a challenge

[rm]

As I think most people reading this know, my pay-the-bills job involves reading newspapers and entering dozens, and sometimes hundreds of codes into a database for each article. These codes reflect the topics covered in the articles and center mostly on companies, politics and the economy of the U.S.

I read approximately 50 or so newspapers a week this way, with extreme attention to detail. Every single article in the Wall Street Journal, and most to all of the business sections of papers such as The New York Times, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The Financial Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and so forth. I also work on magazines sometimes, everything from Institutional Investor to Forbes to Newsweek.

My point is, no matter how much news you read, unless you work with me, I probably read more.

And my point is, it's worse than you think. The job situation, oil and gas supplies... whatever you're paying attention to, it's worse than you think.

I am not really a pessimist by nature, although I often make dire predictions about my own life in order to have the strength for the less dire, but ultimately very stressful shit that does happen.

You say that you know it's bad. You say that you're voting for the right guy; you say you are trying to educate people and get out the vote, so why do you have to read all that depressing stuff? It stresses you out, it doesn't solve anything, etc.

Knowledge is a weapon. And a good understanding of economics, American and world markets, the weird jobless recovery, the threat of stagflation, are some of the only ways to convince those that seemingly can't be convinced that we're in serious danger here. Danger that is as much of our own fiscal making as anything else (just one example: read the article about Wal Mart and it's suppliers in the December 2003 issue of Fast Company).

So here's my challenge: Read a newspaper. Yes, a domestic one. And yes, a printed one (sorry the web makes it too easy to skim and skip sections). Cover to cover. Every day. For two weeks. Then tell me about it.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, I think your idea is wonderful.

On the other, I find myself asking why should any of us bother. I've previously read enough to know things are deeply screwed up and getting worse. Now I only skim the headlines because it is depressing and frankly there is effectively nothing any of us can do about it. Sure, we can vote, but that's a very small thing to be able to do in the face of a truly vast problem (even assuming that voting means anything at all given the potential problems with the voting machines). These days I mostly look at the news as a way to know when it has become absolutely necessary to flee this nation.

I'm actually quite interested to hear your thoughts on this.

[rm.livejournal.com]

What's going on is weirder and more complicated than you think, and the very screwy ecopnomic situation we're in has been wrought by consumers and citizens as much as by the government. I think people need to know that, I think people need to know how it works, I thnk for the center of capitalism we're woefully under-educated about economics, and I'm thinking that I'm sick of people deciding they're smart enough to be un-informed or quasi-informed.