No news is good news

Why are we so addicted to news and political commentary?

I must apologize to my dwindling number of readers, because I keep writing or making videos about many different things and even avoiding news commentary lately.

You know, I usually have only one dislike in my occasional videos on YouTube. I think it’s always the same person, maybe a secret hater. But the latest video about conspiracies had 8 dislikes. Wow. So, I guess that didn’t work. The art videos were also not that great, so I stopped doing them for the moment.

But the truth is that I really stopped reading the news and political commentary (well, as much as I can — it’s almost impossible to avoid it altogether) and will try to continue to avoid doing so, at least until Easter.

Why?

I think that we are all addicted to news. I am too. The first thing I would do every morning would be to read the news and then my favourite political blogs (nothing mainstream, all in alternative news sites or blogs, things you probably never even heard about).

But in the modern world we receive much more information than we need. Many times I think about people in the Middle Ages. Most people couldn’t even read, unless they were monks or higher class, and in any case there were no newspapers back then. People got informed by word of mouth, by the local priest at church, or sometimes by official messengers, but it was usually just about local stuff. Like: Vikings have just raided a village nearby and killed all the men and raped all the women, so run for your lives!

You know, important stuff that could probably affect you.

But today we are supposed to fret about a tsunami in Japan, a tornado in Kansas, the new dress code laws in France and the ongoing fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan. Plus a lot of other things which usually don’t affect us directly. And, even when they do, there’s nothing we can do about it. So it’s just a lot of worry for nothing.

To compound the problem, there is a lot of manipulation and lies on the news, when not completely manufactured events. It is by design. We live under constant psychological terror. We must fear terrorist attacks, or a pandemic, or a world war, or an economic crisis, or having 51 different genders to choose from.

I think there is an explanation for our addiction to news, and it probably comes from the fact that during most of human history, it was useful to know the most you could about your surroundings and about the people around you. Sometimes, it could mean life or death.

But with the invention of the printing press, and today with smartphones and social media, we receive much more information that we might possibly need. A constant, never-ending stream.

This is used by the powers that be to keep us in a constant state of propaganda overdrive. And when there are no real events to torment you, they even create fake ones.

But I understand that most people come here looking for their fix of news commentary. And, when they can’t find it, they get frustrated.

“Man, what is this crap about drawing and art? You are supposed to be talking about Trump and Russia and China!”

There’s a philosopher, Isaiah Berlin, who said that people are divided into foxes or hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are those who have one big idea or interest or specialization, and do that over and over. Foxes are those who have multiple interests and jump constantly from one thing to the next.

It’s true I was obsessed with international events for over a year. There are some guys, I don't follow them anymore but they have been doing videos about the war in the Ukraine since 2022, basically one new video every day, always about the same issues. And I guess it’s great, it’s working for them and they have much more viewers than I could ever dream to have.

But what can I say? I’m a fox. I cannot keep my interest in just one single thing forever. Unless I got paid for it. A lot. But I’m not paid.

To be honest, it feels great not reading the news for a while. In fact, I wish I could avoid them completely, but in the modern world this is basically impossible. Unless you throw away your cell phone and live alone in a cabin in the forest like Thoreau or the Unabomber, something always filters in.

In any case, unless I decide to move to a cabin, I think I will keep writing or making videos about whatever strikes my fancy on that particular day. Art, history, poetry, maybe even cooking. Or pets. Or conspiracy theories.

Some may like it. Some may not. Whatever. Life is short. There's no need to add even more worries. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.

A replica of Thoreau's cabin in Walden.