tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post7540446993645840425..comments2023-11-30T10:43:33.130-06:00Comments on Reading Freely: And now, the NewsStephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-16322731246695967222016-03-21T19:19:01.843-05:002016-03-21T19:19:01.843-05:00I'm friends with a reporter for the biggest da...I'm friends with a reporter for the biggest daily around here, so when we get together for cinema night I hear all the news stories worth telling. ;) <br /><br />Sometimes I enjoy visiting the news sites of other countries and regions (Al Jazeera, for instance, and the propaganda sites for China and Russia) to take in other perspectives. Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-64016087969611392482016-03-20T13:49:20.535-05:002016-03-20T13:49:20.535-05:00I stopped buying a daily paper a long time ago - m...I stopped buying a daily paper a long time ago - mostly because I couldn't find the time to read it. I found a weekly paper much better because - well, I had time to read one paper a week and it had a lot more analysis than a daily had.<br /><br />My TV broke over a year ago and I still haven't replaced it so I'm not bombarded with sensationalism. I scan the BBC web pages for insta-news but if I wan't in-depth stuff I read out it in books written months or even years after the events. CyberKittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394155516712665665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-13836521557923339522016-03-20T12:59:56.331-05:002016-03-20T12:59:56.331-05:00The problem is inherent in the system, I think...o...The problem is inherent in the system, I think...our system. We're wired to respond to stimulus, and that is what the news has become. Constant stimulus. That's probably why this election is running the ilk that it is, instead of completely competent, civil, and boring people. Those guys don't shoot their mouth off, don't attract the cameras, and don't have any ambition to dominate the people around them. <br /><br />The only news source I visit explicitly is the Economist, because they have long, detailed articles that provide a little of what de Botton maintains we need: context. The medium also doesn't lend itself towards panic-blast news bulletins. It's a weekly magazine (though it obstinately refers to itself as a newspaper, which I find endearing), so a lot of the fluffy stuff has already evaporated by the time they go to press. <br /><br />Another point de botton makes is that if a dictator wanted to take control in a modern country, he wouldn't need to suppress news...he would only need to encourage a flood of random, unconnected articles to keep people distracted. Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-17431324444899764642016-03-20T04:06:16.672-05:002016-03-20T04:06:16.672-05:00Very true though hard to remember if you become fi...Very true though hard to remember if you become fixated on the News we're fed on a daily basis. Bad stuff happens - but it's NEWS because its so rare. Mostly, most of the time BAD stuff does not happen - but how would you report that?CyberKittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394155516712665665noreply@blogger.com