Unsubscribe!
This is the first and last post about politics ever on this blog, and it’s only to say that I’m fed up with it, and am no longer going to follow it. I stopped watching the Sunday talk shows a few years ago, and recently I unsubscribed from all my news feeds (eg Yahoo, NYTimes) and also from political blogs that follow the news, such as Atrios, ThinkProgress and AmericaBlog. The only way I’m going to read the Times is if BoingBoing, Kottke or Gawker links to it.
Why? Nothing could be more frivolous and deceptive than the traditional, international news freakshow. Things that become ‘issues’ of the day (I’m thinking of Jeremiah Wright here because that’s what’s on right now) almost always turn out to be the exact opposite of the story that’s presented as news. Of course, you have to read the story to the jump page. (Usually I find the fragment of truth that invalidates the whole thing in the third-to-last paragraph of the story.)
No traditional news organization is exempt from this. People tend to blame Fox and say that NPR or the BBC is better. Well, it’s not. A comedy show on Comedy Central better informs its audience than any of them, every single time.
So, why the announcement? Because I think you should too! Strip that negativity away and you’ll be so much happier. Read the papers if you must. But keep it to yourself, ok?
