Journal Entry: 9/9/20

Today I deleted my WCVB news app, unsubscribed from my New York Times newsletter, and unfollowed every news/political account on my Facebook and Instagram. Why did I do this? Because I see no point in absorbing news media content except for the bare minimum: Political election voting dates, deaths of beloved celebrities, unique international events, and daily weather forecasts. For everything else of importance, I will rely exclusively on the lovingly-crafted articles of Autostraddle.com, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, NPR and NPR-adjacent podcasts, and the blogs of my local non-profit organizations.

I see absolutely no point in turning my attention to the traditional “news.” Mainstream journalists report little on the peaceful daylight protests against racist police brutality. They largely ignore the educators and parents working to the bone to nurture the children in their care. Further, journalists allow politicians to spew ambiguous word vomit in response to their paltry handfuls of pointed questions. Daily, the news zeros in almost exclusively on the noise and bluster of our rapist in chief, the double-talk ramblings of his cronies, Karens shrieking into the smartphone cameras of Black and Latinx Americans, petty Twitter feuds, shootings involving Black victims, scandals involving white people stealing mind-bending sums of money, exonerations of serial killers with badges, and deadly car crashes. How is receiving hourly updates about every single trivial to horrific incident that happens in this country every day going to help me become a better informed and socially active citizen? It doesn’t. It doesn’t help me become the best version of myself, or practice viewing the world from various points of view. It doesn’t help my neighbors or countrymen achieve these goals either. The anguish-porn news cycle only serves to validate those in power who say that we laypeople are in a constant state of danger because other people are doing bad things every day. Fear does not make me more patriotic or civic. Imposed xenophobia does not bolster in me a powerful confidence in this country’s authoritarian institutions or political strongmen. It accomplishes this for the bigoted, the prejudiced, the people who already feel a persistent and vague sense of threat to themselves, and instinctively place the blame for this on humans that are comparatively, exceedingly, more vulnerable. Fear mobilizes the weak-minded. For the rest of us, there are few alternatives. Where am I to turn for motivation to act?