Members Ernest Buckley Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 Gloom and Doom? You watch the news or documentaries and all you hear is that the end of the world is near. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted April 28, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 28, 2008 Gloom and Doom?You watch the news or documentaries and all you hear is that the end of the world is near. I agree. The problem with the media is their content is dictated by interest and demand. If something creates interest, be it a child abduction, the latest food scare, gas prices, devil cult, or what have you, that will be the content. Turning off the TV and reading a reliable publication like The Economist is the answer. When the TV does go on, stick to National Geographic Channel, History, VH1Classics, or good DVDs. I prefer using my Digital TV Cable as a source of music via the cable radio offerings and reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 I disconnected my cable TV seven months ago and receive no magazines or newspapers. I do not like to embrace or promulgate pernicious memes. I try to seed the collective only with beneficial, constructive ones. As Guru Pitka would say, "Gee! You are you!" [YOUTUBE]WPz5e9TvYIs[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 Gloom and Doom?You watch the news or documentaries and all you hear is that the end of the world is near. No news is good news, as the saying goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted April 28, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 28, 2008 As Guru Pitka would say, "Gee! You are you!" TM! I saw the Iconoclasts on Sundance with Deepak Chopra and Mike Myers and they talked about this flick. It looks great. I didn't know Myers was into meditation and the like but apparently he's deep into it. Find the Iconoclasts show with them. It's very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 Having watched scientists try to raise the alarm on global warming for many decades now, I would say, no. No, not at all. But we do have to find a way to acknowledge the incredibly serious challenges -- and soon to be quite devastating, apparently -- ahead while still maintaining some sort of mental equilibrium. If people just panic or give up, circle the wagons around what they think is "theirs" -- the greater human enterprise will crumble into social chaos and the kind of anarchy even libertarians won't like. And that will make it impossible to meet these awesome challenges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted April 28, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 28, 2008 Having watched scientists try to raise the alarm on global warming for many decades now, I would say, no. No, not at all.But we do have to find a way to acknowledge the incredibly serious challenges -- and soon to be quite devastating, apparently -- ahead while still maintaining some sort of mental equilibrium.If people just panic or give up, circle the wagons around what they think is "theirs" -- the greater human enterprise will crumble into social chaos and the kind of anarchy even libertarians won't like. And that will make it impossible to meet these awesome challenges. Good point. I myself though, can't take anymore Green posturing. It seems personal behavior is now being packaged for presentation on a person by person basis. I'm all for getting wise. On the other hand, I despise media driven band wagoning. The TV isn't real. Real is real. Hiding from the TV is not hiding from real. Find a good source of reliable, true, information and react accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 That's always been the case. Bad news sells. It allows people who are otherwise "living lives of quiet desperation" feel better about themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby) has a blog about "Pigs and Sharks". The context of his comments ought to stir up a little fun here too. More people are killed by pigs than sharks each year, but because shark attacks are more newsworthy, they seem more prevalent. Maybe things aren't falling apart at the seams, but the rips in the fabric get the most attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 More people are killed by pigs than sharks each year, but because shark attacks are more newsworthy, they seem more prevalent.Well... overall, I've spent a hell of a lot more time in the ocean than in the hog pen. No doubt that has skewed my perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 We're all gonna die, the only question is when. This is news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 We're all gonna die... WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 I agree with Noam Chomsky that a good bit of disinformation in the media is probably essential towards running a democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 We're all gonna die, the only question is when. This is news? You know, that was one of the first things I thought when I started reading this thread the first time. Back in the era when a nuclear exchange with Russia didn't seem all that inconceivable, I was glad to live at a probable ground zero. (What is presumed to be one of the largest nuclear stockpiles outside of Russia is about a mile and a half away from where I type.) I didn't want to be around to see what happened to the unlucky survivors. _________________ Look, I'm pretty much a misanthrope. People... meh... they've F'd up this planet good and are a highly mixed lot at best. (I like kids OK in theory but, you know, they grow up to be adults.) But the little furry, feathered and scaled creatures... they were just minding their own business going on with daily life... call me sentimental but after what we did to Bambi's Mom you'd think we'd get a little heart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 It's an election year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 I agree with Noam Chomsky that a good bit of disinformation in the media is probably essential towards running a democracy. Noam Chomsky and Leo Strauss. Perhaps not such strange bedfellows. Nice to know someone's letting the elites know it's OK to lie to us poor folk who can't be trusted to think for ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurdy Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 I agree. The problem with the media is their content is dictated by interest and demand. If something creates interest, be it a child abduction, the latest food scare, gas prices, devil cult, or what have you, that will be the content. Turning off the TV and reading a reliable publication like The Economist is the answer. When the TV does go on, stick to National Geographic Channel, History, VH1Classics, or good DVDs. I prefer using my Digital TV Cable as a source of music via the cable radio offerings and reading. I definitely have been feeling the same way lately. The news reports on so many horrible things going on in the world, it often makes you fearful to even just leave the house. In addition to all the seriously messed up stuff that's always been going on, now we've got to worry about terrorists on top of it. Ever since they've been covering this year's presidential race pretty much 24/7, I find myself tuning in more to the news channels. Not just because I want to be informed about what's going on in the world (although that's part of it), but because TV sucks so bad that the news is probably the most interesting thing on. Which isn't saying much. In an age where it's the norm to have 100+ channels available to you, most of them still air practically nothing but drivel. Do we really need another idiotic reality show? I swear, there are 30 of them premiering each week. There are a few shows I like to watch, but if I lived by myself, I'd probably keep the TV turned off most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 What if they gave a country... and nobody came? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 The media has always sensationalized terrible things, but I'd agree...I don't know if it actually is this way, but it certainly SEEMS like things are extra bad lately. Some of it is heightened awareness following 9/11, so I wonder whether things are actually that way. Regardless, it really does *feel* different for Americans in particular, doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 We also get a lot more information than before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwwjd Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 guess what? I stopped watching ALL NEWS a couple years ago and couldn't be happier about it. no newspaper except for funnies, movies, and shows, no Internet news, no TV news, heck no TV really since most shows thrive on the negative aspects.... I watch a lot of good movies though. other than occasionally looking like an idiot at the office water fountain talks, it's been nothing but a positive experience. You have to figure 90% of NEWS is only the bad, and 90% of that is something or someplace you have no control over. It's not a head in the sand, it's being relistic about life. I care about my family and friends.... I have nothing to do with a rape or murder that occurs in another city and KNOWING about it serves no purpose other than to enforce may lack of faith in humanity. sad part is, almost ALL news stories COULD be delivered with a positive spin... we are just SOOO PROGRAMMED to not accept that as valid. I think shrinks that work with abused children might have something to say about that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 Can you imagine what the newspaper headlines would have been like in the Dark Ages? "Europe Devasted by Black Plague, Millions Die." "26 Beheadings of People Deemed Witches by the King." "Rabid Animals: Look, but Don't Touch!" "Scientists Discover Wearing Same Clothes without Washing for 2 Months Leads to Skin Rash." "New Torture Device Gouges Our Eyes But Allows Victim to Continue Living for at Least 12 Hours - Demonstrations Daily at the Town Square." Now that would have really sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 sad part is, almost ALL news stories COULD be delivered with a positive spin... Whoa there, happy camper. That would be equally bad, just on the reverse end of the pendulum. If you define "news" as information that could possibly have an effect on you, if you filter the bad and put a "positive spin" on everything, you've lost the usefulness of that information. People sometimes DO need to be prodded into having an appropriate level of concern. That having been said... yes, the media over sensationalizes everything, and there's nothing at all new about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 I virtually never watch any TV news, not even PBS's News Hour. But I do hit Google news compulsively at times. And the election has been directly influencing my moods. When my candidate wins one (often) I get a little bump but when my candidate loses one (less often) I get really grouchy and mean-spirited. Which I consider utterly pathetic... but I'm human, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted April 28, 2008 Members Share Posted April 28, 2008 And the election has been directly influencing my moods. Watch the Lakers' playoff game results instead. You'll be happy every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.