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I turned off the news
#1

I turned off the news
I'm an unabashed current events and politics addict. I have a subscription to the New York Times, I listen to NPR and I watch CNN a lot. I read online newspapers from my old hometown and websites for European news outlets, sometimes with Google translate if there's no English version. 


About 11 days ago, after finding myself pissed off all the time, I decided to go cold turkey and turn it all off. I somehow lasted a week, breaking the fast for the Democratic debate and then indulged full bore over the next day or so.
But I felt the anger returning so turned it all off again.

And I can't remember when I've been in such a good mood.

I've gotten lots of reading done and my house is more organized than usual. If I want to watch tv, there are so many other choices than the news - who knew??

I did slip a bit yesterday while in jury duty, out of boredom. I checked a few news sites (I guess Andrew Yang dropped out of the race?) purely out of desperation.
I'm not giving up my New York Times subscription so I'll catch up a bit maybe on the weekends.

So if you feel your blood pressure rising while reading or watching the news, turn that shit off!

 White Flag

-Teresa
There is in the universe only one true divide, one real binary, life and death. Either you are living or you are not. Everything else is molten, malleable.

-Susan Faludi, In the Darkroom
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#2

I turned off the news
I'm too much of a news junkie to take much time off.
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#3

I turned off the news
When I was younger, I was much more affected by it and I never paid any particular attention to anything news related. With age, I have learned to better compartmentalize, allowing me to view something without it affecting me too much.

The one thing I do take periodic breaks from, however, is Facebook. That place is basically just trash.
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#4

I turned off the news
I tuned out through the impeachment hearings. A bunch of old guys in a pissing match, uninterested in the facts, playing the angles instead. I don't watch kabuki either. I want facts, not theater.
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#5

I turned off the news
I wish I could "like" your post 1000 times.  I turned off the news about two months ago.  I found myself upset all the time.  I was nervous, pissed, ranting and raving all the time.  I couldn't sleep.  I hate the color orange now (not that it was ever a favorite color) and anything that reminds me of that idiot puts me in a bad mood.  I hate that man. I hate him with a passion.  My only consolation is that someday....maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but sometime in the future Orangefuckface will go down in history as the worst president in US history.    In 2018 he was already being demoted down to  3rd from the bottom by CONSERVATIVE political scientists and at the VERY BOTTOM by liberal political scientists.

I've got a big "I TOLD YOU SO" stored up and waiting for the day that bastard gets nailed.  He is on the wrong side of history.

In the meantime I've made it my goal to start threads here that are interesting and have nothing to do with politics.   Stuff about history or inventions or hats or something.  The stupidity of religion is still on the table though.
                                                         T4618
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#6

I turned off the news
The evening local and national is usually enough for me. And I do check the pre and post market numbers every day.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental. 
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#7

I turned off the news
These are such amazing and historic times though! I wake up in the morning and start scrolling the news feed. Actually probably is pretty unhealthy.
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#8

I turned off the news
I wake up in the morning hoping president Fuckhead hasn't gotten us all killed.  This time difference from the East Coast leaves him way too much time to start trouble.
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#9

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 03:09 AM)jerry mcmasters Wrote: I'm too much of a news junkie to take much time off.

I used to think the same thing, Jerry. Just the thought of turning it off was odd to me. It still feels a little odd but I'll take odd over angry.

@Dancefortwo yeah, if you don't even like the color orange anymore, it's probably a good thing that you turned off the news!

I have a bottle of Champagne in the fridge for when Don the Con is booted out of office or when he goes tits up.

-Teresa
There is in the universe only one true divide, one real binary, life and death. Either you are living or you are not. Everything else is molten, malleable.

-Susan Faludi, In the Darkroom
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#10

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 03:21 AM)brewerb Wrote: The evening local and national is usually enough for me. And I do check the pre and post market numbers every day.

That's what I did in the old days. And 60 Minutes on Sunday. 
But I started layering on websites, NPR and so many other news sources... it's too much.

-Teresa
There is in the universe only one true divide, one real binary, life and death. Either you are living or you are not. Everything else is molten, malleable.

-Susan Faludi, In the Darkroom
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#11

I turned off the news
I wish I had your willpower.

I've tuned out for months at a time in the past particularly the early months of 2017, and like Thump, I tuned out impeachment entirely, but I can't seem to turn off the primary stuff. I listen while I do the laundry, vacuum, scrub toilets, and make needs. I turn it off when my family comes home though.

Mostly I just about it right before bed, and read, play music and do yoga instead.

I did start taking a half hour morning walk with no electronics at all, and that's been really good.
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#12

I turned off the news
I'm watching the TV news less and less as I age.  The "standards" of free-to-air news broadcasting
here in Australia are woeful—too much politicisation, too much dramatisation, too much corporate
influence, and too many inexperienced, gormless presenters who were sitting at school desks last year.

I subscribe to the NYT for $1 per week online, and read both the Melbourne AGE, and the Australian
(UK) Guardian for free online.  We also read a weekly paper tabloid produced for our local rural region.
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#13

I turned off the news
I am beginning to withdraw from politics. Trump is going to win in 2020. It is simply too much to bear.

I was supporting Biden or Warren and they are fading. Maybe they will recover on Super Tuesday, but I am not confident.

Trump will just destroy Sanders (socialist), Klobuchar (who?), Buttigieg (gay). Not MY concerns, but how the voters will react. I like Biden for experience and Warren for good ideas. Maybe Bloomberg just because he could stand up to and outspend Trump (and New York City is larger than many States and the politics are harsher).

But I WILL vote. Any Anyone but Trump.
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#14

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 03:28 AM)Minimalist Wrote: I wake up in the morning hoping president Fuckhead hasn't gotten us all killed.  This time difference from the East Coast leaves him way too much time to start trouble.

Funnily, I worry less over the Orange Shitgibbon than I worried over Shrub. Shitgibbon is just too in love with himself and his money to willingly start anything. That's also the reason why I don't worry over nuclear Kim. He's leading the good life at the expense of his people. Why should he do anything rash?
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#15

I turned off the news
I haven't watched the news since '03.
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#16

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:11 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: I haven't watched the news since '03.

Was that when Colin Powell stood in front of the UN and stated that Saddam definitely had WMD and we HAD to stop him? Because I disbelieved the Bush claim before that. But I really did trust Powell. And when he said that, reluctantly accepted it as true and agreed we had to act.

Lies, lies, and damnable lies! And such abominable ruin it has caused.
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#17

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:11 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: I haven't watched the news since '03.

Uh... that'd be 1903?
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#18

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:23 AM)Cavebear Wrote:
(02-13-2020, 11:11 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: I haven't watched the news since '03.

Was that when Colin Powell stood in front of the UN and stated that Saddam definitely had WMD and we HAD to stop him?  Because I disbelieved the Bush claim before that.  But I really did trust Powell.  And when he said that, reluctantly accepted it as true and agreed we had to act.

Lies, lies, and damnable lies!  And such abominable ruin it has caused.

It was a bit after that, when I learned that I had lost two friends and cousin on that wild WMD chase. Grim
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#19

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:29 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(02-13-2020, 11:23 AM)Cavebear Wrote:
(02-13-2020, 11:11 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: I haven't watched the news since '03.

Was that when Colin Powell stood in front of the UN and stated that Saddam definitely had WMD and we HAD to stop him?  Because I disbelieved the Bush claim before that.  But I really did trust Powell.  And when he said that, reluctantly accepted it as true and agreed we had to act.

Lies, lies, and damnable lies!  And such abominable ruin it has caused.

It was a bit after that, when I learned that I had lost two friends and cousin on that wild WMD chase.  Grim

My condolences. But "same cause". I get it. Oddly, that is about when my news-watching intensified. I was so very angry after learning that even Colin Powell lied that I started paying more attention. I watch MSNBC to this day. But I get so pissed even hearing the ocassional Trump defender there I have to turn it off. Fortunately, I have many science, history, and nature DVDs.
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#20

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:43 AM)Cavebear Wrote:
(02-13-2020, 11:29 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(02-13-2020, 11:23 AM)Cavebear Wrote: Was that when Colin Powell stood in front of the UN and stated that Saddam definitely had WMD and we HAD to stop him?  Because I disbelieved the Bush claim before that.  But I really did trust Powell.  And when he said that, reluctantly accepted it as true and agreed we had to act.

Lies, lies, and damnable lies!  And such abominable ruin it has caused.

It was a bit after that, when I learned that I had lost two friends and cousin on that wild WMD chase.  Grim

My condolences.  But "same cause".  I get it.  Oddly, that is about when my news-watching intensified.  I was so very angry after learning that even Colin Powell lied that I started paying more attention.  I watch MSNBC to this day.  But I get so pissed even hearing the ocassional Trump defender there I have to turn it off.  Fortunately, I have many science, history, and nature DVDs.

I was agreeing with you.

My DVD collection echoes yours.
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#21

I turned off the news
I just can't. It's history in the making. 

Having grown up in Germany in the post Hitler era, I kept hearing people talk about the lack of information under Hitler. You never knew what to expect next. It was illegal to listen to foreign news, and the German ones were all propaganda and people knew it. People were putting blankets over themselves and the radio (big machine in those days) and turn it as low as possible to listen to foreign news, just so no neighbors could hear it. You never knew whom you could trust. 

These stories and many others left a big, lasting impression on this kid. I have a compulsion about staying informed. I do try to escape, like playing games while listening to music, or going for walks, and when the weather is good, fool around in the garden. But I always turn the news back on. I listened to the impeachment hearings, I listen to debates and townhalls. If I am going to hell in a handbasket, I want to do so with open eyes. 

I have been thinking about subscribing to curiosity stream and watching that instead of some of the news, further reducing the time I spend on it. 

Still, it's history in the making, and while no one else seems to ever understand how and why it throws me back to Hitler's times, I feel compelled to stay at least informed.
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#22

I turned off the news
"The news is the first draft of history." Being a working historian for years I get it. But I was content to observe my self-imposed cut-off date of Jan. 11, 1951.
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#23

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 12:01 PM)Dom Wrote: I just can't. It's history in the making. 

Having grown up in Germany in the post Hitler era, I kept hearing people talk about the lack of information under Hitler. You never knew what to expect next. It was illegal to listen to foreign news, and the German ones were all propaganda and people knew it. People were putting blankets over themselves and the radio (big machine in those days) and turn it as low as possible to listen to foreign news, just so no neighbors could hear it. You never knew whom you could trust. 

These stories and many others left a big, lasting impression on this kid. I have a compulsion about staying informed. I do try to escape, like playing games while listening to music, or going for walks, and when the weather is good, fool around in the garden. But I always turn the news back on. I listened to the impeachment hearings, I listen to debates and townhalls. If I am going to hell in a handbasket, I want to do so with open eyes. 

I have been thinking about subscribing to curiosity stream and watching that instead of some of the news, further reducing the time I spend on it. 

Still, it's history in the making, and while no one else seems to ever understand how and why it throws me back to Hitler's times, I feel compelled to stay at least informed.

Well, there hardly is any news left in the US, but infotainment. Thats probably part of the problem.
R.I.P. Hannes
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#24

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 12:01 PM)Dom Wrote: I just can't. It's history in the making. 

Having grown up in Germany in the post Hitler era, I kept hearing people talk about the lack of information under Hitler. You never knew what to expect next. It was illegal to listen to foreign news, and the German ones were all propaganda and people knew it. People were putting blankets over themselves and the radio (big machine in those days) and turn it as low as possible to listen to foreign news, just so no neighbors could hear it. You never knew whom you could trust. 

These stories and many others left a big, lasting impression on this kid. I have a compulsion about staying informed. I do try to escape, like playing games while listening to music, or going for walks, and when the weather is good, fool around in the garden. But I always turn the news back on. I listened to the impeachment hearings, I listen to debates and townhalls. If I am going to hell in a handbasket, I want to do so with open eyes. 

I have been thinking about subscribing to curiosity stream and watching that instead of some of the news, further reducing the time I spend on it. 

Still, it's history in the making, and while no one else seems to ever understand how and why it throws me back to Hitler's times, I feel compelled to stay at least informed.

I understand about history. Uncles fought in WWII (Europe and Pacific), my childhood bedroom was decorated with pictures from Korea, I lived in US Civil war battle areas where we kids dug up minnie balls, I was subject to the Vietnam draft (passed over). When I was 10, my parents thought it odd that I begged to stay up late to see the Nixon/Kennedy election results. I majored in Govt&Politics in college.

I automatically "stay informed". But there are times when reading The Washington Post in detail is better than listening to SOME of the idiotic talking heads on TV.

"History" was the impeachment trial. It is not the claims that candidates make in their campaigns (I pay attention only to what they have done, not what they promise to do). When the candidates are chosen, I will decide. Besides, I already know I will vote for any Democratic nominee unless they find a more blithering, ignorant and gruesome nominee than Trump and I don't think that is very likely.

So I know who I will NOT vote for. Why waste my time listening until then?
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#25

I turned off the news
(02-13-2020, 11:23 AM)Cavebear Wrote: But I really did trust Powell.  And when he said that, reluctantly accepted it as true and agreed we had to act.

May be the difference between European and American news, but in lights of our own news, what our agencies said and what we heard from the UN inspectors in Iraq at that time, I found Powell's claims to be absurd from the get go.

At least he's one of the select few admitting to have been wrong and that he should never have said that.
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