5 ms·

Again, actually serious here: With who? I cannot discuss politics in the workplace, and my peer group is focused on interests where the general culture is again

Again, actually serious here: With who? I cannot discuss politics in the workplace, and my peer group is focused on interests where the general culture is against discussing the gov't's current affairs or about other current events due to "bringing politics into it" concerns. I am also highly introverted and do not desire to take on more social circles, as this isn't an actual intense interest of mine. I'd just like to be kept abreast of events when they occur, within the context of their occurence. Actually, edit: How is this different from 'mob' news?

brighter2morrow 7y ago
Why do you want to keep track of current affairs?
- manfredo 7y ago
  I'm pretty surprised at this question. Why woudn't people keep track of current affairs? Failure to do so is to be ignorant of what is happening in the world.
  - 0xffff2 7y ago
    I've long since stopped actively following current events. My only source of news is what percolates through from other outlets (HN, things important/culturally relevant enough to get mentioned in Youtube videos, etc). I would flip the question. Why would I want to keep track of current affairs? The vast majority of the things happening in the world have no impact on my life whatsoever. Even really big things like the Mueller report really don't have any impact on my day-to-day life (NB: I am a US citizen). I do research on individual ballot propositions when it comes time to vote. I virtually always vote for third party candidates or no-one at all, but if a political party I actually support ever gains enough prominence to have a chance of winning I'll do my due diligence on their individual candidates too. Aside from that, who cares?
    - ModernMech 7y ago
      > I would flip the question. Why would I want to keep track of current affairs? The vast majority of the things happening in the world have no impact on my life whatsoever. Even really big things like the Mueller report really don't have any impact on my day-to-day life (NB: I am a US citizen). Then consider yourself privileged. For the rest of us, there are forces out there trying to legislate our bodies, prevent us from loving who we want, oppress who we want to be, take away our rights, and make our mere existence as close to illegal as possible. Keeping track of who is trying to take away our liberties and how those efforts are progressing is very important to us.
      - brighter2morrow 7y ago
        These forces are nothing I can do anything about though. Corporate interests control the outcome of these things, not anything having to do with democracy.
        ModernMech 7y ago
        Tell that to the civil rights movement, women's suffrage movement, lgbtq rights movements etc. Appreciable gains have been made in civil rights over the years by people paying attention.
        ddingus 7y ago
        And more of us need to pay attention. Only way to do that is to keep talking. Those of us who are paying attention just need to continue talking with others. It will build. As it should.
        ddingus 7y ago
        Actually, that is only marginally true. The reality is we the people do have very considerable control. An additional reality is we the people are currently very distracted and being messaged to on a near constant basis. Our effective control is at a low ebb right now. That's due to what I just wrote, plus money in politics, and that same money working consolidated media. (Reagan Fairness Doctrine Repeal; Clinton Telecoms Act of 1996) You aren't wrong, but neither is the parent commenter! The civil rights movement is the most immune to these effects as social issues tend to be least impacted by money particularly as big business realizes it's best for business when people get along. And it helps that there are people in executive positions right now who are directly impacted by shit social policy. Progressives, and for purposes of discussion here, are people who are socially liberal and economically left, are building people powered politics as you read this. That's knocking on doors, holding events, messaging directly, largely avoiding big media, and that's largely due to the fact that big media sees the economic left focus as a potential cost and risk. (as they should, but that does not mean some change is not warranted --many feel it is, but I digress here) Manufacturing Consent --Chomskey is a great reference to understand the basic dynamics in play. You probably have read it too. It's here for passers by as much as anything else. Democracy is largely functional, but it's noisy, and the noise is getting in the way of what would otherwise be a respectable state of affairs. All of us know a gay person. All of us know a woman. All of us know a child. These things do matter. While some of us, and this includes me, are in the pocket so to speak, can choose to largely ignore all this stuff, we do so at our friends, peers, future leaders, loved ones potential and personal cost and risk. That's the argument anyway.
  - drivers99 7y ago
    Short and to the point: https://dailystoic.com/dont-read-the-news-today/ https://dailystoic.com/dont-read-the-news-today/ Here's a particularly good post about it: https://www.raptitude.com/2016/12/five-things-you-notice-when-you-quit-the-news/ https://www.raptitude.com/2016/12/five-things-you-notice-whe...
    - manfredo 7y ago
      At best, these links are discouraging people from reading the news because some people find it stressful (fair, if people do find it stressful then by all means they should cut back). At worst, these sites are glorifying ignorance. You can't make effective decisions if you don't know what is happening. Sure, you may not be directly impacted by the events you're reading but it's still expanding your knowledge of the world. Not to mention, the second article seems to be operating under the erroneous assumption that books aren't a form of news. They frequently are. They're long-form and have longer latency from the events occurring and books being published. They're still works intended to describe and explain events or phenomena. They're news, even if the authors of your linked articles don't know it.
- SolaceQuantum 7y ago
  Well, a variety of things. Owning stocks, investing in the market, preparing for a downturn, and who is doing the things I care about legislatively, including who is representing my desires as a citizen so I can vote informedly.
  - ddingus 7y ago
    You should consider advocacy groups. They publish good stuff. There is always bias, and I have spoken to that. But where you have specifics, sign up for the newsletter. Set some email filters and go.
ddingus 7y ago
I am serious too. Actually being somewhat informed takes some work. Distributing that among friends, trusted peers helps. And doing it this human way is timeless, effective too. I have a set of these running with people all over the world. Forums, discord, Reddit, other places. The phone! Something happens, and I know who is gonna call. They want to talk all about it. What do we know, what can we infer, what might it mean? Those are the best! We all look at what was published, then discuss. Some groups are focused too, sometimes doing research, timelines... The value in those circles is huge, some cultivated over years. I know where I can go for a question, others know they can come to me. Each of us has domain knowledge, or experience, or cares enough to be valuable. You could just use TYT, and contrast that with a few major newspapers and networks. Talking with a diverse set of others, who will do that to seek being better informed really does help. Not everyone can though. As for "not bringing politics into it", sadly everything is political. Pure tech and science has the very least, but it is still there. Even getting the info is political as you have seen. No easy outs on this, also sadly. I feel your frustration. I dealt with it two decades ago in this way. I have much less of it now. The hard truth of it is most of the time when people are looking for who to just trust, that trust gets abused. Eventually, they resign to avoiding the lot of it, and doing that is OK do not get me wrong here, or they seek peers for that need in their life. Politically savvy people tend to trend social, but they also can understand people who are not. Make a few friends. You know stuff. They may not. Trade for mutual enlightenment. No joke. That is how I got started. Tech issues, copyright, etc... I could fill in blanks, and did. They could take current events and boil that down into a useful discussion. I love most of those people and would miss those conversations terribly. Edit: One other thing: I definitely do not agree with the politics all my conversation partners hold, nor they mine. That is OK. We are all good minded humans looking to make sense of things, maybe act when we need to, or understand we really do have common cause. Being wrong or different is not a big deal. Unless it is. In most of my circles, it isn't. Group knowledge has info in it that individual knowledge does not. Can't get it unless we actually talk about stuff. That is all I got man. If it does not help, no worries.
thanatropism 7y ago
People in the park? I too have trouble getting out of my shell / headphones but online civic engagement is at best an interesting if oddly-tasting topping to the real thing.
- ddingus 7y ago
  Not a bad suggestion.

brighter2morrow 7y ago

Why do you want to keep track of current affairs?

manfredo 7y ago
I'm pretty surprised at this question. Why woudn't people keep track of current affairs? Failure to do so is to be ignorant of what is happening in the world.
- 0xffff2 7y ago
  I've long since stopped actively following current events. My only source of news is what percolates through from other outlets (HN, things important/culturally relevant enough to get mentioned in Youtube videos, etc). I would flip the question. Why would I want to keep track of current affairs? The vast majority of the things happening in the world have no impact on my life whatsoever. Even really big things like the Mueller report really don't have any impact on my day-to-day life (NB: I am a US citizen). I do research on individual ballot propositions when it comes time to vote. I virtually always vote for third party candidates or no-one at all, but if a political party I actually support ever gains enough prominence to have a chance of winning I'll do my due diligence on their individual candidates too. Aside from that, who cares?
  - ModernMech 7y ago
    > I would flip the question. Why would I want to keep track of current affairs? The vast majority of the things happening in the world have no impact on my life whatsoever. Even really big things like the Mueller report really don't have any impact on my day-to-day life (NB: I am a US citizen). Then consider yourself privileged. For the rest of us, there are forces out there trying to legislate our bodies, prevent us from loving who we want, oppress who we want to be, take away our rights, and make our mere existence as close to illegal as possible. Keeping track of who is trying to take away our liberties and how those efforts are progressing is very important to us.
    - brighter2morrow 7y ago
      These forces are nothing I can do anything about though. Corporate interests control the outcome of these things, not anything having to do with democracy.
      - ModernMech 7y ago
        Tell that to the civil rights movement, women's suffrage movement, lgbtq rights movements etc. Appreciable gains have been made in civil rights over the years by people paying attention.
        ddingus 7y ago
        And more of us need to pay attention. Only way to do that is to keep talking. Those of us who are paying attention just need to continue talking with others. It will build. As it should.
      - ddingus 7y ago
        Actually, that is only marginally true. The reality is we the people do have very considerable control. An additional reality is we the people are currently very distracted and being messaged to on a near constant basis. Our effective control is at a low ebb right now. That's due to what I just wrote, plus money in politics, and that same money working consolidated media. (Reagan Fairness Doctrine Repeal; Clinton Telecoms Act of 1996) You aren't wrong, but neither is the parent commenter! The civil rights movement is the most immune to these effects as social issues tend to be least impacted by money particularly as big business realizes it's best for business when people get along. And it helps that there are people in executive positions right now who are directly impacted by shit social policy. Progressives, and for purposes of discussion here, are people who are socially liberal and economically left, are building people powered politics as you read this. That's knocking on doors, holding events, messaging directly, largely avoiding big media, and that's largely due to the fact that big media sees the economic left focus as a potential cost and risk. (as they should, but that does not mean some change is not warranted --many feel it is, but I digress here) Manufacturing Consent --Chomskey is a great reference to understand the basic dynamics in play. You probably have read it too. It's here for passers by as much as anything else. Democracy is largely functional, but it's noisy, and the noise is getting in the way of what would otherwise be a respectable state of affairs. All of us know a gay person. All of us know a woman. All of us know a child. These things do matter. While some of us, and this includes me, are in the pocket so to speak, can choose to largely ignore all this stuff, we do so at our friends, peers, future leaders, loved ones potential and personal cost and risk. That's the argument anyway.
- drivers99 7y ago
  Short and to the point: https://dailystoic.com/dont-read-the-news-today/ https://dailystoic.com/dont-read-the-news-today/ Here's a particularly good post about it: https://www.raptitude.com/2016/12/five-things-you-notice-when-you-quit-the-news/ https://www.raptitude.com/2016/12/five-things-you-notice-whe...
  - manfredo 7y ago
    At best, these links are discouraging people from reading the news because some people find it stressful (fair, if people do find it stressful then by all means they should cut back). At worst, these sites are glorifying ignorance. You can't make effective decisions if you don't know what is happening. Sure, you may not be directly impacted by the events you're reading but it's still expanding your knowledge of the world. Not to mention, the second article seems to be operating under the erroneous assumption that books aren't a form of news. They frequently are. They're long-form and have longer latency from the events occurring and books being published. They're still works intended to describe and explain events or phenomena. They're news, even if the authors of your linked articles don't know it.
SolaceQuantum 7y ago
Well, a variety of things. Owning stocks, investing in the market, preparing for a downturn, and who is doing the things I care about legislatively, including who is representing my desires as a citizen so I can vote informedly.
- ddingus 7y ago
  You should consider advocacy groups. They publish good stuff. There is always bias, and I have spoken to that. But where you have specifics, sign up for the newsletter. Set some email filters and go.

ddingus 7y ago

I am serious too. Actually being somewhat informed takes some work. Distributing that among friends, trusted peers helps. And doing it this human way is timeless, effective too. I have a set of these running with people all over the world. Forums, discord, Reddit, other places. The phone! Something happens, and I know who is gonna call. They want to talk all about it. What do we know, what can we infer, what might it mean? Those are the best! We all look at what was published, then discuss. Some groups are focused too, sometimes doing research, timelines... The value in those circles is huge, some cultivated over years. I know where I can go for a question, others know they can come to me. Each of us has domain knowledge, or experience, or cares enough to be valuable. You could just use TYT, and contrast that with a few major newspapers and networks. Talking with a diverse set of others, who will do that to seek being better informed really does help. Not everyone can though. As for "not bringing politics into it", sadly everything is political. Pure tech and science has the very least, but it is still there. Even getting the info is political as you have seen. No easy outs on this, also sadly. I feel your frustration. I dealt with it two decades ago in this way. I have much less of it now. The hard truth of it is most of the time when people are looking for who to just trust, that trust gets abused. Eventually, they resign to avoiding the lot of it, and doing that is OK do not get me wrong here, or they seek peers for that need in their life. Politically savvy people tend to trend social, but they also can understand people who are not. Make a few friends. You know stuff. They may not. Trade for mutual enlightenment. No joke. That is how I got started. Tech issues, copyright, etc... I could fill in blanks, and did. They could take current events and boil that down into a useful discussion. I love most of those people and would miss those conversations terribly. Edit: One other thing: I definitely do not agree with the politics all my conversation partners hold, nor they mine. That is OK. We are all good minded humans looking to make sense of things, maybe act when we need to, or understand we really do have common cause. Being wrong or different is not a big deal. Unless it is. In most of my circles, it isn't. Group knowledge has info in it that individual knowledge does not. Can't get it unless we actually talk about stuff. That is all I got man. If it does not help, no worries.

thanatropism 7y ago

People in the park? I too have trouble getting out of my shell / headphones but online civic engagement is at best an interesting if oddly-tasting topping to the real thing.

ddingus 7y ago
Not a bad suggestion.