Call me an ostrich or call me naive. Maybe both are true. I am refusing to get sucked into both fear mongering and blame game when it comes to the economic climate. DH was fit to be tied yelling at the TV yesterday. Of course they're all liers, or minimally playing loose with reality. I find it funny that Sunday morning television is amuck with political pundits and interviews with Joe or Jane politician or, flip a channel and you get money grubbing mega church evangelists begging for contributions to save our sorry souls. A pox on all these houses! But it doesn't do me, or him any good other than maybe tension release, to yell and ruin a good morning.
Ultimately, we all just need to pay attention to what is impacting us. We need to make financial decisions that are in our best interest, while doing our best to not harm another. I like to practice small economy and make a game of it. I like to live, most of the time, below our means and tuck something away for the future and current rainy days. I want my money teamed up with other's money to do good in my community. These two are a balance. We save so we won't be a burden to our kids in the future, while still taking some communal responsibility with our income.
I plan to turn off the television more, and get real news via radio where it's brief.I can always look up and get more details on things I need to follow better, but the constant haranguing isn't good for any of us. I also don't want to get in the trap of looking for confirmation bias. The extreme conspiracy theorists go deep on this one I'm sure, but even level headed among us can be prone to flipping channels until we hear people we agree with.
I can see prices in stores, statements on savings and investments myself. I see the price of gas when I fill up, and not going to drive out of my way to find lower prices. I'll see the utility bills when they come. I don't want to waste natural resources anyway, so keeping an eye on our consumption of gas, electricity, and water is smart even if the world of news reporters and politicians were declaring the economy the strongest in history. The point is, I'm trying to train myself to ignore those shouting, trust myself, my friends and family, trust you all, about what's going on and how to navigate the challenging times.
I miss the days when the reporters just reported the facts. You never knew what they believed, it was just the facts. Now, I do not watch or listen to anything but the local news. Like you I can see what is going on and the only thing I can control is how I respond to it all.
ReplyDeleteA happened here at location B. D,C,E, and F we're there. Those were the good old days. Even when theses shows seemingly try to report, they screen shot they interview and what questions are asked.
DeleteLike Lori, I want the unbiased facts. We can then bring our own lens to our interpretation of those facts, but facts shouldn't be debated. Yet, somehow, here we are.
ReplyDeleteI've been so stressed out about work, I've forced myself to reduce stress elsewhere. I suppose that's a modest win? ;-)
That's what has become crazy. The blatant ignoring of facts. There are no alternative facts. There's different interpretations of the cause or potential fall out, but the facts remains.
DeleteJust saw a tweet: "Periodic reminder to the press that if it's raining and some batsh@! fascist cult leader says that it isn't, your job is not to report to us that there are differing views about the weather. It's to look out the $&@# window."
ReplyDeleteI love this. Let the batsh@! Cultist followers believe the lie, but the reporter shouldn't give a platform to nonsense.
DeleteI try to read rather than watch or listen to the news. I just want the facts unvarnished by opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat's becoming hard too. Traditional reporting is hard to come by.
Deletelocal news most the time. If I want something else I google it and avoid all the other crap. Getting a correct weather forecast is a 50/50 as we are at the very end of the radar from 3 towers so none of them are really correct. I now understand why my parents cried over Nixon.
ReplyDeleteWeather at least is using education and science to deduce what's happening to predict what will happen next. With other forms of news, too much bias and judgement has been brought in.
DeleteI listen to the news and hate the opinion guys, fear mongers. But, my opinion is that we can learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. I read, also. I don't yell at the tv, but I do speak loudly to the idiots. I never listen to conservative programs. It makes me too sick to listen to them. I get enough of that on the regular news. I also don't want to hear the extreme left go on and on. I do think it our duty to listen to the news or read about it.
ReplyDeleteEvery day, I ask Tommy to refresh me on how bad it was with Nixon. He is so much younger than me that he does not remember! I remember chaos and being distraught. I was an adult with two children.
Actually, I do listen to conservative programs to see what they are saying.
DeleteSome can separate, but the last six years have shown too many people can't. They literally see a fire in front of a burning building and are told by some people charlatan it's ok, it's alright, fire's good, so they pour gasoline in it.
DeleteOne way to minimize the noise is to search for how foreign media outlets are reporting US news, they have more impartiality.
ReplyDeleteI like to listen to BBC World Service. You'd think I'm. Minnesota I could get Canadian news easier.
DeleteIt is very hard to get straight facts, so I take everything with a grain of salt. I am just concentrating on what is going to help me the most. Right now it is getting 1600.00 together for the last 1/2 of our property taxes. Then all the major bills for the year are paid. Anything extra will be allocated where I think it will help the most.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to get caught up in the news drama and I refuse.
I spent too much time getting sucked in. Seeing DH Sunday was an eye opener. They all lie to us. We just need to sy attention to facts, handle our own lives, and not let them get us divided by elevating rhetoric.
DeleteI just saw yesterday about a preacher in the US somewhere haranguing his congregation because they hadn't bought him the new watch he asked for (around $3,000 if I remember right)!!!!! Say what????? At least he was publicly shown up but hell if I'd attend a church like that! But I agree with you on the TV business. I unplugged mine in January when the windows guy came to measure up and I haven't plugged it back in since! Goes to show, I suppose. Now if I could just limit my computer time to about an hour .....
ReplyDeleteI read that report about the preacher, and I was like, oh heck no! Who do YOU think you are?
DeleteI had to Google that. Apalling, but I'm not surprised. It goes back to Jim and Tammy Faye Baker that the masses should be honoring God by rewarding the messenger. The poor people, money and mind, that are taken in by these con artists are being abused.
DeleteI like BBC news, it's mostly sane and little bias. I agree with Mr T's comments.
ReplyDeleteI'd love recommendations on other streaming besides BBC World Service. It's good, but sometimes too much depth on subjects I don't need to know more about.
DeleteListening to the network news channel (I don't care who they are) leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Particularly the fear mongering, and the sneering commentary...give me a break. You're free to state your opinion...just don't tell me your opinion matters more than mine.
ReplyDeleteWe need to know what's going on. We don't need to be told how to respond. And you nailed it, their opinion has no more importance than yours.
DeleteAs Simon and Garfunkle once said, "I get all the news I need on the weather report." And it's true! I read the headlines and go deeper on things I care about in an actual newspaper (we get them free at work), but I can't watch the news on TV at all.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to the classics to cut to the chase. Most people are of sound mind and can figure things out, or can talk and discuss with other level headed folks. No one in DC, New York, LA ( well my son can), or places far and wide know enough to tell us anything about living our lives and who to trust.
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