THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 126 - PAY ATTENTION

In the attention economy, what do you pay attention to? I am asked frequently which news media to trust. My answer is that even the trustworthy ones have an agenda that clouds some percent of their information. If I gave you a number, it’s probably 25% propaganda on the more trustworthy vehicles. Honestly, I don’t pay attention to the news these days because I feel like enough of it is angled to distort my view. I used to listen to the BBC, NPR & Pacifica, decades ago, but then they all got markedly stupider & more agenda oriented. I tried to listen for a while when we lived in Eugene. We listened to Air America to get an idea of what a Democrat Fox News would be like (not great) & upon moving to Portland, I haven’t found a new news platform that I feel like I could back up. Part of it is that we’re living through a period where media bias is at an all-time high & in trying to build or keep an audience when audiences for legacy media are shrinking, their presentation gets stupider & stupider & more pandering to who they imagine their audience is. This makes it extra difficult or wrong to trust any new platform, so I recommend picking a bunch for any topic you want to be informed on & build a picture from as many angles as you have time to absorb. Read a bunch of books if you really want depth. If you’re just looking for “hot takes” or bumper sticker political slogans to absorb & repeat - do yourself & the world a favor & stop. Now is the time for depth & nuance. If you’re looking for something to make comments on around the watercooler, on X or what have you, just give it up. Admit you’re not informed enough to make a comment on the event. You don’t have to. Ultimately watching the news isn’t going to change anything, it makes you feel involved & informed, but then what? Your phone has a weather app, the legacy media doesn’t do local news & their national coverage is largely propaganda. Just as with the rest of the constant media stream, I recommend disengaging & letting things sit for a while. Some kind of weekly aggregate would be ideal, but all the vehicles are too slanted. This isn’t a suggestion to be informed by the infinite numbers of Youtube channels either, they are usually more slanted! This is also not advocacy for ignorance. Having an idea of what’s going on is a good way to help you make decisions on what needs to be done - but still, look at a bunch of sources & get a 360 degree view instead of a 10 degree view. The news doesn’t go bad from sitting out, it’s already bad! 

x SEAN

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