Post: #51

I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the suggestions on this thread. Cheers, everyone. Thanks for the reading and viewing suggestions.

Related to the original post:

I agree with Taleb (from Antifragile and The Bed of Procrustes) that a book (or any media really) will be around and relevant in proportion to how long it has been around and relevant. I think the example he uses is The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama. I am just old enough to remember when this book came out. Everyone was lauding it as near gospel. Now, many of Fukuyama's predictions seem ridiculous. I will add my own note that I do think some exceptions exist. In general, I believe reading actual books to trump reading short-form "journalism" or "commentary" any day.

A good read, that I'm sure has been posted before, is Rolf Dobelli's paper on this.

Many years ago, I read something by Tim Ferris about how he manages to stay informed of current events. He does not read the paper or watch the news. He simply asks people if they have seen or heard anything interesting. I employ this technique and I have found it has multiple benefits. First, most of the "news" on the "news" is not actual news. Without the immediate music and the chyron and panicked newsreader, most stories sound exceptionally boring. Having them repeated by a friend or family member will illustrate the monotony and uselessness of most of the MSM nonsense. Second, if anything major happens (stock crashes, wars, death of whoever), you will hear about it only minutes after news junkies. Finally, filtering your news through other people outsources your brain power (that could be used elsewhere) while, simultaneously, allowing you to develop and maintain more social contacts. It is a win for you, no matter how you look at it.

Post: #52

I'm on a complete "NEWS" detox.

I know I have been guilty of overreacting to NEWS in the past.

I don't watch or read any news now. I blocked it with some internet filter.

I feel much more relaxed as a result. I don't know why I got suckered into the news thing. When I lived abroad I didn't follow news at all. It's all so tiresome and clearly meant to demotivate you.

Not the same as debate. I still listen to debate on podcasts and radio, but not "NEWS", which is useless bits of information that can't be processed or used in a meaningfull way.

Debate is different, because you usually get multiple opinions and backgrounds, so you can use this information to get a well formed opinion. A well formed opinion doesn't need constant updating. It can be lodged in the back of your brain, so when needed, your brain can access it it and use it. NEWS has no such effect. Debate is enough.

Post: #53

I genuinely can't remember the last time I watched 'the news'. The only time I've seen the inside of a news studio in years was JP v Cathy Newman. And, perhaps a clip of someone we follow like Tommy R or Milo in a MSM interrogation.

Post: #54

(05-20-2018 08:50 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  Am I allowed to not want to watch blatant and hateful cultural marxist propaganda or am I a despicable person who should clean my room? I can't keep up with radical centrism.

As for me, I am trying to stick to pre-1994 cultural production. Some throwbacks are ok, like Retrowave when I am lifting. Presently I have discovered pre-WW2 literature.

Unfortunately you have to go even earlier to avoid the poison.

Example from 1982, the award winning film The World According to Garp. It features a single mom (intentionally) radical feminist, belittling of the necessity of fathers, rape hysteria and a tranny (ex football player, since masculinity is a false ideal) as the voice of reason.

Post: #55

(05-26-2018 03:24 PM)Gimlet Wrote:  

(05-20-2018 08:50 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  Am I allowed to not want to watch blatant and hateful cultural marxist propaganda or am I a despicable person who should clean my room? I can't keep up with radical centrism.

As for me, I am trying to stick to pre-1994 cultural production. Some throwbacks are ok, like Retrowave when I am lifting. Presently I have discovered pre-WW2 literature.

Unfortunately you have to go even earlier to avoid the poison.

Example from 1982, the award winning film The World According to Garp. It features a single mom (intentionally) radical feminist, belittling of the necessity of fathers, rape hysteria and a tranny (ex football player, since masculinity is a false ideal) as the voice of reason.

My grandmother says the same thing. Movies/TV after 1980 are basically trash.

Post: #56

I wish I could edit my post to include the fact that the wife was fucking her student, which led to the death of one of her children. If I remember correctly, he (Robin Williams) stays with her after all that.

Post: #57

That Garp is an outlier I think.

By the 1980s there was definitely rot, but still well worth watching most imo.

Yes, the rot was there. Try going back watching Lethal Weapons and see Danny Glover give a race-troll spiel to Mel Gibson. Probably still worth watching. Alien, which is an all time great film, has a strong woman who don't need no man as protagonist. Yet, it still works.

The difference is that in the 80s, they put in these small subversive elements, but they still made movies to a) beat the Sovjet Union and b) make money. Today they produce content purely as propaganda.

Post: #58

Small subversive elements become big ones. It takes 2 generations. They always start off small but "still worth watching". If course, we didn't know that Garp was laying the groundwork for today's tranny media. Also, it was not an outlier. The 70s show Soap had Jody (played by Billy Crystal) and his football player bf... One of them wanted a sex change, I forget which one. And Dog Day Afternoon in which AL Pacino robbed a bank to pay for a sex change for his lover... Also 70s.

Post: #59

I generally don't read the news even from the local newspaper. They're a mouthpiece for the Democrats and have a hard on for Trump failing. I know posters here aren't fond of Styx, but he has been right about some events going on and generally has a different outlook.