3 ms·

There is a social advantage to being able to speak about current events. There is also a part of the news that a well-informed citizen should know about. There

by rocqua 10y ago

There is a social advantage to being able to speak about current events. There is also a part of the news that a well-informed citizen should know about. There are things everyone can do about injustice that require us to know injustice took place. Sadly, the above part of the news isn't the focus off modern news media. The sensationalist spin doesn't help much either. What I'm trying to say is that news, in and of itself can be good, necessary even. The question is whether current forms of news do this well enough, and what other harm their sensationalism does.

kristianc 10y ago
Most news doesn't actually inform us in any meaningful way though. Here in the U.K. the last three weeks have been endless repetition of media managed slogans and photo opportunities. There are very real injustices happening in the world - in Syria and in Chechnya for instance - but they're routinely ignored unless you really go looking for them.
- unityByFreedom 10y ago
  > There are very real injustices happening in the world - in Syria and in Chechnya for instance - but they're routinely ignored unless you really go looking for them. How can you say they're ignored while admitting that you can find reporting on them if you look? I find it ironic that people complain about the quality of mass media while simultaneously swallowing mass media's definition of what is and isn't important. If you hate mass media, then you are a person who doesn't need to be spoon-fed news, right? Of course this notion flies in the face of our dear leader, who hates CNN but watches it religiously. He seems to have convinced every far right person to do the same.
- dazc 10y ago
  Resonates with me, living in Spain and listening to BBC news for the past 12 months wondering if anything actually happens in the UK aside from a handful of headline events? Seems like anything that does get reported is merely an opportunity to spin the narrative towards their ideological agenda?
Trundle 10y ago
It takes very little reading to stay far more informed than the average person on current events if you set out to have that as your goal rather than just casually consuming information. As for being a well informed citizen acting against injustice, I'd say there's a similar situation in that someone need not be very well read to find far more injustice than they're capable of acting on. We live in a time of excess information yet have societal values that have developed throughout history when information was scarce. Passion, motivation, discipline and ethical principles are the things holding people back from being active, caring citizens of the planet not lack of information.

by rocqua 10y ago

kristianc 10y ago

Most news doesn't actually inform us in any meaningful way though. Here in the U.K. the last three weeks have been endless repetition of media managed slogans and photo opportunities. There are very real injustices happening in the world - in Syria and in Chechnya for instance - but they're routinely ignored unless you really go looking for them.

unityByFreedom 10y ago
> There are very real injustices happening in the world - in Syria and in Chechnya for instance - but they're routinely ignored unless you really go looking for them. How can you say they're ignored while admitting that you can find reporting on them if you look? I find it ironic that people complain about the quality of mass media while simultaneously swallowing mass media's definition of what is and isn't important. If you hate mass media, then you are a person who doesn't need to be spoon-fed news, right? Of course this notion flies in the face of our dear leader, who hates CNN but watches it religiously. He seems to have convinced every far right person to do the same.
dazc 10y ago
Resonates with me, living in Spain and listening to BBC news for the past 12 months wondering if anything actually happens in the UK aside from a handful of headline events? Seems like anything that does get reported is merely an opportunity to spin the narrative towards their ideological agenda?

Trundle 10y ago

It takes very little reading to stay far more informed than the average person on current events if you set out to have that as your goal rather than just casually consuming information. As for being a well informed citizen acting against injustice, I'd say there's a similar situation in that someone need not be very well read to find far more injustice than they're capable of acting on. We live in a time of excess information yet have societal values that have developed throughout history when information was scarce. Passion, motivation, discipline and ethical principles are the things holding people back from being active, caring citizens of the planet not lack of information.