atw: Re: OT: Culture [SEC = UNCLASSIFIED]

During the Gulf War (1990), I played the radio news almost continuously as I worked. My employer and I discussed it and worried about it almost daily. When Kuwait was liberated, I was burned out to a crisp on current events. I turned off the radio and TV news and stopped reading newspapers. (This was before Internet news, which is even more insidious than other forms.)

I was hardly aware of the government bungling of the Waco, Texas standoff between Koresh and the FBI. (Waco is a short drive from here, so local people had their ears glued to the radio for weeks.) O. J. Simpson's trial came and went, and I didn't care if he won, because I never followed the trial. I wouldn't have even known that he had won if someone hadn't told me.

I listened to the news after 9/11. Everyone did. But I never worried about terrorists. If you live in the West, you are more likely to win the lottery than to even meet a terrorist.

In the movie "What About Bob?" the psychiatrist gives Bob the prescription to take a vacation from his problems. I suggest doing the same with news. Live without it for a week. If you are like me, you will find that listening to it breeds worry over events beyond our control. If you find that you miss the entertainment value of news, then turn the radio back on.

On a related topic, getting too involved in politics makes people dislike each other. What happened to the days when people could disagree and still remain friends? Now people think of each other as "panty-waist liberals" and "neo-cons." Twenty years ago most people didn't know the difference between a liberal and a conservative.

Having said all that, I still listen to news occasionally!

Arnold

From: "Silcock, Howard DR" <Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Arnold, could I ask you to expand on your post? In four short sentences,
you make a number of unsupported assertions. There may be some truth in
them - and I'm sure you have personal concerns that caused you to make
them. Why not tell us about them? Otherwise you might just as well say,
in ringing tones, THE WORLD *IS* FLAT and then wonder why your
'argument' is convincing no-one.

(If anyone thinks this discussion is out of place on this list, I'd
suggest that the work of a tech writer is about communication and that
this sort of discussion does have some relevance. I'm happy to say more
on request.)
Howard

[Andrea Tappe] <snip> And probably no one would notice - the
current American culture is designed to keep us deaf, dumb,
stupid, in a chronic state of panic and isolated from the rest
of the world.
MHT[Andrea Tappe] </snip>


This has nothing to do with American culture. It is the news
media. Stop listening to the news and you will gain peace of
mind. News junkies worry needlessly over things they cannot
change.



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