Should everyone follow the news?

Dave!

Hey folks,

Was just listening to the radio when they mentioned that Madonna has left rules for Guy Ritchie for when he's minding the kids... Lots of wierdo sh*t about the food they eat, etc., but one of the things mentioned was that they're not allowed to read the paper or watch the news. This made me think "ahh billionaires blocking their children off from the 'real world', how disgusting".

But leaving Madonna and all that stupid sh*t aside.......

There are alot of people -- adults, too -- that don't take any interest in the news, current affairs, politics, or anything of that nature. My brother, for one! He's 28 and has precious little interest in or knowledge of current affairs outside of what impacts him directly.

What do you think of people like this?
Is it everyone's responsibility to ensure they know what's going on around the world at a given time? Is it just a hobby of certain people and they're deluding themselves if they think it's important to know about who won the American election? Are they just protecting themselves so that they don't have to deal with pictures of war, etc.?

And why are some people like this?
Laziness? Ignorance? Simply lack of interest? Protecting themselves?

Off ye go!

Crumble Froo

if only one person told the truth
we could do away with news
and each other's views on matter of fact
as a matter of fact i think your views are cracked
as a matter of fact

i can no longer smell
i'm losing other senses as well
like my sense of well being and being well
this self abused attitude takes a lot of getting used to
it takes a lot of getting used to
tell me it's a beautiful day
tell me it's a beautiful day

i'm higher on the anxiety about getting my next fix
than i am when i get it
more more more
until i can't take anymore watch me drop to the floor
won't you revill in it all i derserve it all

tell me it's a beautiful day
tell me it's a beautiful day
i open my mouth and like chinese whispers
michael jackson's going out with my kid sister
but i'm an only child
and if you believe what i said
you're out of your head
tell me it's a beautiful day
tell me it's a beautiful day

beauty goes deeper than i can see
some i can feel some i can taste
some i can hear some i can smell
and i'm losing other senses as well
tell me
tell me
tell me it's a beautiful day

all peace in the world again today

Danbo!

Probably

4zn76tysfajdxp

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

Was just listening to the radio when they mentioned that Madonna has left rules for Guy Ritchie for when he's minding the kids... Lots of wierdo sh*t about the food they eat, etc., but one of the things mentioned was that they're not allowed to read the paper or watch the news. This made me think "ahh billionaires blocking their children off from the 'real world', how disgusting".

But leaving Madonna and all that stupid sh*t aside.......

Well you know, she probably didn't want them to read something about themselves or her.

I don't read the news often enough, in fact I don't read anything nowadays. I should look into that, thanks Dave.

m@cc@

What I found baffling is that few people here in the Netherlands know what the Northern Ireland confict is about (what is it all about you may say), yet I could tell you what the conflicts in Kosovo and Chechnya are about. I could even tell you why Belgium is tearing itself apart. I just find it difficult to understand how people could not know about these things.

Dave!

Maxine Noisy Rowboat wrote: »

Well you know, she probably didn't want them to read something about themselves or her.

Ah, that makes sense!

Maxine Noisy Rowboat wrote: »

I don't read the news often enough, in fact I don't read anything nowadays. I should look into that, thanks Dave.

drunkmonkey

the news is nothing more than a propaganda machine for vested intrestes...It steals your dreams and batters your spirit....

I understand why people have no intrest in the news, it has nothing got to do with them!!......do I really give a toss about a storm in america or a rise in Asian intrest rates, NO. Now switch back on Family Guy.....

Giggdy giggdy...

connundrum

I find it amazing that people don't follow the news or that some people are completely immune to happenings in the outside world.

I understand that a lot of news i.e. the US presidential election can be a little overpowering in the manner it is reported, but it'll do you no harm to listen to 15 minutes of news a day, or indeed read the first 5 pages of most newspapers.

javaboy

I follow The News religiously. The last thing of note they did was the Pineapple Express soundtrack. The film was crap but the music was great.

4zn76tysfajdxp

It's hip to be square you know.

drunkmonkey

connundrum wrote: »

I find it amazing that people don't follow the news or that some people are completely immune to happenings in the outside world

Why? What has the news got to do with your life, if you never saw or heard the news you can still live quite happily without carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders....tbh, the news does nothing more than depress me, i'd rather be watching porn...;)

doolox

For most people most news is irrelevant. The business sector has dominated the news because they have no other way of getting their story out. Officially most banks and other businesses are not allowed to talk to each other so they do it over the airwaves and newsprint to get people to think in a way that makes profit for them.
Sports is another irrelevant thing which dominates newspaper coverage, except for the players and some of the people involved in trading merchandise related to sport, it is not relevant to the lives of ordinary people.
Politics for most people is not of great interest since they have little choice on who gets elected. The internet may change that because now you can have direct access to local politicians by email on something that concerns you but it won't be long until that is filtered out by putting assistant in charge of email accounts and keeping their personal email addresses secret.

starflake

Her kids are still quite young so I can't blame her for not wanting them to read the news... I would imagine it's the news of her being in another relationship already that she doesn't want them to see. Divorce is hard enough for kids without seeing it on tv screens and splashed across the tabloids... I reckon she's being as normal as she can be considering the abnormal lifestyle she leads

Dave!

Madonna wasn't really the topic, she just put the idea for the thread in my head!

It's about the news in general

Rob_l

I read page 3 of the sun every weekday

Tech3

honestly i watch the news but i can see why people couldnt be bothered watching it.

obama wins the presidency and big earthquake in an island in asia its not really worth watching unless your actually interested. You are gaining no advantage watching the news really.

Dudess

Still though, my friend's sis says stuff like "I hate the news, it's boring!" Wtf? She's 27. That's like something a nine-year-old would say.

Rob_l

Dudess wrote: »

Still though, my friend's sis says stuff like "I hate the news, it's boring!" Wtf? She's 27. That's like something a nine-year-old would say.

She is right though I mean its certainly no epiosode of eastenders is it?

javaboy

Rob_l wrote: »

She is right though I mean its certainly no epiosode of eastenders is it?

Earthquakes, innocent people being murdered, schools collapsing and killing so many kids, more murders. You're right it's no episode of Eastenders. The news isn't nearly as depressing.

Puddleduck

No, I dont watch the news. Im saving that for old age so that I can call up whatever relatives I have and go 'Did you see that on the news, god isnt that just awful, dreadful altogether'

stovelid

I can't help watching it, even if I get depressed. They could save license money by reusing old news items from the 80's though.

c - 13

If you pick up a lot of newspapers (even some of the respected broadsheets) quite a bit of it is about celebrity this and that, then you have general stupid reports (Dog gets stuck in railings crap). Same goes for most TV news.

For that reason I avoid both of them. I'd rather read actual news not who's having what for breakfast or who's dating who.

I try to keep up with the news online mostly and in the car when i'm driving as well (not much celebrity crap in it over here thankfully). The problem I find with online is unless you read it very regularly you can easily miss stuff.

Then again I suppose thats true with any medium.

ntlbell

Dudess wrote: »

Still though, my friend's sis says stuff like "I hate the news, it's boring!" Wtf? She's 27. That's like something a nine-year-old would say.

It is boring, it's mostly irrelevant to people's daily lives.

It's mostly lies and full of muppetry from vested interests.

take the RTE 9 o clock news...

nonsense nonsense nonsense - someone you dont know got shot.

it's going to rain tomorrow.

I often go months without picking up a paper or listening to the news on tv or radio..

it makes little difference one way or another _most_ of the time..

ScumLord

I only watch rte news on the tele. I don't get newspapers because their all opinionated bastards trying to get us to turn on each other out of fear.

I like igoogles news. I can just stick up all the Irish headlines along with science and technology news. The world is a much brighter place without newspapers.

Dudess

I take issue with the news being called boring because that's like speaking about a soap. No matter who you are, there's bound to be (most of the time) at least one story you'll find interesting. "Boring" also implies that it's the same thing over and over again - no it isn't. Again, it's not like a quiz show, it's real life. Real life doesn't follow a formula.

DonkeyStyle \o/

It's for the same reason I don't watch soaps... I've enough problems of my own without sitting down to watch other people's.
It's all just doom, gloom and shít I can't do anything about... and sports which I'm not remotely interested in.
Maybe I'd feel more worldly and intellectual if I sat down to watch RTÉ news every day... knowing how many people died in car crashes over the weekend or how TD #1 reacted to comments made by TD #2 on yet another issue that doesn't concern me.

Let's see what I'm missing on the BBC News website... hmm "US aid worker killed in Pakistan"... what am I supposed to do with that exactly? Grab my rosary beads and pray for his soul? I don't see how my knowledge of this event is of use to anyone, or how it changes anything... except maybe that I should avoid doing aid work in Pakistan.
Yeah the world is a fúcked up place... I get it... I don't need daily reminders.

Dudess

It's not all doom and gloom though. I change channels when the miserable stuff is on, but there's interesting stuff too - e.g. the current cervical cancer vaccination controversy.
I'm not saying you're low-brow if you don't watch the news - not at all. However I do think it's ignorant and dismissive and a bit stupid frankly to make a blanket statement like "the news is boring". That's kinda like saying "films are boring". Come on, be a bit more specific.

ntlbell

Dudess wrote: »

I take issue with the news being called boring because that's like speaking about a soap. No matter who you are, there's bound to be (most of the time) at least one story you'll find interesting. "Boring" also implies that it's the same thing over and over again - no it isn't. Again, it's not like a quiz show, it's real life. Real life doesn't follow a formula.

You'll notice something about the parts of "real life" Irish news anyway tends to follow..

and over time it does become the same thing over and over again

granted it might be a different person getting sent down for murder or rape or assault but it after a few years watching news it does tend to follow the same things over again..

I was lucky enough to not watch news on the recession in the 80;s

for some it's there 3rd and 4th your saying listening to the same stories day in day out wouldn't get boring?

I find people who spend a lot of time watching news and reading papers have very little going on in their own lives and tend to talk about the worlds news stories all day very irritating..

ntlbell

Dudess wrote: »

It's not all doom and gloom though. I change channels when the miserable stuff is on, but there's interesting stuff too - e.g. the current cervical cancer vaccination controversy.
I'm not saying you're low-brow if you don't watch the news - not at all. However I do think it's ignorant and dismissive and a bit stupid frankly to make a blanket statement like "the news is boring". That's kinda like saying "films are boring". Come on, be a bit more specific.

So you turn off the news when what's on doesn't suit you only when it's something you're interested in then call people ignorant and dismissive and stupid?

lolz

DonkeyStyle \o/

I didn't say it was boring.
I'm sure it's of interest to some people... I just don't find it personally relevant most of the time.

SpookyDoll

I studiously avoid "the news", programmes about politics etc

Our brains were designed to cope with a small amount of relevant news from an area about 7 miles radius around us, thats as far as humans generally travelled until 100 years ago and our brains have not changed since then.

Sucking up irrelevant facts (generally miserable unchangeable facts) about wars, famines, disasters etc from around the globe has been proven to add immesurably to the stress levels of the modern person. We are not designed to cope with it.

As for politics it is so repetitive why waste your brains resources following the machinations of it?
I'd rather protect my sanity, what little I have left!

We do not need to know 99% of the so called "news" that goes on around the world. I have no intentions of getting involved in worrying about things I cant change. It doesn't mean I dont feel bad to know about hunger, suffering from war etc I do feel bad, very bad, I cant cope with it at all.

When America invaded Iraq I just went, fuk it thats it, I am not entertaining this bull**** on the telly and in the papers for the next 10 years. I have problems of my own to concentrate on. Plus its a totally artificially created problem I didnt create, I cannot solve and I refuse to be indoctrinated with it all day long just to appear "knowledgable"
Nope.

Human beings were not designed to assimilate the unchecked amount of worrying yet irrelevant information that we are forced to process every day. Therefore the choice is simple, choose not to. I view it as mental pollution and I protect myself from it.

I do not feel one bit of shame for my choice, I also feel as militant about advertising, I mute the ads on telly/radio and immediately chuck ALL junk mail to the bin and refuse to read ads in papers etc

We need to start filtering out the stuff that is forced on us daily. Christmas, theres another thing, dont get me started, we need to set up rules to protect those who do not want the poxy pile of ****e forced on them 2 or 3 months a year. It needs to be contained.

All in all, I believe we need to start making more intelligent choices about the mental pollution that is all around us. I am not motivated by fear of shame, the shame that is prescribed for me by.......someone else....

Black Swan

What was it that Don Henley said in that old song called "Dirty Laundry?"

"I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I dont have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry"

Geeeeeez, I hate doing the laundry, much less hearing about it in metaphor!

javaboy

SpookyDoll wrote: »

I studiously avoid "the news", programmes about politics etc

Our brains were designed to cope with a small amount of relevant news from an area about 7 miles radius around us, thats as far as humans generally travelled until 100 years ago and our brains have not changed since then.

Sucking up irrelevant facts (generally miserable unchangeable facts) about wars, famines, disasters etc from around the globe has been proven to add immesurably to the stress levels of the modern person. We are not designed to cope with it.

As for politics it is so repetitive why waste your brains resources following the machinations of it?
I'd rather protect my sanity, what little I have left!

We do not need to know 99% of the so called "news" that goes on around the world. I have no intentions of getting involved in worrying about things I cant change. It doesn't mean I dont feel bad to know about hunger, suffering from war etc I do feel bad, very bad, I cant cope with it at all.

When America invaded Iraq I just went, fuk it thats it, I am not entertaining this bull**** on the telly and in the papers for the next 10 years. I have problems of my own to concentrate on. Plus its a totally artificially created problem I didnt create, I cannot solve and I refuse to be indoctrinated with it all day long just to appear "knowledgable"
Nope.

Human beings were not designed to assimilate the unchecked amount of worrying yet irrelevant information that we are forced to process every day. Therefore the choice is simple, choose not to. I view it as mental pollution and I protect myself from it.

I do not feel one bit of shame for my choice, I also feel as militant about advertising, I mute the ads on telly/radio and immediately chuck ALL junk mail to the bin and refuse to read ads in papers etc

We need to start filtering out the stuff that is forced on us daily. Christmas, theres another thing, dont get me started, we need to set up rules to protect those who do not want the poxy pile of ****e forced on them 2 or 3 months a year. It needs to be contained.

All in all, I believe we need to start making more intelligent choices about the mental pollution that is all around us. I am not motivated by fear of shame, the shame that is prescribed for me by.......someone else....

tl;dr :pac:

Dudess

ntlbell wrote: »

So you turn off the news when what's on doesn't suit you only when it's something you're interested in then call people ignorant and dismissive and stupid?

Yeah - got it in one.

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

I didn't say it was boring.
I'm sure it's of interest to some people... I just don't find it personally relevant most of the time.

That was not directed at you, it was just a general comment.

javaboy

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah - got it in one.

But how do you know when to turn back to the news? That terrible story about a mudslide in Peru could be followed up with a soft news story about a cat being rescued from a tree. What if you missed the start of the cat story because you were busy avoiding the Peruvian one? PIP would be handy for that actually.

ntlbell

javaboy wrote: »

But how do you know when to turn back to the news? That terrible story about a mudslide in Peru could be followed up with a soft news story about a cat being rescued from a tree. What if you missed the start of the cat story because you were busy avoiding the Peruvian one? PIP would be handy for that actually.

How do you do it all stay non ignorant and be in a place where you can then look down on people and call them ignorant for not watching the news?

This is a prime example of why ignorance really is bliss..

SpookyDoll

tl;dr :pac:

What does it mean!?!

ntlbell

SpookyDoll wrote: »

What does it mean!?!

too long didn't read

SpookyDoll

har har!! Bit like the newspaper!! tl;dr :pac:

Dudess

ntlbell wrote: »

How do you do it all stay non ignorant and be in a place where you can then look down on people and call them ignorant for not watching the news?

It's not looking down on anyone, that's merely how you chose to interpret it for the sake of argument. It's not the "not watching news" that's ignorant. Dismissing something when you don't even watch it - that's what's ignorant.

Latchy

We live in a world of saturation news coverage .Soon as you turn your pc on google has all the latest news reports.When you walk into some banks and stores they have live radio with constant news reports.Very hard to escape what's going on in the world but we all have our switch off points. Personally i find anything to do with Madonna in the news as boring and not worth my attention span .

Dyr

So people still actually believe that the stuff they broadcast on telly is the news?

Weird.

GrayD

I read what I want and I listen to what I want. Some stuff interests me some stuff doesn't.

Don't see how it makes someone better or not because they read the indo cover to cover just to say they did it.

Dave!

I haven't actually bought a newspaper in months.... Someone mentioned iGoogle earlier -- that thing is class! All the sports, news, and science headlines are right there on my homepage :eek: I use the computer/internet daily, so it's a waste of money for me to buy a paper.

ejmaztec

SpookyDoll wrote: »

har har!! Bit like the newspaper!! tl;dr :pac:

ts;du










too short didn't understand :pac:

kmick

I dont read the bible but I think it said it best...

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. {10} Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. {11} There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. {12} I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. {13} I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! {14} I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Who needs the news and dont get me started on the weather.

Zangetsu

lmfao

thelordofcheese

latchyco wrote: »

Personally i find anything to do with Madonna in the news as boring and not worth my attention span .

People seem to be mistaking the antics of an ancient tart as 'news'.

Frankly, i'd think less of someone who wilfully ignores what's going on in the world around them. The same way i'd think less of someone who claims the earth is flat, or that evolution is a lie created by the devil.

Biggins

Is the news important. 80% of it is useless (Paris Hilton. Lohan and Britney have a lot to answer for) and irrevalent pulp for the brain dead.
10% is vital in relation to every days prices and close enviromental aspects.
The rest is useful to know so that we can try and forsee/tell whats is coming that might effect us soon.

Everyone of intelligence should follow at least some parts of the news - the actual real useful parts!

karen3212

I definately think some people should stop watching and reading the news, and try and see what life is like for themselves. Some older people are afraid to go outside because they watch so much scary news.

I wouldn't let kids watch the news.

kmick

thelordofcheese wrote: »

People seem to be mistaking the antics of an ancient tart as 'news'.

Frankly, i'd think less of someone who wilfully ignores what's going on in the world around them. The same way i'd think less of someone who claims the earth is flat, or that evolution is a lie created by the devil.

It is called filtration not wilful ignorance. Watching the news on RTE1 is 30 minutes wasted when you assimilate the info in a minute flat on irishurls or the like. Plus the news should be over when there is no more news. Some nights the news is like an edition of Nationwide.