You need to start paying attention to the news


When was the last time you read/watched the news?

I'm not talking about reading a headline or posts on Twitter either. I mean when did you really sit down and read a story about something going on in the world?

For a lot of you, the answer is never or not too often. I don't blame you, it's easy now to keep your heads down and to shift focus on social media, video games or other mediums. A lot of people I talk to about what's happening in the news couldn't care less about it and would rather spend time on other less tedious things.

I understand why too. Honestly, at times there is just way to much shit going on. It's hard to keep up on what's important. Every 24 hours, a different scandal breaks or something new develops with something that broke months ago etc. etc. etc. It's a long winding maze that really does not have an end in sight.

Here's the thing.

If we turn our backs to whats going on in the world we detach ourselves from everything in it. We risk letting bad man get away with their terrible acts just because no one cared enough to learn about it. We risk letting people shape our lives just because we didn't care enough to stay informed.

For example: Today the House Judiciary Committee held it's first hearing in a long impeachment inquiry focused on whether or not Donald Trump attempted to bribe a foreign official to get dirt on Joe Biden. It was a CIRCUS, we had republicans throwing out wild accusations about three constitutional scholars that came to testify, Melania Trump lashed out at one of them through twitter for saying her son Baron's name and both sides avoided cross examining witnesses that challenged their beliefs.

All of that reported by The New York Times and other news organizations that were there to cover the event. These are the people that president and other members of the federal government call the enemy of the press.

As a journalist myself, I can confidently say that news organizations like the Times, Post and Wall street Journal are not out to get you. We are often times referred as the fourth estate, a powerful branch of society that can keep our government and other powerful entities in check.

Without these publications, things like the mess that's going on in Washington would die without so much as a whimper. Democracy dies in darkness, it's not hard to start following the news - although it is daunting.

To help you out, there are apps you can get on your phone that give you news without having to pay a subscription. Here are a few:

-Yahoo News (an aggregate news source)
-Huffpost (this app scews left)
-CNN
-Fox News

We can no longer stick our heads in the sand and pretend that what's going on in the news applies to us, because it does.  You don't have to become the next Noam Chomsky (google him,) or the next Barack Obama (I would be scared if you have to google him). However, you need to gain some knowledge of what's happening around you, even if it bores you.

So subscribe to the New York Times, or your local news paper, hell start watching Fox News if you want. As long as you start taking the initiative to follow a little bit of news throughout the week, you're doing the right thing.

It's time to start paying attention.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UNCUT: Jack B talks his latest project "Growing Pains"

Image
Last week Jack B released his second project "Introspection," a seven track EP reflecting on his personal growth as an artist and person.  Produced by Duffy and Falak, the project gives listeners insight into his life, his insecurities and internal struggles. Hailing from Grand Junction, Colorado, the 19 year old artist is part of the independent collective, 343 Entertainment. B. says he spent seven months working on this project and while that may not seem long compared to other artists, it's clear that B. has agonized over every aspect of this project. So without further ado, here’s Jack B UNCUT: What was the inspiration behind the cover art and album title?  Originally the project was called growing pains and the cover featured a baby picture of me, but after tons of changes and cuts the project came together to form this narrative on some of my inner conflicts, so to say. I drew inspiration for the cover from logics under pressure album cover, and from roddy riches Pl
Read more

How to handle your family on Thanksgiving

Image
Thanksgiving is coming, brace yourselves. That means awkward conversations about personal matters in your life, cringing at racially/sexually inappropriate jokes your uncle makes and worst of all... political conversations. Take it from me being a journalist, these conversations are the worst, especially in today's climate. However, they aren't ever going to go away - unless you fake your death through an elaborate hot air balloon accident and go into hiding. For those of you that aren't that bold to move your entire life to avoid these conversations, here are some things you can do to make Thanksgiving dinner a little less sucky. 1) Get a good beer/wine armor going Right out of the gate, drink. I am not saying that you need to get shit faced. In fact, getting wasted at a family event like this is possibly the worst idea you can have. That being said, getting a good buzz and developing an armor of fuzziness can't hurt you either. The alcohol will warm
Read more

Kipp Stone releases exclusive song for Kinda Neat

Image
  A little over a week after Kipp Stone dropped his "Faygo Baby" EP, we get a new interview and song from him called "Retrograde Rap." Released on the Kinda Neat podcast, the song features Stone in his element, effortlessly rapping over a classic boom-bap song that sounds like Madlib made for Freddie Gibbs. This may be one of my favorite songs Stone has ever released. He just plays with so many delivery styles and topics that every play through offers something different. His signature style of dreary lyricism is on full display too as Stone talks about existentially dying for some change and how he's dealing with inner demons.  A while back, Stone said he was considering making his album "HOMME" his last album but it sounds like he's picking up momentum. In fact, during the podcast Stone talks about the next three albums he's plotting - which is a win for Cleveland rap and hip-hop nerds alike. What I can't believe is that he just got a han
Read more