i hate the news... but i'm drawn to it

I'm generally pretty committed to the truth - the world is a often (too often...) a brutal, cold and horrible place. People do awful, awful things to each other every day (e.g. Virginia Tech), and that's it the way of things.



To ignore or deny these things is to live in a fantasy world which, while comforting, lacks substance, depth or, to me, value.



The terrible things in the world at least serve one purpose - they remind us of what we have to live for, of what we have to strive for every day, and of how truly amazing and fantastic the good and kind things are.



There you go - don't spend my two cents all at once.

I was the polar opposite of you when I was younger. Usually I'm a news junkie, but as of yesterday I really don't wanna know.



Give me a couple of months and I'll be back watching my news and reading the paper. I'm not going anywhere near any of it right now.

turning a blind eye is easier but reality should be checked every once in a while

I like reading science news. That gives me hope.

I find that television news is often entirely too sensational, quick, and forced.



I find that with the newspaper I can read the stories that are more important to me while still keeping abreast of everything else. With the tv I am forced to watch what is important to the producer and to the advertisers/anchors. While that is certainly still the case in a newspaper, I have more control

I hate watching television news, mostly for the reasons Steve mentioned.. I feel CNN is especially bad for this. The news ticker doesn't help.



Mostly this is because for awhile I was having a bunch of problems with anxiety/depression, and the news and newspaper headlines got tangled up in that somehow and became a trigger. I'm okay now, but for a really long time I just steered clear of them completely. Not fun stuff.. and I used to read the news all the time (online, mostly).



I don't feel like I need the news to remind me of all the bad shit going on in the world. I can do that perfectly fine all by myself (demonstrated by the incident mentioned above). You don't need to be constantly bombarded with bad news to realize what's good in life.. and that "constant bombardment" is what news is. It's disproportionate to the amount of good going on, as well, as bad news is really the only major news.

the newshour's ok but it's less news and more talky talk talk

plus.. I feel like most tv news isn't in-depth enough to really tell you anything. If you're forming your view of the world based on minutes-long news segments.. well, that's probably not so good.

I'm sick of the news. I just wanna talk a long nap and wake up in June.

Lemonalle:

I like to watch news, and I am interested in problems...but some, some I just dont see the practicality of studying it.



13stong:

I agree, turning a blind eye is not the answer, that's what lead up to the Holocaust. But things such as Katrina, 9/11 and now this....they pump it into you, 24-7 with each and ever broadcast. if I were to approach this situation, I would be looking at how it could be prevented....I am not concerned with the number of deaths, I am not concerned with the crying bystanders. I have always thought that news should be facts and it seems today that there is just way too much emotion fed into it. every death is a tradgedy....every incedent is an emergeny. people die, shit happens. As soon as the problem arises, we should no longer focus on it, but the solution. I enjoyed your wisdom.



Khol:

I might agree with you dependant upon your reason for wanting to go back to the papers and what not.



wotto:

I am not pretending that it didn't happen, I just don't see how productive we can be while mourning. Little things like that, supposed to mourn. Moments of silence, unless you need to get it out, I don't see the point.



juliejeremiah:

Oh, I love the science part....with some exceptions. I was thrilled to read that a thickening agent liquid made of glass, silica and porcelain is the newest type of body armor that can be applied to a flexible surface. I was distrought to find out that a woman is spending a ridiculous amount of money to breed a cat that looks like a tiger. $5,000 a piece. Why not save the old ones 1st?



stevethegreat:

I like this dude.....I would applaud you if you could hear me.



margolove:

Amen to that sister. Two shows I cannot watch for reasons of an overabundance of emotion. News of how bad this world has become cause they don't cover the real heros. Not every one who helped in 9/11 was a hero. Hell, they said that people who had boats in Katrina and were helping others were heros. Little bit of fact, helping fellow man does not make you a hero, and not helping them makes you an ass! And I cannot watch Ninja Warrior cause I get too jealous that I don't have one of those. Conversations like this, and people like you....are my good news. You are my beacon in a sea of shadow.



Thanks guys....you're so quick. Can you subscribe to these or something?

I remember when I first learned about the holocaust. I remember feeling afraid even though I was told it had happened a long time ago

I reacted quite badly to what happened in 1972 in Munich... I know it was way before my time, but my dad has brought it up a few times and only had a vague idea of what happened. I looked it up a read it in detail, and well, I thought it was terrible... I always had a good idea of what the Holocaust was, but somehow it didn't affect me as much. I suppose maybe because deaths in a smaller number are a little more personal compared to a genocide of hundreds of thousands... I'm not saying that the Holocaust never affected me, it's just that it never shocked me as much. It's the same with 9/11; I was too young to understand it when I saw the news.

Alot of my friends go to VA Tech and I know someone who go injured there, so I'm really just avoiding the news right now - I don't want to hear any more about it.



But I agree with Steve and Margo. I'll watch the news but I prefer the paper. And I like to read from 3 different papers so I don't get biased information.

Dan Rather gets remixed by the Evolution Control Committee:



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