Which is why I wish the MPSIMS thread wasn’t closed, so that we who wish to stay mostly out of things could get the bare facts without all the political crap. (Note: this is not intended as criticism, and it didn’t seem worth its own thread in ATMB.)
Predictably, this event has taken over the local news as well as the national news. For today at least its sports, weather, and Trump shooting.
While I can’t avoid all of the news, I can certainly refuse to participate in the hysteria. Stay on track: getting all wound up serves no purpose.
Generally I have been able to avoid hysteria. This happened very close to my home and I am trying to balance my knowledge ingestion.
I am hoping it does not result in paranoid security measures especially at our local courthouse where I have to go to a hearing tomorrow morning.
In a day or two I will be back in the shadows…until the next breaking news.
I feel an even stronger need to hide from the news now than I did last week.
One wonders (but not out loud):
Can it get worse? Before November, that is.
The answer is yes, of course it can (and will) get worse before November.
Absolutely. If you think the rhetoric couldn’t possibly get more vile, just wait.
I know, I know… 
My wife still insists on watching the national news, so while it’s on I’ve started watching Star Talk (Neil DeGrasse Tyson) episodes on YouTube, with headphones on, while she shouts at - and gives the finger to - the TV. It’s a really good series that answers many physics questions in plain English, and debunks a lot of “common” knowledge things that you’ve always accepted as truth, such as where the north pole really is.
Hey, it works. This board is the way I found out about Biden dropping out of the campaign, and it was from reading a mod note in the What were you Thinking thread. And now I know to stay even farther from the news for a few days (or longer). Thanks, mod note!
Not saying this is anyone in this thread, but I’m reminded of this story from years ago:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/style/the-man-who-knew-too-little.html
Sorry, can’t read it.
Oh, sorry.
It was a 2018 article about a man in Ohio who was so upset about Trump’s victory in 2016 that he decided he would wall out all information about the Trump presidency. He went to great lengths to skip over or avoid any Trump-related news or even American news events when reading anything, watching anything, etc. So things like Russia, Charlottesville, were all unknown things to him.
Ooooommmm….
(The o & the m should be equal lengths)
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the recent news has greatly improved my mood, and that of my wife, who was extremely anxious after the debate. We’ve both been paying a little more attention to the news, although, since we’re on vacation, not so much as if we were at home.
But we’re feeling much more hopeful and optimistic than we have for quite some time. I hope others here are the same.
Mine, as well. I reengaged long enough to see what was happening, then went back in my hidey hole. All the hate speech that will be coming from the right is not something I care to see or hear.
I haven’t cut news out of my life entirely. My goal all along has been to maintain awareness of actual news events, and at the same time get off the angst train and stop watching, reading, and listening to all the analysis, spin and related follow up ‘stories’ that seem to be packaged by the media for every piece of actual news that gets reported these days. Harris running doesn’t really change my goals in this respect. I don’t want or need to hear about anything DJT says at this point, unless it’s “I’m dropping out of the race”
Pretty much my strategy, as well.
Yeah, I get that.
I envy those here who have the willpower to really shut things off.
I work in television and frequently find myself at MSNBC. It’s VERY hard to shut out what is being said. I do try. I turn off Program audio which means I cannot hear the audio that the audience can hear. It’s hard to ignore the conversations IN the studio, however. And the news is the news is the news, it’s an immersive experience there- as in all news studios.
I wish it was January 22nd, 2025 so I’d know already.
If I’m fucked and my name will wind up on a half-dozen lists for what I have said and done, I just wanna know.