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I am very interested in policy, but I do not watch the news. Why? Because it contains no actionable information that changes my decisions: I'm still going to v

I am very interested in policy, but I do not watch the news. Why? Because it contains no actionable information that changes my decisions: I'm still going to vote in every election, I'm still going to research the candidates when the time comes, I'm still going to volunteer at the polls... The news is trivia, generally speaking. When I have a more active life in politics I'll take the Chomskian approach to news, but for now I'll vote with my ideals (which don't change with the passing tides of the news cycles)

technoplato 6y ago
What is the Chomskian approach to news?
- eindiran 6y ago
  Instead of drinking the koolaid, you complain that companies are manufacturing koolaid, despite the fact that you are currently using an I.V. drip of the stuff. Turn the dial on your I.V. up to 11, while you lean back and realize that you are glad that you’re not thinking about linguistics.
ggggtez 6y ago
> says person commenting on a news aggregation site This story didn't contain anything actionable that changes your decisions either, and yet you still read it and spent the time to comment. I don't see a substantive difference between reading HN and reading following political news. Nearly everything on this site (not even just this piece) will not affect your ability to accomplish your goals in anyway. It's a distraction at best.
- eutropia 6y ago
  I didn't read the story.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  Disagree. Let's suppose for a moment that we ever reach a point where the democratic process gets involved with the question of how best to manage the western forests (what's left of them) in the USA. There will be people arguing for regular understory and brush burning, and others arguing against it. Let's suppose that you're a citizen who gets to vote in some way on this matter. What will you base your vote on? The materials circulated at the time by those for and against various policies? Perhaps. But how will you judge those materials if you have not even a basic understanding of forest ecology. Now, if you sit down and read about forest ecology today, it will have no impact on your ability to accomplish your goals in anyway. But is is not a distraction: it's the groundwork and the preparation for you to be able to participate meaningfully in democratic decision making, perhaps tomorrow, or next year or some other time in the future. In short: it is education. You just have to be careful that you're learning about the actual world.
  - didibus 6y ago
    Agree, educating oneself is a great investment even if not immediately actionable. The knowledge you gained will pay dividends later when it comes in handy. The issue with news is that I'm not sure reading all news sources is an effective way of educating yourself. Another problem though is that of shared values and goals. In your example you said: > the democratic process gets involved with the question of how best to manage the western forests But how does it even get to this point? Does news play a bigger role in that part of the democratic process? The part where we decide on our values and our priorities?
oblib 6y ago
I don't watch the news either but I do scan headlines here and on AP and/or Reuters every day and follow up on what interests me. I can't say "it contains no actionable information that changes my decisions". For example the news that Obama wanted to renegotiate the "SOFA" agreement before he even took office made me regret my decision to vote for him in `08 and I did not vote for him again in 2012 because I already knew he would not end those wars. The only actionable thing I've really done since is keep others informed via FB of our progress to end those wars but for the most part interest in that fell off long ago with their yellow ribbon car magnets so it hasn't amounted to much real action.

technoplato 6y ago

What is the Chomskian approach to news?

eindiran 6y ago
Instead of drinking the koolaid, you complain that companies are manufacturing koolaid, despite the fact that you are currently using an I.V. drip of the stuff. Turn the dial on your I.V. up to 11, while you lean back and realize that you are glad that you’re not thinking about linguistics.

ggggtez 6y ago

> says person commenting on a news aggregation site This story didn't contain anything actionable that changes your decisions either, and yet you still read it and spent the time to comment. I don't see a substantive difference between reading HN and reading following political news. Nearly everything on this site (not even just this piece) will not affect your ability to accomplish your goals in anyway. It's a distraction at best.

eutropia 6y ago
I didn't read the story.
PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
Disagree. Let's suppose for a moment that we ever reach a point where the democratic process gets involved with the question of how best to manage the western forests (what's left of them) in the USA. There will be people arguing for regular understory and brush burning, and others arguing against it. Let's suppose that you're a citizen who gets to vote in some way on this matter. What will you base your vote on? The materials circulated at the time by those for and against various policies? Perhaps. But how will you judge those materials if you have not even a basic understanding of forest ecology. Now, if you sit down and read about forest ecology today, it will have no impact on your ability to accomplish your goals in anyway. But is is not a distraction: it's the groundwork and the preparation for you to be able to participate meaningfully in democratic decision making, perhaps tomorrow, or next year or some other time in the future. In short: it is education. You just have to be careful that you're learning about the actual world.
- didibus 6y ago
  Agree, educating oneself is a great investment even if not immediately actionable. The knowledge you gained will pay dividends later when it comes in handy. The issue with news is that I'm not sure reading all news sources is an effective way of educating yourself. Another problem though is that of shared values and goals. In your example you said: > the democratic process gets involved with the question of how best to manage the western forests But how does it even get to this point? Does news play a bigger role in that part of the democratic process? The part where we decide on our values and our priorities?

oblib 6y ago

I don't watch the news either but I do scan headlines here and on AP and/or Reuters every day and follow up on what interests me. I can't say "it contains no actionable information that changes my decisions". For example the news that Obama wanted to renegotiate the "SOFA" agreement before he even took office made me regret my decision to vote for him in `08 and I did not vote for him again in 2012 because I already knew he would not end those wars. The only actionable thing I've really done since is keep others informed via FB of our progress to end those wars but for the most part interest in that fell off long ago with their yellow ribbon car magnets so it hasn't amounted to much real action.