I am coming to wonder what a world without news would be like.
It used to be that way, of course. News was essentially local ("Yon deer is in my wheat again, Harold") or rumors of war ("Word is that Constantinople has fallen" - Somewhere in England, January 1454). A lot was known about the immediate area, some about the local area, and the farther out you went, the less you established as "known".
We are quite the reverse of that now, of course. We know everything about everything 24/7. Goings on near and far are available for us in clear, riveting detail - and we can get it anywhere: via TV, via radio, via the computer InterWeb, via our handheld mobile devices.
All news, all the time.
But are we the better for it?
If I had to categorize my own life, I would say no.
Most news I see or hear about is 1) Horrible; and 2) Completely outside of my control. Does it impact me somehow? Likely yes, given the interconnectedness of our world these days. Can I somehow change my life and avoid the impact? Possibly. But most likely for most of those things, I should be anticipating and avoiding them anyway.
Truly. The last two days without The Book of Face have been almost magical - not that The Book of Face is a news provider per se, but rather that it transmits what people believe is news.
And then I got to thinking. I hit four or five websites regularly for current events. And then I strated to figure out that of those four or five, they really just reposted notes from each other. So then I cut it down to two or three sites with a couple of add ons. Suddenly, my life got a little less aggravated.
The reality is that while I need information - for example, how much money I have in the bank or what books are available on Half Price Books (okay, I do not "need" that but I want it) or what the weather will be or how to do things like gardening and livestock and building a water collection system (thanks, fellow bloggers!). What I do not need is the constant agitation of society and its issues and angst.
In a perfect world - a world I am actively pursuing - the news will be local, little, and informative to my life.
Does that change what is coming? No, not at all. But I am tired of borrowing tomorrow's issues today with neither the ability to change them or nor the strength to overcome them.
“You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you...”
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It’s crazy out there, isn’t it? What I don’t get is this: pretty much all of us has more than we’ll ever need. At no time in our history have we had more food, better healthcare, or material goods... and we are still unhappy. Murderously so...
Ah Pericles - like the Spartan King Archidamus, tried to argue a better policy than what everyone else wanted to do. And the ancient Greek world was changed forever.
DeleteYou are right Glen - we have a way of life and provisions that no other people has had at any other time, yet we (apparently) are more unhappy and becoming, if perhaps not more violent, then reverting to a type of interaction familiar to ages past where "Might is power".
To be completely frank, I have surrendered hope as I see people who should no better saying nothing. It is more managing the descent for me and mine.
I do understand. Be safe, Praise God and God bless you all, TB.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. You as well!
DeleteWell said. For some reason, people feel obligated to "stay informed." If we don't stay informed, then we "live under a rock," or so we're told That's ridiculous. Maybe people just like being stirred up. But it seems most news now is just a lot of opinion presented as fact. I think, though, people are slowly catching on.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I can remember a time when news was actual facts, not opinion. Unfortunately the media has become a lot like much of science: agenda driven, not fact driven.
DeleteBut yes, I think more people see it now as entertainment more than reporting.
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." I'm with you on that. I have a few news sites that haven't out and out lied to me. I treat them like a food establishment that has never gotten me sick. They have 'earned' by patronage.
ReplyDeleteThen there is going around to visit with people like you. I have never met them, but they are interesting, and I can usually be encouraged and maybe even learn something. I'd rather not be an ape-lizard my whole existence in my kingdom of dirt.
Discretion is a good point STxAR, and something that I should have more clearly stated.
DeletePoint by point communication ("visiting with people") is actually an equally valid (and perhaps more engaging) way to go about information gathering.