The News Is All Bad

One day of surfing the net and I'm already in the depths of depression. The world is going nuts as usual, and now I know all about it in excruciating detail.

Good gosh almighty, I went onto my usual news outlets today and was immediately mind-raped by the good people at The Drudge Report, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism, Fox News, and Climate Depot, and now I want to scream in frustration. I made the mistake of following it up with visits to some commie-lib sites that shall remain nameless, and now I want to scream in frusration and punch somebody. And for what?

Why would I do this to myself? To stay informed? So I can freak out a lot over events and people I can't do anything about? Why do I give a crap? All the doom and gloom end-of-the-world stuff hasn't come to pass. For the most part, we all go to sleep, we get up, we eat and go to the john, and we go about our business. Every single day. Every time some talking head says that the end is nigh, he turns out to be full of crap and nothing happens at all.

Yeah, we still have trouble in the country, but I still see parents buying their little brats $300 iTouch units and Wii's and XBoxes and PS3's every day. America isn't starving; the masses aren't cold and naked. No one is suffering. For the moment at least, it's all good. No reason to stress.

I think the age of instant streaming news has driven us to a state of near panic. Everything from tap water to eggs to global warming (or cooling, depending on who's talking) is going to kill us all. Each 24-hour news cycle brings us a fresh chunk of alarming distress to cuddle up with. Michael Chrichton was right; we live in a State of Fear. That's how they control us. I swear the media and the government are working in collusion to keep us so freaked out all day long that we'll allow them to do anything, even destroy the country, in the name of keeping us comfortable and safe.

Screw that. I'm not gonna play the game for awhile.

I was happier when I didn't know what was going on in the big world. So right this minute I'm going to erase all of my bookmarks and links to any news organization or news blogs I have and remove myself from the world of current events. As much as possible, at least. My attitude has been great in the last few weeks when I was blissfully ignorant, and I want to feel like that again.

Ahhhh...all quiet now. That's better.