The news is crazy. But I acknowledge it.
I
am an adult. I am married and I have
children in high school and beyond. I am
a reader. I have multiple interests and
I usually know what is going on. I am
not afraid to know things; I am not afraid of the world. But I almost never watch the news. It has been a theme in the last ten years or
so to reject cable news especially, simply under the blanket that it is all “a
bummer” or it is commercialized, or sensationalized. That could all be true. For some of us, conflict and agitation are difficult
to process, even when the subject is far removed from our own scopes of interest. The news can affect you and bring you
down. The cold, hard facts of a reliable
news source can alter your view of the world around you. That is why I abstain. Or, I just watch The Daily Show.
You
will hear that “the news is depressing”.
That is just life. News reports
the tragedies and problems because the make a story. They make a story because they are
unusual. It is that simple logic problem
that most people cannot reconcile. If
the world was as truly as fucked up as you think it is (by watching the news),
the news would not air or write about those stories in the first place. It is the fact that these depressing stories
are unusual
that makes them newsworthy. If you
understand that, then the world is not as bad off as the narrow window of the
news conveys. But people don’t want to
think that. Thinking the world is a
giant toilet being flushed is a great excuse not to do anything about it.
No,
my problem with the news is chemical. I
can handle the news of war and train crashes. I know that multiple murders
happen every day, not just the ones Nancy Grace talks about. Intellectually, I have reasoned this through
over the years. There are tragedies out
there. Be thankful. Just because it happened there does not mean
it will happen here. My brain accepts
it. Well, except the part of my brain
that controls my anxiety. With anxiety,
the news can feel real. I can feel
similar feelings as someone being yelled at a roundtable, or someone on the
ground in war-torn Somalia. I have an unbridled sense of empathy, which is nice
to a friend in need but really sucks during political unrest. For my anxiety, presidential debates and
MSNBC interviews and a kidnapped teenager all hit me the same. Even medicated, sometimes it is too much to bear.
The
nice part is, these things really do not concern me or my life. I am a person who believes were should stay
as informed as possible. I do. But most of us have a ton of shit on our
respective plates. It is respectful to the rest of the country and the world to
know what is happening. But it is not
necessary. The truth is, we can get caught
up with two or three minutes per week on all the pertinent stories. Analysis, discussion and up to the minute reports
are all extraneous. My brain rejects
them. When it is time to vote, I check
in. When there is an important law on
the table, I check in. The rest is
pageantry, and for that I go to Jon Stewart.
Why? I know it is not serious news. I know Jon is a comedian on a comedy
network. Here’s why: The four minutes of solid information on each
episode is both the exact amount I want in a sitting, and also it is the
truth. Sorry conservatives, but the
truth has a liberal bent. Without the
truth, the jokes would not work. There
has to be truth to make satire work, and that is why the show can be both
informative and funny. I am not ashamed
to admit that this is my news source (outside of the internet, of course) I know there is research that shows Daily Show and Colbert Report audiences are the most knowledgeable. That does not surprise or concern me. My anxiety has made a deal with my
intellect. If I want to be informed
without panic, I have to get my news with a side of poop jokes.
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