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Child Item

Do you know adults who have no interest in whats happening in the world?

NIMAN

I'm wondering how many of them are out there, who live in their own wee bubble and just float along not knowing whats going on around them?

I ask because I have a mate, a man in his 40s with a big family, and he has zero interest in current affairs, politics, news etc. Never reads about these topics, watches news programmes or documentaries.

One big example was the time of Ryanair and their rostering problem. Its was wall to wall coverage on Irish and UK news (and I'm sure big around large parts of Europe too) and right bang in the middle of the mess he was due to fly to the UK with Ryanair in a few weeks time. When I met him I asked if he had checked if his was one of the cancelled flights?

He replied "Why, why would it be cancelled"
Me : cos of the whole mess Ryanair is in with their pilots.
Him : What mess, never heard anything about it
Me: Its been on the news for the last fortnight.
Him: Naw, never heard about it.

Now to avoid that kind of news takes serious effort.

And often when we chat and I'd say "well thats a right mess at Stormont now, what with it all collapsing and all", he'd ask "why, what happened". Totally oblivious of anything political. Zero interest (perhaps a lot of people have no interest in politics?).

Could be anything. I know if I met him now and tried to have a discussion about gun control in the US or the latest shooting, he'd not have a clue that it ever happened.

So, do we all know someone like this?

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TheDavester

a lot of the content now is going either celeb crap or the overly left - used to listen to radio (today fm) where I got my news/going on in the world and now Since I got Spotify, ive now less and less heard today fm news bits, recently I listened a few days to it and now matt coopers gone soft/politically correct and their news bits have pieces onn what a Kardashian/jenner did or Ed Sheeran did is now apparently news

ive a few newspages on my social media pages e.g. Indo/Journal/Times and most of these outlets are full of irritating opinion pieces from shrill windbags like FOT/Mullaly whinging about trivial things or looking to identity politics to stir up nonsense and now I'm getting rid of them on my news feeds - id rather theyd tell the news instead of blaming trump for everything (not a trump fan) or pushing the pc agenda

dxhound2005

Hector Bellend wrote: »

That's about right.

They're lucky to have you as a beacon of intelligence in a sea of ignorance.

TheDavester

Bob_Marley wrote: »

I've always had a keen interest and followed current affairs, news and politics, but it's so depressing and divisive now, i'm thinking of dropping out from it all. Everything has to be politicised in a hysteria doom ad gloom fashion now from even things like gender, toilets, films, children's toys and clothes. It seems all about dividing ordinary people up as much as possible to they can be more easily controlled and conquered.

American politics and it's self destructing divided mess of country, still has way too much of an influence on Ireland and the UK and lot of american politics has been imported here. It's also getting nearly impossible to find a well researched, intelligent, objective and trustworthy media source that informs and educates people on all the facts, and then let's people make their own minds up and form their own opinions - instead your presented with one side of the argument or the other, and some selective facts or half truths at best, and then your spun what opinion is acceptable for you to hold and what you should think.

this x 10 ...put it better than I did

Hector Bellend

dxhound2005 wrote: »

They're lucky to have you as a beacon of intelligence in a sea of ignorance.

I only stated the obvious. No need for drama.

TheDavester

also I would love to be oblivious/hidden from all the abortion talk - both sides are increasingly nauseating and its going to get worse over the next while

limnam

TheDavester wrote: »

also I would love to be oblivious/hidden from all the abortion talk - both sides are increasingly nauseating and its going to get worse over the next while

I've somehow managed to miss it all bar scrolling past some thread titles on here.

It's a great place to be.

Capt'n Midnight

According to the opinion polls some people still support FF.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Mister Vain

I'm only interested to see if North Korea will ever launch a fúcking nuke.

Arghus

Loads. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard someone say "I don't watch the news."

eeguy

Hector Bellend wrote: »

Most adults I've encountered can't figure out what's going on in front of them, let alone what's happening in the rest of the world.

Most adults are willing morons with no idea about anything that goes on in the world.

Most adults don't need to know whats going on in the world.

There's a million news articles published every day. How do you define what's important and what's not?

Most stuff will never have an impact on you. How has anything Trump has done directly impacted you, or Brexit, or Leo's socks, or whatever else journalists are falling over themselves to cover.

RDM_83 again

eeguy wrote: »

Most adults don't need to know whats going on in the world.

There's a million news articles published every day. How do you define what's important and what's not?

Most stuff will never have an impact on you. How has anything Trump has done directly impacted you, or Brexit, or Leo's socks, or whatever else journalists are falling over themselves to cover.

While it's true for a lot of things it's not actually useful to follow current affairs it's not a blanket statement.

For example something like Brexit has real world consequences, or a even more complicated murky thing, future EU changes on taxes.
Both those could have a significant negative impact on Ireland which means if your looking at market value of houses you have to try work out if a market revaluation will happen in places like Dublin or will it keep booming.

The problem is increasingly the news has mixed the social with the hardcore political e.g the politicians socks thing which makes no difference to anybody.

The bias thing is also very awkward to avoid, it's easy to see that the sun will lean one way while the Guardian will lean the other but more apparently impartial sources have issues, for example the editor of the Financial Times a source you would presume would place a high regard on neutrality was awarded a French honour for "positive" debate about the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/08/ft-france-eu-lionel-barber-tweet
Using this as a link because if I linked to a British tabloid it would be automatically disbelieved, which brings up another modern thing. Just because you don't like the source doesn't mean the information is wrong.

Are Am Eye

I don't feel I have to keep up with the latest wrinkle or daily minutiae going on in the Ottoman Empire. It's done me no harm.

dxhound2005

RDM_83 again wrote: »

While it's true for a lot of things it's not actually useful to follow current affairs it's not a blanket statement.

For example something like Brexit has real world consequences, or a even more complicated murky thing, future EU changes on taxes.
Both those could have a significant negative impact on Ireland which means if your looking at market value of houses you have to try work out if a market revaluation will happen in places like Dublin or will it keep booming.

The problem is increasingly the news has mixed the social with the hardcore political e.g the politicians socks thing which makes no difference to anybody.

The bias thing is also very awkward to avoid, it's easy to see that the sun will lean one way while the Guardian will lean the other but more apparently impartial sources have issues, for example the editor of the Financial Times a source you would presume would place a high regard on neutrality was awarded a French honour for "positive" debate about the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/08/ft-france-eu-lionel-barber-tweet
Using this as a link because if I linked to a British tabloid it would be automatically disbelieved, which brings up another modern thing. Just because you don't like the source doesn't mean the information is wrong.

The Guardian is a British tabloid.

RDM_83 again

dxhound2005 wrote: »

The Guardian is a British tabloid.

I agree it's got pretty rubbish the last few years but it was used as a link because the British tabloids that covered the story would be instantly mocked. Which was my additional point that it's as bad as not seeing any biases to reject everything from a source because you don't like it's worldview

pimpmyhat

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Imagine if Brexit had never been a thing, even in concept. The news here and in the UK would have needed something else to prattle on about for more than 2 years, every single ****ing day.

What's brexit?

eeguy

RDM_83 again wrote: »

While it's true for a lot of things it's not actually useful to follow current affairs it's not a blanket statement.

For example something like Brexit has real world consequences, or a even more complicated murky thing, future EU changes on taxes.
Both those could have a significant negative impact on Ireland which means if your looking at market value of houses you have to try work out if a market revaluation will happen in places like Dublin or will it keep booming.

I believe that automation, AI, genetically modified, factory grown food and stem cells are much more important to us that transient political and economic events like Brexit, yet most people couldn't tell you a single fact about them.

Sure Brexit and Trump will blow over like everything else after a few years.

decky1

Me, couldn't give 2 fcuks , only buy the paper on a Saturday, read it that night , no interest at all, thank you and good night. PS Love the ould chat here though.

dd972

There's usually an element of self importance and grandiosity in that sort of person you describe OP, it's like having a house and a brood of kids feeds into some sort of 'Mafia Don' self image, a lot of these type of blokes are 'too important' to go to the pub and usually have few friends, sort of loners albeit with wifes and kids.

Vronsky

eeguy wrote: »

Most adults don't need to know whats going on in the world.

There's a million news articles published every day. How do you define what's important and what's not?

Most stuff will never have an impact on you. How has anything Trump has done directly impacted you, or Brexit, or Leo's socks, or whatever else journalists are falling over themselves to cover.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Living in your own merry little world is abdicating your responsibility as an adult citizen - because adult citizens need to make informed decisions for themselves and their dependents.

While trump or Brexit might not directly effect you, major changes in the political or economic environment eventually comes knocking at everyone's door.

Imagine an individual buying a house in late 2008. Unless this person knows that the arse is falling out of the economy they are potentially making a very bad decision, which might not just effect them but have wider repercussions for everyone else.

If I found out a person deliberately kept themselves uninformed it would greatly change my opinion of them. In that sense, this thread has been illuminating.

Cutie 3.14

As the great Morrissey recently sang in Dublin last week...

"And I recommend that you stop watching the news,
Because the news contrives to frighten you,
To make you feel small and alone,
To make you feel that your mind isn't your own"

I watch the news, I like to know what's going on in the world but I don't take massive interest in a lot of things that are going on because they don't directly affect me.

Don't get me wrong il keep an eye out for certain things as they're happening like big ongoing court cases but things like the marriage referendum debates I completely tuned out. I knew what way I was voting and didn't want to watch the snippets of Claire Byrne live when Iona representatives were on because it would only wind me up.
And il be doing the same for the Repeal referendum.

Ursummupet

I wouldn't say there's one single adult not interested in world or local news, their world might be a rabbits burrow or a new Jimmy Choo.

It's all perspective, and if I met someone passionate enough to keep me interested in Choos for a while, I'd say fair flucks, I couldn't have done that.

amtc

Personally I'd die if I didn't read my papers and watch news...but there are reasons why some people don't. My aunt cares for my grandmother who has very advanced dementia and can't be left unattended at any time. She has a sensory issie so can't have tv or radio on, and can't leave to get newspaper.

[Deleted User]

I made a decision a few years back to care less about the news and current affairs. Your mind only has limited capacity and minutes of the day during which it can worry and think about stuff and it’s a bad idea to spend those limited minutes concerned with the troubles of the world which wouldn’t concern you if you didn’t hear/watch/read about them. A few generations ago you wouldn’t have felt an iota of stress if the news somehow got to you that a few thousand people had been killed in an earthquake in some part of the world; the circle of empathy hadn’t been expanded yet and you felt no inclination to care and you had enough on your mind keeping you occupied.

I think most people were more ignorant of the news pre 2008, thinking bad news was something which happened only in “the past” in Ireland or in really unfortunate parts of the world. From 2008 onwards, when it was obvious that the content of the news would have an actual impact on all of us from now on, everyone became much more informed about current affairs, in my experience. Everyone had an opinion on things and were much more informed, as if they were trying to catch up on “how the world actually works” as they saw their world turn from stabilityand certainty to chaos. Remember people saying stuff like “why can’t they just print more money?”? A surprisingly common question in 2008/9 following many years of being able to be ignorant of such matters, it is something very few would ask now. Internet access and then smartphones fuelled this trend hugely. But I definitely think people care less about the news now than they did during the grim days around 2008-2012. I think a certain numbness took hold after a while and also the economy recovered from about 2015 onwards so people weren’t as bothered by economic news. But even Obama’s re-election in 2012 seems very forgettable, and did at the time too.

RocketRaccoon

I couldn't give a flying fiddlers about politics, I don't care who is ruining the country because from my experience every single one of them talk through their hoop. It doesn't matter who gets elected, they are all liars looking out for #1 hence I am not registered to vote.

I dont watch the news because its never anything good, it's all bad and depressing.

Brexit and all that? No idea what it's about and what the repercussions are.

People being evicted out of their houses? Tough ****, you were stupid and couldn't afford it. Get out and stop expecting everything handed to you.

I have enough worries in my own life and things/people to look after to be worried about most other things.

CrankyHaus

A lot of news is not very informative, manipulates it’s audience’s emotions or has a clear bias and someone tuned into it may not be much better informed than someone who avoids it altogether.

Pretty much every week since October the secretery in work has been telling me of heavy snow ‘this week’ because most media cynically exaggerates Met Éireann weather warnings as clickbait.

For the last week RTE, and other outlets, have been heavily reporting on the bombardment of Ghouta by Assad’s forces with emotion-led coverage such as witness accounts that do not appear to be verified in any way. While the viciousness of Assad’s regime is undeniable this coverage contrasts markedly with that of US backed forces taking Raqqa and Mosul last year which was all cool shots of advancing vehicles and awe-inspiring artillery firing, yet they too involved heavy bombardment of urban areas with horrendous civilian casulaties guaranteed. Someone only watching RTE would merely learn “US and its allies good, Assad and Russia bad”.

Even unbiased news can be very shallow nowadays and gives little information beyond the headline, presumably as less media outlets can afford people on the ground to report events so they just regurgitate other headlines.

So I wouldn’t be too worried about people ducking the news, most of it’s empty noise.

[Deleted User]

I've been more and more detached recently. I know what's happening but am not invested in it.

As for friends or partners knowing what's going on, I really don't care. There's only one person I know worth talking to about this stuff. And I'd rather sit in silence than listen to some of my other friends repeat whatever opinion they've been told to have. My brother's new girlfriend seems to want to fill any silence with some social commentary and it's frankly annoying because the ideas she has aren't her own.

megadodge

Bob_Marley wrote: »

I've always had a keen interest and followed current affairs, news and politics, but it's so depressing and divisive now, i'm thinking of dropping out from it all. Everything has to be politicised in a hysteria doom and gloom fashion now - even things like gender, toilets, films, children's toys and clothes. It seems all about dividing ordinary people up as much as possible so they can be more easily controlled, manipulated and conquered.

American politics and it's self destructing divided mess of country, still has way too much of an influence on Ireland and the UK and lot of american politics has been imported here. It's also getting nearly impossible to find a well researched, intelligent, objective and trustworthy media source that informs and educates people on all the facts, and then let's people make their own minds up and form their own opinions - instead you're presented with one side of the argument or the other, and some selective facts or half truths at best, and then you're spun what opinion is acceptable for you to hold and what you should think.

Perfect post. Thank you.

eeguy

Vronsky wrote: »

I couldn't disagree with you more. Living in your own merry little world is abdicating your responsibility as an adult citizen - because adult citizens need to make informed decisions for themselves and their dependents.

While trump or Brexit might not directly effect you, major changes in the political or economic environment eventually comes knocking at everyone's door.

Imagine an individual buying a house in late 2008. Unless this person knows that the arse is falling out of the economy they are potentially making a very bad decision, which might not just effect them but have wider repercussions for everyone else.

If I was buying a house if be researching house prices and how they're affected by the economy, but there is zero need, apart from one's own entertainment, to be constantly aware of Irish and world affairs.
It's depressing and distracting. You'd be better off spending time reading a book or getting a hobby.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.