No News Is Good News

Off Topic
21

Wow. Some angry people here. Look, guys - I am not “celebrating ignorance”. I just removed myself from the day to day barrage of horseshit that is flooding out of the media. I still hear what’s going on in a general way from conversations with friends, etc. If there is something that I am really interested in, I can always research it online. (This has happenned ONCE in the last two months)

How many of these things can I do something about?

  1. A plane crashes
  2. Some psycho fuck kills / kidnaps someones child
  3. The Iranian Pres goes ahead with nuke plans
  4. Dems / Repubs playing “She Said / He Said” over the latest lame-ass scandal.

Can’t affect any of that shit. So why deal with it at all?

How about spending time on things I can affect?

  1. My body.
  2. My mind.
  3. My Sweetie.
  4. My kids.
  5. My friends.
  6. testosterone.net :slight_smile:

LOTS more satisfying and rewarding. Immediate payback.

Guess the rest of the world will get along without me just fine. I am not missing it.

22

Honestly, if someone has absolutely no idea what’s going on in the news and in politics, they probably have no business voting.

[quote]Loose Tool wrote:
hankr wrote:
I have no idea what is happening in Iraq / Iran / N Korea / bumfuck Egypt and don’t care. I never could affect it anyway. I now spend the time I used to spend watching the news reading or doing yoga, and I have to say there is a real reduction in stress levels.

Let me guess, you don’t vote either. I can see ignoring the news media. But don’t just stick your head in the sand. Give a fuck.

[/quote]

23

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
doogie wrote:
This borders on celebrating ignorance.

I have a nice little story about celebrating ignorance.

I’m at a Halloween party this weekend, and a female friend of mine accidentally spilled beer on me. I always break her balls about women being second class citizens and what not, so I loudly said something about how we should end women’s suffrage.

Well, all the girls at the shindig that heard me say this began…agreeing with me! Why? Because they had no idea what women’s suffrage is (until this girl explained it to them).

There’s nothing like having girls agree with you when you say they shouldn’t be allowed to vote…

quote]

That is so funny it’s sad.

The MAN SHOW (remember that) once had a table out in NYC collecting signatures with the intent to “end women’s sufferage”.

The amount of women that came to sign the petition was mind-blowing!

The “news” does suck. But so does complete ignorance and lack of caring about the issues.

I like to go to the website of each candidate in our governors race and get an idea of what they stand for.

Isolating/insulating yourself from the important issues is kind of pathetic. The major networks aren’t much better.

The truth is out there. I prefer to look for it rather than have it fed to me.

24

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
doogie wrote:
This borders on celebrating ignorance.

I have a nice little story about celebrating ignorance.

I’m at a Halloween party this weekend, and a female friend of mine accidentally spilled beer on me. I always break her balls about women being second class citizens and what not, so I loudly said something about how we should end women’s suffrage.

Well, all the girls at the shindig that heard me say this began…agreeing with me! Why? Because they had no idea what women’s suffrage is (until this girl explained it to them).

There’s nothing like having girls agree with you when you say they shouldn’t be allowed to vote…

…[/quote]

I have said that so many times and girls never understand. When I finally met a pretty girl that got it I married her.

25

[quote]hankr wrote:

How many of these things can I do something about?

  1. A plane crashes
  2. Some psycho fuck kills / kidnaps someones child
  3. The Iranian Pres goes ahead with nuke plans
  4. Dems / Repubs playing “She Said / He Said” over the latest lame-ass scandal.

Can’t affect any of that shit. So why deal with it at all?

How about spending time on things I can affect?

  1. My body.
  2. My mind.
  3. My Sweetie.
  4. My kids.
  5. My friends.
  6. testosterone.net :slight_smile:

LOTS more satisfying and rewarding. Immediate payback.

Guess the rest of the world will get along without me just fine. I am not missing it.

[/quote]

  1. A plane crashes = Well. You might learn something about aviation safty. Might help determine which airline you fly. Might help you plan a trip if find that one airport is more lax in it’s procedures, etc.
  2. Some psycho fuck kills / kidnaps someones child = Might help you to better protect your own kids. Learn a lesson. Know that some psycho fuck is out there, maybe near you. Not caught yet. I’d say it could be useful information.
  3. The Iranian Pres goes ahead with nuke plans
  4. Dems / Repubs playing “She Said / He Said” over the latest lame-ass scandal. = Might help you determine who do vote for. Might not. I’d say it never hurts to take an interest in your government or the people who comprise it.

What’s the purpose or usefulness of an education if you don’t apply your thoughts knowledge to what’s happening in the world around you? Wake up! You have stated that you are - with regards to some substantive issues - ignorant. I don’t think you can argue that ignorance is GOOD?

26

[quote]hankr wrote:
4) Dems / Repubs playing “She Said / He Said” over the latest lame-ass scandal.

Can’t affect any of that shit. So why deal with it at all?
[/quote]

Individually, no you can’t do anything about it. Collectively you can. Vote the fuckers out.

There are a numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are running for office. They may be better qualified to decide the direction the country is headed than the dipshits that got us here. I plan to support them.

27

Sorry my prior post was so long winded. I missed the point I was trying to make in that I feel the media can be very irresponsible in terms of sensationalizing stories as well as taking advantage of their “right to know” for people whom are legally considered “fair game”, and this irresponsibility can be a turn off. My example is hounding families whom are grieving and the like, and also slanting of hard news.

I hate when the media, who are supposed to be the ‘watchdogs’ of society, are irresponsible, which is so common, and this has turned me off and made me a cynical consumer of the news.

28

[quote]Loose Tool wrote:

Individually, no you can’t do anything about it. Collectively you can. Vote the fuckers out.
[/quote]

What?

Can’t do anything about it? So an individual has no effect on anything huh? What about Cindy Sheehan? Karl Rove? Hunter S. Thompson? Andrew Sullivan? Everyone who works at the NYT?

These were all indivduals who have made a huge difference. Don’t follow this retarded logic, or you end up in a self fulfilling prophecy, and you’ll never change anything.

Napoleon once said, “In war, men are nothing; a man is everything.” This is true for everything in life.

29

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Loose Tool wrote:
Individually, no you can’t do anything about it. Collectively you can. Vote the fuckers out.

What?

Can’t do anything about it? So an individual has no effect on anything huh? What about Cindy Sheehan? Karl Rove? Hunter S. Thompson? Andrew Sullivan? Everyone who works at the NYT?

These were all indivduals who have made a huge difference. Don’t follow this retarded logic, or you end up in a self fulfilling prophecy, and you’ll never change anything.

Napoleon once said, “In war, men are nothing; a man is everything.” This is true for everything in life.[/quote]

I have no desire to be a Cindy Sheehan or a Karl Rove. Clearly the OP doesn’t either. Individuals, collectively, still can make a difference. Napoleon did not win his campaigns with an “Army of One”, he won them with many men willing to “fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”

30

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hack Wilson wrote:
I’m a newspaper junkie. I don’t watch TV news at all. I don’t listen to polical radio shows. But I do read a lot of op-ed and news on the internet and I get both my local paper and the Wallstreet Journal at home.

I get fired-up about some stuff and try to talk to my wife about it, but she generally blows me off…and tells me to relax (or that I’m crazy).

I got pretty worked up about stuff around the 2004 election, watching a lot of TV news then and racing out at 5:00 AM to grab the papers.

I don’t view it as stress. To me it’s fun and ‘food for thought’. I have my beliefs, sure. But, in the end, I can’t really control what’s in the papers. So I read it, think about it, and get on with my day and the things that I can control. Those are things that stress me out if I let them.

I try not to.

I’m the same way.

And yes, it is almost celevrating ignorance. TV news is garbage, but people who don’t pay any attention to politics and world affairs are, in my humble opinion, useless.[/quote]

Riiiiight. And those that spend countless hours glued to CNN getting pissed off about things they have no control over, and then bitching to their loved ones about it are so much more productive than those that take the time to prioritize what they value in life, as the OP has done.

It isn’t about “celebrating ignorance”, it is about cutting out that which is unnecessarily distracting and/or time consuming and focusing on things you can effect change in, selfish or otherwise.

But hey, if having an up-to-the-minute update on the U.S. body count in Iraq, and knowing every lurid detail about e-mails a closeted, gay Congressman sent to his minor pages gets your rocks off, then knock yourself out. Just don’t think that you are better than those of us who choose not to wade through all of that horseshit and make our own backyards a little greener.

31

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Napoleon once said, “In war, men are nothing; a man is everything.” This is true for everything in life.[/quote]

And Gandhi said,
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Not “Read the change you want to see.”
Not “Vote the change you want to see.”

BE THE CHANGE

But while I’m busying Being, you’re busy sucking the blasted bullfuck that dribbles through a thousand portholes to rot and warp your empty, wooden head… and telling me, “For shame!”??

Turn off the fucking TV already, the AP and even the CP (counterpunch.org), because it’s all been framed to terms by reptilian scum from the planet I Don’t Give a Shit Anymore. And you’re perpetuating it by belief!

My life IS my news. My news IS my life. Stay connected…

How many years did they talk about nuclear holocaust with Russia? How many people did that scare? How many lives lived in terror? And how many times did this “Doomsday Clock” actually strike 12??

Exactly. Fucking live your life! And if you are man enough to live your life, if you truly believe in democracy (that’s with a small “d”, not a brand name…) then run with the Guns and Dope party in 2006.

Everybody for President! (Write-in your own name.)
http://www.gunsanddope.com/
http://gunsanddope.tribe.net/

32

[quote]Kailash wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
Napoleon once said, “In war, men are nothing; a man is everything.” This is true for everything in life.

And Gandhi said,
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Not “Read the change you want to see.”
Not “Vote the change you want to see.”

BE THE CHANGE

But while I’m busying Being, you’re busy sucking the blasted bullfuck that dribbles through a thousand portholes to rot and warp your empty, wooden head… and telling me, “For shame!”??

Turn off the fucking TV already, the AP and even the CP (counterpunch.org), because it’s all been framed to terms by reptilian scum from the planet I Don’t Give a Shit Anymore. And you’re perpetuating it by belief!

My life IS my news. My news IS my life. Stay connected…

How many years did they talk about nuclear holocaust with Russia? How many people did that scare? How many lives lived in terror? And how many times did this “Doomsday Clock” actually strike 12??

Exactly. Fucking live your life! And if you are man enough to live your life, if you truly believe in democracy (that’s with a small “d”, not a brand name…) then run with the Guns and Dope party in 2006.

Everybody for President! (Write-in your own name.)
http://www.gunsanddope.com/
http://gunsanddope.tribe.net/
[/quote]

I don’t quite follow you, but your post reminds me of a quote from “The Tao of Steve”, “Doing stuff is overrated. Like Hitler. He did a lot. But don’t we all wish he woulda just stayed home and gotten stoned?”

33

My current sources of news:

Imus in the Morning, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert and Craig Ferguson.

I find them to be much more reliable than my prior sources of news (MSNBC, the Washington Post and NYT). I also find that I’m less angry about shit, but still relatively informed.

I still have a subscription to the Economist, but only for the business news and the technology quarterly.