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How would you have found out about the Texas power outages last year or the rising Opioid epidemic if it were not for news (unless you lived in Texas or knew so

How would you have found out about the Texas power outages last year or the rising Opioid epidemic if it were not for news (unless you lived in Texas or knew someone addicted to Oxy)? Or any other event from your city all the way to your federal government? You can dismiss all news as being misinformation, but even the shadiest outlets report some semblance of facts. It's the cause of the news that's often up for debate.

User23 5y ago
The most powerful manipulation the so-called news uses is not what it reports, but what it refuses to. I'm not going to give examples because I see no upside in violating other HN readers' widely held taboos, but they're pretty obvious with a little consideration.
parkingrift 5y ago
I have a different question. What does it matter if I am uninformed on those two topics? What does it matter if I am uninformed on most topics? There are (almost) never any single issue items on the federal ballot. On local or state ballots there are single issue items maybe once every two to four years. I can inform myself on those topics or I can cast an uninformed vote. Again, I would consider an uninformed vote to be a better outcome than a misinformed vote.
- ppeetteerr 5y ago
  An uninformed vote is a misinformed vote. > What does it matter if I am uninformed on those two topics? You have to consider how you spend your time. Not reading on the happenings in your city, state, and country is a choice that you make every time you do something different. Is what you sacrifice by being up to date on the latest happenings more important? Then do that. You would be in the majority. > What does it matter if I am uninformed on most topics? For the same reason we teach history in school.
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    >An uninformed vote is a misinformed vote. Profoundly disagree. An uninformed voter may vote poorly. A misinformed voter will unequivocally vote poorly. I'll take my chances with the uninformed to not create a dystopian mess.
avgcorrection 5y ago
How would you have learned about COINTELPRO if you didn’t read the news? Right, you probably didn’t hear about it in the news back then since it didn’t serve the right interests (unlike e.g. Watergate).
base698 5y ago
> or the rising Opioid epidemic For me it was the dead family members before it was reported. Victims have victim shit to do. They aren't watching the news for updates.
s1artibartfast 5y ago
>How would you have found out about the Texas power outages last year I think this is a great example. Why should anyone outside of Texas even care about the power outages and waste time "informing themselves" about it.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  People outside of Texas may be considering moving to (or immediately traveling to) Texas. Or they may the citizens of a democratic polity being called upon to evaluate competing energy policy alternatives where the facts of the Texas case have potential bearing. Or, well, lots of other possibilities.
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    Those are some pretty narrow examples.
  - s1artibartfast 5y ago
    As someone said, those are a pretty narrow slice of news consumers. I would add that the news does a terrible job of serving and educating those interests.

User23 5y ago

The most powerful manipulation the so-called news uses is not what it reports, but what it refuses to. I'm not going to give examples because I see no upside in violating other HN readers' widely held taboos, but they're pretty obvious with a little consideration.

parkingrift 5y ago

I have a different question. What does it matter if I am uninformed on those two topics? What does it matter if I am uninformed on most topics? There are (almost) never any single issue items on the federal ballot. On local or state ballots there are single issue items maybe once every two to four years. I can inform myself on those topics or I can cast an uninformed vote. Again, I would consider an uninformed vote to be a better outcome than a misinformed vote.

ppeetteerr 5y ago
An uninformed vote is a misinformed vote. > What does it matter if I am uninformed on those two topics? You have to consider how you spend your time. Not reading on the happenings in your city, state, and country is a choice that you make every time you do something different. Is what you sacrifice by being up to date on the latest happenings more important? Then do that. You would be in the majority. > What does it matter if I am uninformed on most topics? For the same reason we teach history in school.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  >An uninformed vote is a misinformed vote. Profoundly disagree. An uninformed voter may vote poorly. A misinformed voter will unequivocally vote poorly. I'll take my chances with the uninformed to not create a dystopian mess.

avgcorrection 5y ago

How would you have learned about COINTELPRO if you didn’t read the news? Right, you probably didn’t hear about it in the news back then since it didn’t serve the right interests (unlike e.g. Watergate).

base698 5y ago

> or the rising Opioid epidemic For me it was the dead family members before it was reported. Victims have victim shit to do. They aren't watching the news for updates.

s1artibartfast 5y ago

>How would you have found out about the Texas power outages last year I think this is a great example. Why should anyone outside of Texas even care about the power outages and waste time "informing themselves" about it.

dragonwriter 5y ago
People outside of Texas may be considering moving to (or immediately traveling to) Texas. Or they may the citizens of a democratic polity being called upon to evaluate competing energy policy alternatives where the facts of the Texas case have potential bearing. Or, well, lots of other possibilities.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  Those are some pretty narrow examples.
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  As someone said, those are a pretty narrow slice of news consumers. I would add that the news does a terrible job of serving and educating those interests.