Maybe its time to avoid the news...

in #life7 years ago

If I was to say you should completely avoid the news, my words might be construed as someone who is advocating for ignorance. I would understand a critic who would choose to say that to me after hearing my position on the matter, but I’m willing to defend it, I do have a point to make.



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It’s difficult for me to accept today’s news as an effective system of information.Yes, they are supposed to be one, but more times than not, they seem to be mediums of propaganda diffusion pedaling sensationalist ideas. I’m not going to say they wherever good either, because of this I’m not even sure, but what I do think its apparent at least today that they exist as effective smoke screen dispensers and nothing more.

Negativity sells, positivity doesn't. You would have the hardest of times trying to sell a newspaper filled with positive news, and any news network focus on the same, would be labeled as programming for children. This is a bit tragic in my view, why is it that we are so drawn to negativity? Why do we feel so compelled to share the bad news?

It's because of this very problem that governments are the natural allies of the news. They are complicit in feeding the population all the negativity and narratives that will keep them in power. The population becomes addicted to this, and the cycle never ends.

If you are feeling bit down, if you feel like the world is an ugly place, maybe start by shutting off the news. I promise you will start to feel a lot better.

@chbartist

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Word.

...my words might be construed as someone who is advocating for ignorance.

Nah, it's the opposite: watching the news every day is what makes one ignorant. And that's not even because it's all bad news, it's because the mainstream media is a mouthpiece for the government.

In a 1996 speech, John Pilger, a famous investigative journalist and documentary maker explained it best:

"Some years ago, before the collapse of the Sovjet Union, a group of Russian journalists toured Britain and the United States. They were astonished to find that, after reading all the newspapers and watching all the television, that all the opinions were the same on all the vital issues. 'Now in our country', they said to their host, 'to get that result we have a dictatorship, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails... Here you have none of that. How do you do it? What's the secret?' Well the secret of course is that propaganda in liberal democracies like America and Britain, is much more thorough than in dictatorships or totalitarian states.."

There are some eye opening videos of Pilger on the net.. thanks for sharing this.

Not at all, @chbartist. Thank you for your awesome and thought-provoking posts! ;-)

I totally agree with this ... I feel like watching the news regularly is a guaranteed way to walk away with a more fearful and negative mindset.

Less news I watch / read, better I sleep

I've been doing that for years, it's a good way to ensure sanity. Too much garbage in the news these days, everyone only interested in pushing their propaganda

exactly, nothing else.

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

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Excelente post @chbartist, en realidad a veces es mejor no ver para no atormentarse con eso, es mejor mantenerse alejado de lo que muchas veces nos quieren mostrar, sea real o no, gracias por compartir.

I Shut it down decades ago. Had to become my own reporter, but I was more accurate in a few minutes of study, than they were with a full day of preparations. Sad, but true! Never missed it either.

Fear is a big pushing element of the news atm. Even tough they try to make their audience aware of something, they just use off topic material to make their point more dramatic.

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