I’ll be honest, I don’t even want to read articles anymore. Its just crazy cabinet nominees every time. Wars happening. Nothing I can control. I just post something sarcastic or jokes in the comments. The only thing I care is if a hurricane is headed in my direction.

Y’all actually read all this shit? How does anyone have the energy?

  • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    Depends on the article.

    If it’s something I have a genuine interest in, then heck yeah, I read the article. I like me some long-form discussion, so if it’s a high quality article then I need to read it in order to make a high quality comment.

    If it’s about politics it requires more nuance. I’m not going to stay quiet about things that do have the potential to affect me, the people I care about, and humans in general. I’m also not going to go out of my way to consume a ton of propaganda. That’s when the pithy jokes come in, usually with a goal of calling out misinformation or general assholery.

    By and large, the vast majority of headlines are bait. You’re not going to get a clear picture of what’s going on from a loaded title anyway, and it’s alarming how often people make the opposite inference from the headline compared to the body of the article. I suppose it’s human nature to look for easy answers, but if you only look at the summary then you’re allowing other people to form your opinion for you. Those people always have an agenda.

    In this political climate, the news is probably going to make the average reader angry. If it does that means it’s working - either because they’re consuming hateful propaganda or because they’re being agitated against the evils of the establishment. This is by design: you can garner more clicks from angry, frightened people, and they’re usually easier to control that way.

    I agree that you can’t take on the burdens of the world as an individual. But ignoring problems that have no will to resolve themselves only allows those issues to perpetuate themselves. Something about evil succeeding when good people do nothing.

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      2 days ago

      I do basic research, and vote, and then basically ignore the news and wash the sins off of me. I aint responsible for how everyone else voted. I voted, I did my part. If evil wins, that wasn’t my fault.

      Now I can skim headlines and make jokes in the comments while I wait to see what happens in the future.

      • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        I agree that it’s healthy to be able to disconnect from the news.

        I also think that current events are going to get real bad, real fast, real soon. Then again I’m part of a minority that has some of the most vile rhetoric thrown at them, so that probably colours my opinion a smidge.

        I hope you get to vote in the next cycle. I also hope that everyone starts doing something for their community beyond showing up to vote once every four years. The world’s not going to change for the better otherwise.