4 ms·

But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for

But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for advertising revenue. Your conversations with others are only more interesting because you're engaging with people who are themselves very interested in discussing the opinions of others. My friends are not like this. And the ones that are, I try to avoid endlessly musing about some complex foreign policy which no one has enough accurate information to have an opinion about. It's all good, but it's a hobby when it doesn't affect your community.

ppeetteerr 5y ago
I agree with much of what you wrote. Finding curious and open minded people is super important and I would encourage you to spend the time to find people who actively participate in their society. Unless, of course, you'd rather not. > But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for advertising revenue. I do disagree that you're not truly informed. If you're coming at News from this point of view, you're essentially lumping all publications, from the Economist to OANN to RT to Huffpo to War Room together. This is a naive approach and leads to the rise of partisan publications and channels that distort reality.
- wnolens 5y ago
  I'm a bit of a pessimist here. Finding open minded people has been very difficult. I've got a set, they are my oldest and best friends, spread across the continent now. What is your reading list and hours per week spent? If you are regularly reading several publications like the economist and keeping tabs on diverse set of news outlets, then you might be able to see the forest. But that takes significant time, and I don't know anyone who does that or has the time to in between working and taking care of themselves/family - which is why I view it as more of a niche hobby nowadays.
  - ppeetteerr 5y ago
    I agree that it's difficult. I am very selective with friends and it takes months if not years to find a new friend. However, when one is found, they are a friend for life. > What is your reading list and hours per week spent? It's a combination of local (municipal, state) and national/international news. Local is easy and tends to be very factual. If you're in the US, there are a lot of smaller publication that report on local events related to your city or state. For international news, something like r/worldnews is a good start. National news is the trickiest one because it tends to be the most partisan and requires reading from multiple sources. I also ignore it the most for that reason (US national politics are a shitshow: no one cares about the house and senate, and over indexes on the president, which should have very limited power compared to congress). I read about 10/12 hours per week.
    - asdff 5y ago
      Do you have advice on finding more resources for local news? It seems my local sources are just as biased as the national ones, and most pieces read like puff pieces to prop up political careers, hit pieces (my local news transportation writer loves to bash cal hsr), or downright advertisements just like the junk from the national outlets. A lot of local stuff that does sometimes directly impact me doesn't even seem to get written about unless there is some financial or electoral incentive to print. I feel like you almost have to work at city hall to get an understanding of the politicking between the city departments and city/county government interactions with what little drips its way out, heavily diluted into a handful of paragraphs, into local news outlets. What little does get out even from seemingly benign departments like sanitation could make for a long winded docuseries easily, so there is plenty there but no one wants to step up and shine a light on it these days at least. Maybe the environment for journalists is too litigious? I've never seen an LA times journalist accuse a blatantly corrupt politician of anything remotely improper before the FBI perp walks them out of city hall, for example (perhaps they do but these pieces don't seem very common), whereas I would expect to see these articles connecting obvious dots well before FBI indictments if the fourth estate were doing its job.
      - 5y ago

ppeetteerr 5y ago

I agree with much of what you wrote. Finding curious and open minded people is super important and I would encourage you to spend the time to find people who actively participate in their society. Unless, of course, you'd rather not. > But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for advertising revenue. I do disagree that you're not truly informed. If you're coming at News from this point of view, you're essentially lumping all publications, from the Economist to OANN to RT to Huffpo to War Room together. This is a naive approach and leads to the rise of partisan publications and channels that distort reality.

wnolens 5y ago
I'm a bit of a pessimist here. Finding open minded people has been very difficult. I've got a set, they are my oldest and best friends, spread across the continent now. What is your reading list and hours per week spent? If you are regularly reading several publications like the economist and keeping tabs on diverse set of news outlets, then you might be able to see the forest. But that takes significant time, and I don't know anyone who does that or has the time to in between working and taking care of themselves/family - which is why I view it as more of a niche hobby nowadays.
- ppeetteerr 5y ago
  I agree that it's difficult. I am very selective with friends and it takes months if not years to find a new friend. However, when one is found, they are a friend for life. > What is your reading list and hours per week spent? It's a combination of local (municipal, state) and national/international news. Local is easy and tends to be very factual. If you're in the US, there are a lot of smaller publication that report on local events related to your city or state. For international news, something like r/worldnews is a good start. National news is the trickiest one because it tends to be the most partisan and requires reading from multiple sources. I also ignore it the most for that reason (US national politics are a shitshow: no one cares about the house and senate, and over indexes on the president, which should have very limited power compared to congress). I read about 10/12 hours per week.
  - asdff 5y ago
    Do you have advice on finding more resources for local news? It seems my local sources are just as biased as the national ones, and most pieces read like puff pieces to prop up political careers, hit pieces (my local news transportation writer loves to bash cal hsr), or downright advertisements just like the junk from the national outlets. A lot of local stuff that does sometimes directly impact me doesn't even seem to get written about unless there is some financial or electoral incentive to print. I feel like you almost have to work at city hall to get an understanding of the politicking between the city departments and city/county government interactions with what little drips its way out, heavily diluted into a handful of paragraphs, into local news outlets. What little does get out even from seemingly benign departments like sanitation could make for a long winded docuseries easily, so there is plenty there but no one wants to step up and shine a light on it these days at least. Maybe the environment for journalists is too litigious? I've never seen an LA times journalist accuse a blatantly corrupt politician of anything remotely improper before the FBI perp walks them out of city hall, for example (perhaps they do but these pieces don't seem very common), whereas I would expect to see these articles connecting obvious dots well before FBI indictments if the fourth estate were doing its job.
    - 5y ago