4 ms·

That's the second part of de-stressing. First, stop watching news. Second, stop having an opinion on everything because at the end of the day nobody's opinion m

by vinyl7 5y ago

That's the second part of de-stressing. First, stop watching news. Second, stop having an opinion on everything because at the end of the day nobody's opinion matters.

IHLayman 5y ago
“Stop having an opinion on everything because at the end of the day nobody’s opinion matters.” …don’t you see how nihilist this sounds? And also unrealistic. You will have opinions, everyone has opinions and beliefs and feelings or else they wouldn’t be able to function on a day to day basis. There is a scale to beliefs and opinions, based on how informed those beliefs and opinions are, and how well they mesh with conditions in your everyday life. It’s important to inform your opinions and beliefs; the news, however flawed in its current state, forms at least one source of that information. I think that taking all of this as one absolute or another is unnecessarily polarizing this debate. It is very easy to argue that them news media economy is quite poisonous, but that doesn’t mean that all of the information is useless. For example: I need to prepare for a storm that is approaching the area, I need to know if a COVID wave is nearing so I know to be more careful, I need to know if parking rules change or trash day is being moved. These immediate events affect my actions directly and so I must pay attention, sifting through the other crap as necessary. But even beyond that, this resignation to political nihilism is societally destructive. Like it or not, we are all connected in a society. Our actions affect others. We have shared infrastructure and services we all contribute to and benefit from. Part of that responsibility is a participation in politics. Is it currently toxic and despairing? Certainly. But sticking your head in the sand isn’t an option, as we depend on cooperation in order to preserve a society on any level and that requires coordination. Should we reduce our news consumption? Of course. But we also shouldn’t eschew all outside information and live in a self-imposed bubble. Maybe skip the entertainment section and focus on stuff that impacts you directly. If there is something that is shallowly followed by the news that sounds important, of course dig into longer-form articles until you understand it in full or discard it if it is important. Discretion matters.
watwut 5y ago
That was general attitude in post communist countries. I remember that well and had same opinion. Later on, I realized that was what made us risk slipping back... and likely was contributed factor to why Russia actually slipped back to authoritarian, oppressive and aggressive. The countries that moved more toward democratic did so thinks to people who were not apathetic.
t0bia_s 5y ago
"...because at the end of the day nobody's opinion matters." This is a danger that is in my opinion developed by over-consuming news and information from many sources. Of course, it is generally good to take news from multiple sources but if you are not payed for dig in information, you won't have much time to get deeply into problem and finally you just stay on the shallow top - which naturally let to resign on any opinion, because everything seems to be relative. It is not, it is simply a lack of invested time into subject. Matrix 4 btw speaks a little bit about it if you pay attention. On the other hand it is perfectly fine to say "I don't know". Which is not what we are learning at schools. We are persecuted to say that unfortunately. And here we are... Everyone has opinions on everything.

by vinyl7 5y ago

That's the second part of de-stressing. First, stop watching news. Second, stop having an opinion on everything because at the end of the day nobody's opinion matters.

IHLayman 5y ago

“Stop having an opinion on everything because at the end of the day nobody’s opinion matters.” …don’t you see how nihilist this sounds? And also unrealistic. You will have opinions, everyone has opinions and beliefs and feelings or else they wouldn’t be able to function on a day to day basis. There is a scale to beliefs and opinions, based on how informed those beliefs and opinions are, and how well they mesh with conditions in your everyday life. It’s important to inform your opinions and beliefs; the news, however flawed in its current state, forms at least one source of that information. I think that taking all of this as one absolute or another is unnecessarily polarizing this debate. It is very easy to argue that them news media economy is quite poisonous, but that doesn’t mean that all of the information is useless. For example: I need to prepare for a storm that is approaching the area, I need to know if a COVID wave is nearing so I know to be more careful, I need to know if parking rules change or trash day is being moved. These immediate events affect my actions directly and so I must pay attention, sifting through the other crap as necessary. But even beyond that, this resignation to political nihilism is societally destructive. Like it or not, we are all connected in a society. Our actions affect others. We have shared infrastructure and services we all contribute to and benefit from. Part of that responsibility is a participation in politics. Is it currently toxic and despairing? Certainly. But sticking your head in the sand isn’t an option, as we depend on cooperation in order to preserve a society on any level and that requires coordination. Should we reduce our news consumption? Of course. But we also shouldn’t eschew all outside information and live in a self-imposed bubble. Maybe skip the entertainment section and focus on stuff that impacts you directly. If there is something that is shallowly followed by the news that sounds important, of course dig into longer-form articles until you understand it in full or discard it if it is important. Discretion matters.

watwut 5y ago

That was general attitude in post communist countries. I remember that well and had same opinion. Later on, I realized that was what made us risk slipping back... and likely was contributed factor to why Russia actually slipped back to authoritarian, oppressive and aggressive. The countries that moved more toward democratic did so thinks to people who were not apathetic.

t0bia_s 5y ago

"...because at the end of the day nobody's opinion matters." This is a danger that is in my opinion developed by over-consuming news and information from many sources. Of course, it is generally good to take news from multiple sources but if you are not payed for dig in information, you won't have much time to get deeply into problem and finally you just stay on the shallow top - which naturally let to resign on any opinion, because everything seems to be relative. It is not, it is simply a lack of invested time into subject. Matrix 4 btw speaks a little bit about it if you pay attention. On the other hand it is perfectly fine to say "I don't know". Which is not what we are learning at schools. We are persecuted to say that unfortunately. And here we are... Everyone has opinions on everything.