diet and what I think of each of them. I take all news with a grain of salt and try to mix it up. I think it's a mistake to just give up news altogether though.

HN: interesting technical pieces occasionally and good coverage of tech industry but is often an echo chamber (granted one I agree with) and features a lot of fluff pieces written by bloggers lacking original thought and research skills

WSJ: good coverage of business but features a world-view that's almost completely obsessed with money and right-wing ideology, yet the pieces are still thoughtful and original

NYTimes: I occasionally read to find out about world events since they have great breadth and coverage

Local papers: generally a crap-hole of AP content and crime reports but is useful for sports and city council/schools coverage

Slashdot: for teh lulz. but these people share my outrage at government intrusion in our lives so I like reading up

Facebook: I have good friends who link to good stories in publications I would otherwise never read

NPR/public radio: insightful and original story ideas, but they're very much into intellectual naval gazing

AM conservative radio: they're entertaining, and I enjoy hearing their take on recent events which often have a lot of valid points. at least they wear their bias on their sleeves even if it gets in the way of legitimate reporting/analysis

Local TV news: completely pointless and depressing recap of local crime and fluff pieces. useful in the event of local severe weather. decent sports interviews but mostly resorts to flimsy soundbites

Daily Show: you can always count on Jon to call people out on their BS and point out absurdities

Google News: extremely useful for getting up to speed on what's happening but is often trapped in a monotonous cycle of iPhone news, 'radical' health discoveries which are overblown, violence in foreign countries, and gaffe-centric political reporting

Twitter: I follow over a 1000 people so it's like sifting through a pile of periodicals in the bathroom which sometimes turns up some good finds but is mostly just perfume ads

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#92
'ignorance is bliss'.

go ahead, tune out the news. please stop voting though, democracy relies on the informed voter. and good luck in the capitalist economy, that one relies on information as well.

as this is hn, let's focus on the founder's perspective. if you have no clue about what's going on in the world, how can you compete within it? if you have no clue about your target group's current situation? pick anything, like healthcare - great opportunities, but good luck not staying informed.

back to the general reason why this terrible advice: being ignorant makes you a terrible citizen. it is already bad in the US, if you're only watching tv news you're already clueless about the world. whenever i am in the us i am amazed about the lack of true world news - CNN International is a very different channel than CNN.

as a voter it is your frickin responsibility to stay informed. your worldview baffles me.

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#93

'ignorance is bliss'. go ahead, tune out the news. please stop voting though, democracy relies on the informed voter. and good luck in the capitalist economy, that one relies on information as well. as this is hn, let's focus on the founder's perspective. if you have no clue about what's going on in the world, how can you compete within it? if you have no clue about your target group's current situation? pick anythin…

He stopped reading "mainstream news," not all news. Whether you solely read newspapers or Hacker News, you're getting an insignificant and unrepresentative sample of "what's going on in the world." Personally, I think that building one's own sampling technique (for example, by reading a variety of blogs or sites like this) can deliver a much more accurate picture of the world than your average newspaper.

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#94
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pruned my subscription lists too, and now it's as if it's frozen. Beside those 2 you mentioned what else is time worthy ?

Well, what are your interests?

let's not try to fit my bubble, throw me anything

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#95

This is terrible advice and not something I think people should be recommending to others. I love Joel's posts enough to subscribe to the rss feed (which I have never done for any site ever) but this post is something I strongly disagree with for many good reasons. The idea he puts forth is incredibly naive and has not been taken to its natural conclusion. He talks about the negative side of keeping up with the news…

"Not following the news is what causes harm." - I totally agree with Joel here, and disagree with you. I've spent the last 5 years pretty much a news junkie. I spent 2-3 hours a day, equally split between the NYT, WSJ, Economist, and weekends spent listening to NPR. What I've realized is that, in general, I'm not better informed about the world, but I am more indoctrinated into the Left Wing (NYT), Right Wing (WSJ) a…

[deleted]

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#96

'ignorance is bliss'. go ahead, tune out the news. please stop voting though, democracy relies on the informed voter. and good luck in the capitalist economy, that one relies on information as well. as this is hn, let's focus on the founder's perspective. if you have no clue about what's going on in the world, how can you compete within it? if you have no clue about your target group's current situation? pick anythin…

"democracy relies on the informed voter" yeah, get informed by mainstream media - totally does wonders to democracy. did work hefty fine in itally where the former head of state owned a large slice of tv/newspaper. by coincidence he was voted on and on and on. same for some african countries. democracy export country no1 - USA - has just exchanged the single person who controls the media with a network of controllers. so dumb voters will not notice that they are manipulated. "they said it twice on different tv channels, so it must be true". don't know if the US got that from the Germans or the other way around cause they got the same system. And even that system could be applied to HN, too. Just have 10 friends submit, upvote and comment on the latest and greatest technology/company. Readers that just get themselves informed through HN must think that gazillions of people now love and use this technology. Long story short: Do not just consume news. Always ask why you should believe what you just read and who will benefit from you believing that. Now knowing that, ask yourself: What is your benefit from that news again?

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#97

'ignorance is bliss'. go ahead, tune out the news. please stop voting though, democracy relies on the informed voter. and good luck in the capitalist economy, that one relies on information as well. as this is hn, let's focus on the founder's perspective. if you have no clue about what's going on in the world, how can you compete within it? if you have no clue about your target group's current situation? pick anythin…

Baffled because you think that "the news" == keeping informed. The two have little to do with each other. If you want to learn something, turn off the idiot box and pick up a book.

Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#99
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That argument can go both ways. Some people, on a steady diet of noise, are even less able to discern sense from nonsense. Anchoring and all that. When the national news was 30 minutes every night, maybe there was time between that and the next 'cast to assimilate and critically consider what you heard. Nowadays, if you're thinking about the news, you're less than a click away from the next iteration of someone else'…

I feel like everyone is taking what I said to be an extreme opinion. I'm not arguing for daily monitoring of the the news. I'm not advancing the exact opposite of what Joel suggests. I'm suggesting something very moderate. So yeah, checking in every week or two works. That's fine. Religiously following news is just as bad as not following any news. So we can agree on that part - the checking in part. I'm not sure how…

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Re: The power of ignoring mainstream news

#100

This is terrible advice and not something I think people should be recommending to others. I love Joel's posts enough to subscribe to the rss feed (which I have never done for any site ever) but this post is something I strongly disagree with for many good reasons. The idea he puts forth is incredibly naive and has not been taken to its natural conclusion. He talks about the negative side of keeping up with the news…

Have you ever watched the news? Ignorance is what you get from watching the news. http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/

As I wrote before, if you want to learn something pick up a good book.

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