6 ms·

What are you doing to fix the issues though? Has the knowledge of the issues increased your agency in a meaningful way such that you've taken actions to improve

What are you doing to fix the issues though? Has the knowledge of the issues increased your agency in a meaningful way such that you've taken actions to improve things or are you just enjoying living in a perpetually outraged state for the sake of it? If your martyrdom isn't doing anything to help fix the problem you're just hurting yourself and stopping yourself from potentially being in a space to ever actually do anything.

lazyasciiart 1mo ago
And what are you doing with the happy mental space you have carved out?
- asdff 1mo ago
  Living a couple years longer in better health from less chronic stress, probably.
  - tuesdaynight 1mo ago
    I'm surprised by how you need to answer that. I'm not sure if they are being obtuse, contrarian or defending their addiction (yes, I said it).
    - lazyasciiart 1mo ago
      And I’m surprised by your level of investment in being a jerk in this conversation.
      - tuesdaynight 1mo ago
        You are right, I'm sorry. My previous message was way over the tone
        tonyedgecombe 1mo ago
        It seemed appropriate to me considering the question from @lazyasciiart.
  - lazyasciiart 1mo ago
    Yes, not thinking about serious problems because they don’t personally impact you will make your life more comfortable. Butler appears to be making the less obviously self serving argument that spending time being aware of serious problems is only hurting your ability to do anything about them, which implies that he is better able to do something about them because he does not spend time knowing about them. I think that he isn’t doing anything about them, and therefore his pretense that people would be more effective by staying offline is crap.
pseudalopex 1mo ago
> Has the knowledge of the issues increased your agency in a meaningful way such that you've taken actions to improve things Yes.
- johnnyanmac 1mo ago
  Yes. Maybe I'm not taking immediate action now (as I'm still looking for a full time role), but it has shaped how I want to go about my next 2-5 years after I fix my own issues. I don't want to just lean on the sidelines, I want to do my part and help out where I can. Be it financially (when money permits) or physically.
autoexec 1mo ago
> What are you doing to fix the issues though? You can't always expect to be able to fix everything yourself, but you often can take steps to help or at least protect yourself. It just depends on what's in the news. Very recently, I've started avoiding produce from Taylor Farms. Good thing I was paying attention to the news when that mess started. It was only by reading the news that I became aware of a change in how postmarks were being added by the USPS and that saved me some potential headaches. Being informed can result in things like patching vulnerable software, withdrawing supporting a political candidate, reaching out to your representatives about issues that concern you, asking your doctor about treatments/medications/vaccines, exploring new media, changing or delaying travel plans, changing your spending habits, making adjustments to investments, etc. What does ignorance get you?
- tuesdaynight 1mo ago
  You are making valid points, but most people will spend their day reading about other places governments or presidential scandals. For 99% of people, knowing what Trump or whatever politician is doing does not change anything in your life. Also, you have no control or power for changing something about it. If you spent 70% of your day worried about Trump while you live in Estonia (random example), not reading the news is a good choice. You sound like someone who can avoid these traps, but I can say that this is not a common behavior. Most people will bite the ragebait
  - duskdozer 1mo ago
    Accepting the 99% figure, 1% is not a particularly small number. That's about 3.5 million people in the US alone. And it becomes much greater when you consider anyone who cares about someone in that 1%.
    - tuesdaynight 1mo ago
      If you are American, yes. If you live in a random country, and don't have personal relations with the USA, reading about Trump's actions will only give you anxiety (if you disagree with his positions, of course)
yulker 1mo ago
Why does one need to be proactively doing anything to justify awareness and holding a point of view?
duskdozer 1mo ago
Yes, it has. Not "tuning out" the news has helped me mitigate significant problems for me personally, which a delay of a couple days would have meant it was too late. I think your word choice ("enjoying living in a perpetually outraged state", "martyrdom") seems to show more outrage than a lot of the people you rail against. It's also my impression that most people who want everybody to turn off the news agree with or don't care about any bad things happening to people that are being reported on.

lazyasciiart 1mo ago

And what are you doing with the happy mental space you have carved out?

asdff 1mo ago
Living a couple years longer in better health from less chronic stress, probably.
- tuesdaynight 1mo ago
  I'm surprised by how you need to answer that. I'm not sure if they are being obtuse, contrarian or defending their addiction (yes, I said it).
  - lazyasciiart 1mo ago
    And I’m surprised by your level of investment in being a jerk in this conversation.
    - tuesdaynight 1mo ago
      You are right, I'm sorry. My previous message was way over the tone
      - tonyedgecombe 1mo ago
        It seemed appropriate to me considering the question from @lazyasciiart.
- lazyasciiart 1mo ago
  Yes, not thinking about serious problems because they don’t personally impact you will make your life more comfortable. Butler appears to be making the less obviously self serving argument that spending time being aware of serious problems is only hurting your ability to do anything about them, which implies that he is better able to do something about them because he does not spend time knowing about them. I think that he isn’t doing anything about them, and therefore his pretense that people would be more effective by staying offline is crap.

pseudalopex 1mo ago

> Has the knowledge of the issues increased your agency in a meaningful way such that you've taken actions to improve things Yes.

johnnyanmac 1mo ago
Yes. Maybe I'm not taking immediate action now (as I'm still looking for a full time role), but it has shaped how I want to go about my next 2-5 years after I fix my own issues. I don't want to just lean on the sidelines, I want to do my part and help out where I can. Be it financially (when money permits) or physically.

autoexec 1mo ago

> What are you doing to fix the issues though? You can't always expect to be able to fix everything yourself, but you often can take steps to help or at least protect yourself. It just depends on what's in the news. Very recently, I've started avoiding produce from Taylor Farms. Good thing I was paying attention to the news when that mess started. It was only by reading the news that I became aware of a change in how postmarks were being added by the USPS and that saved me some potential headaches. Being informed can result in things like patching vulnerable software, withdrawing supporting a political candidate, reaching out to your representatives about issues that concern you, asking your doctor about treatments/medications/vaccines, exploring new media, changing or delaying travel plans, changing your spending habits, making adjustments to investments, etc. What does ignorance get you?

tuesdaynight 1mo ago
You are making valid points, but most people will spend their day reading about other places governments or presidential scandals. For 99% of people, knowing what Trump or whatever politician is doing does not change anything in your life. Also, you have no control or power for changing something about it. If you spent 70% of your day worried about Trump while you live in Estonia (random example), not reading the news is a good choice. You sound like someone who can avoid these traps, but I can say that this is not a common behavior. Most people will bite the ragebait
- duskdozer 1mo ago
  Accepting the 99% figure, 1% is not a particularly small number. That's about 3.5 million people in the US alone. And it becomes much greater when you consider anyone who cares about someone in that 1%.
  - tuesdaynight 1mo ago
    If you are American, yes. If you live in a random country, and don't have personal relations with the USA, reading about Trump's actions will only give you anxiety (if you disagree with his positions, of course)

yulker 1mo ago

Why does one need to be proactively doing anything to justify awareness and holding a point of view?

duskdozer 1mo ago

Yes, it has. Not "tuning out" the news has helped me mitigate significant problems for me personally, which a delay of a couple days would have meant it was too late. I think your word choice ("enjoying living in a perpetually outraged state", "martyrdom") seems to show more outrage than a lot of the people you rail against. It's also my impression that most people who want everybody to turn off the news agree with or don't care about any bad things happening to people that are being reported on.