While I can't say that I have let go of that idea completely, I have mellowed my stance. With so much meaningless noise and chatter that is packaged as 'news', I am much more forgiving of those who decide to concentrate their attention and their energies to their immediate surroundings.
For my own mental health, I have shifted the time frame of my news consumption. Instead of a daily news intake, I concentrate my efforts on weekly and monthly news reporting through magazines like The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine. Now I feel saner and I would argue that I have a better understanding of recent events compared to the sorry souls who seek enlightenment by watching cable television on a daily basis.
Here's an example. Some of my favourite articles about the financial crisis have been from Harper's Magazine. In fact, in the latest issue there's a wonderful piece called Infinite debt:
How unlimited interest rates destroyed the economy by a labour lawyer from Chicago.
But what has impressed me most about Harper's coverage is that it started early last year:
- The next bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash - February 2008
- Fear of fallowing: The specter of a no-growth world - March 2008
- Numbers racket: Why the economy is worse than we know - May 2008
- Our phony economy - June 2008
Harper's Magazine subscriptions start at $17 per year and with it, you get access to their archives that go back to 1850. Its probably one of the best investments you can make.
1 comment:
Thanks for these links - I'd been thinking about resubscribing to Harper's recently and this might convince me.
Fwiw, in fall 2007 the WSJ was repeatedly publishing pieces on how "the slow-motion train wreck" had already started. Anybody who says nobody saw this coming is probably hiding something.
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