this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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(page 2) 50 comments
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Maybe a good balance is to glance at important headlines and save those articles, and designate one day per week to read through those saved articles to update your knowledge of whats happening

So for the remaining 6 days you kinda just stop worrying about it

(but still look out for potential things like "Martial Law Declared" on the headlines, that you need to immediately react to, such as getting the supplies needed to survive whatever happens, since movement would be restricted under Martial Law).

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 days ago

don't tune it out. there are people being deported, people afraid for their rights and their lives. people not paying attention is how we got the Holocaust

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

This thread is everything I needed to convince me to leave instead of fight.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm off the opinion that knowledge is always power. You can always ignore what you've learned to stay sane.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Not so easy to Ignore what you know.

Knowledge is power, but ignorance is bliss.

I follow the news until I can’t take it any more, and take a break until I can again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Yeah, actually sounds like what I do. It can get depressing, but I try not to stay away too long. I don't want to be blindsided by something that might affect me.

A good example is when I got rid of cable TV, I didn't get a lot of local news and wasn't aware until late that a hurricane was heading my way.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've literally seeing the rights of myself and other get taken away in the last week. I'm moving cross country to get out of the state I'm currently in because it does not recognize who I am.

They want to open up people like me to descrimination and hate crimes. I'm wondering what will happen with my job if this stuff keeps happening.

There are real world consequences to politics and people sticking their heads in the sand is the reason literal fascism is on the rise.

If you are privileged enough to feel you don't have to worry about politics that generally means you aren't the current target.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Removing news from your regular feeds or taking a break from them for a week is chill, everyone should do that here and there. But don't bury your head in the sand, you should keep an eye on it even if that is only browsing a dedicated news feed every week or two. Ignorance and complacency is how we got Trump 2024 with people actively voting against themselves.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

The very situation we are in now was greatly enabled because lots of people did what you are doing. Dont lose sleep and sacrifice your health (edit not help), but if you were ever an undecided candidate while Trump was running, or you don't know what an oligarchy or nepotism is or why they're relevant, or can't recount what happened on Jan 6 2021, you NEED to pay more attention.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Honest question, in the pre-Trump days people rightly pointed out that the "ruling class " (Koch brothers, Adelsons, Soros, Bloomberg, etc. etc.) would try to buy influence in their preferred party but also donated to the "other side".

Those people were called oligarchs.

Now that Trump has taken the reins, the term has turned toward him. If you look at the donors in 2024, the top six or so donated to the Republican party (Elon tops that list) but it's not THAT far off from previous years.

Aside from the obvious (Trump being a dangerous radical, to put it mildly) has anything changed in the way influence is bought and sold, or is the increased use of "oligarchy" more of a tactic to try and mitigate the damage that Trump can do by calling it out as loudly as possible?

I'm Canadian, and I've heard the term oligarchy thrown around in reference to American politics for many years, but never do often nor so forcefully as in the past two months.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

They're now completely shameless, out in the open, and know that nobody is gonna stop them.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sacrificing your servants is the worst thing you could do. Who’s going to butter your toast?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

That's a funny typo, but I gotta fix it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

I wouldn't take it lightly tbh. One event that you ought to be on the lookout for is the night of the long knives. When Hitler rose to power, there was a night where a ton of his political opponents got murdered. If trump pulls that off then that's full nazi and the camps will follow shortly after

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Be connected to your local society. Join a group. Do things. Meet people.

Some people in the near future will start to suffer a lot. They're going to need caring neighbors they can trust.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

I think you pretty much summed up why I am a nurse. Well a traveling nurse

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

It's important to be aware of what happens and to act when and how you feel led.

However, caring for your mental health is most important. Even on this platform I have a filter on for a single word -- Trump. For how long, I don't know. I still get US news, but I just needed to decrease it for a time in relation to that man.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago

A lot of what this administration will do is going to be illegal and nonsensical and dumb, but they will do so much of it that it will be impossible to effectively push back against it all. If you hear something that you care about, pick that and keep up with it. Don't get overwhelmed by the torrent of stuff happening over the next four years.

This is especially true in the current media environment, where there's so much noise that it's really difficult to break in and sort through what's true and what's false and what's missing context and what's misleading and what's technically true but there are other factors that change how it plays out in reality, etc.

It takes a lot of energy to keep up with it all, so pick something you care about and pay attention to developments about that. Maybe that's trans rights, immigrant rights, democratic institutions, economics, geopolitics, military industrial complex, whatever. You won't be able to effectively care about it all, so pick one and focus on that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

While we are all on the same ride to hell, your ride to hell is your's, and your's alone. Do what you feel like doing and try not to worry overly much.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Pay attention to "events that actually happen" and "things that people in power say." Pay far less attention to "kvetching and predicting."

If you stop paying attention entirely, you're going to end up with a whole lot of Shocked Pikachu Face in your future.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

I read something long ago that I can't find anymore that said something to the extent of, pay attention to the movement of money, troops and people. I struggle to understand what stuff that the news reports on means, so I like the deeper stories that report on an expert's opinion of what somebody said means or shows like 60 minutes over the Nightly News. I avoid the bloggers and vloggers since they are not experts on the important topics.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

If you stop paying attention entirely

This is the part which normalization works to accelerate. Every message is crafted to rally supporters and repulse opponents; enough to get one to tune out and stop paying attention. Do it long enough and whatever they want to do will be done without any scrutiny.

This is one of the reasons the consolidation of mainstream independent media is a serious problem.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Also a great YouTube channel to keep up with the news but is short and puts things in context and if needed what you can do to help is belle of the fifth column.

Also good rule of thumb if the article starts off with X said this vs X did this skip the article. Focus on what people in power do vs what they say as shitty journalists will write an article about a tweet that 9 times out of 10 is a distraction vs real journalism talking about the actions. Propublica is one of the few journalistic outfits that do that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Propublica is one of the few journalistic outfits that do that.

Correct one of the few news outlets that won't do fake news and act as a bad faith actor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Following their journalists on mastodon is really all I uae it for.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

Solid use case. I need to figure how to access mastodon on mbin. Old server it was just part of the feed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

That is not a stupid question. It's no good to cause yourself crippling anxiety, you are less useful to yourself and to others then. And yes the news will always be presented in a way designed to cause outrage and fear, to keep you coming back.

That is not to say there is no reason to worry. But good to put a "budget " for news consumption and work on what you can personally change, rather than worrying about all the stuff you can't. Being happy and helpful and not a bigot is a form of resistance too, and is a general thing you can do regardless of your current event knowledge.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Not sure how you mean "I am in the US" but based on a bunch of assumptions, my advice would be to tune it out as much as possible and focus on being a good person making your friends and famliy happy.

This trump administration will very likely follow the last in that it will be a storm of incompetence and reversing-of-decisions such that whatever actual evil they are able to implement will show up somewhere you'd likely see it in your day-to-day life.

You'll get a lot of stress and anxiety watching the news / social media about it because those things will include all the "might happens" and "said they would"s and so on. Forget that stuff. Just make some good food you like and make someone close to you smile today and that's the best you can do. (And it's not bad!)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

You can tune out the noise. Just keep yourself informed at the minimum so you know what’s happening around you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

My wife and I had the realization this past week that we have both been in a near constant state of seething anger since the election. We decided that we both need to pump the brakes on reading news for our collective mental health. That doesn't mean we're ignoring things, but it does mean we plan to remind each other to take a breather when we're caught doomscrolling.

We cannot afford to become complacent or ignore things, but we have found that redirecting our anger to productive activities has been helpful. Every time we read a negative article it is a reminder to reach out to our friends who are parts of communities which are currently under attack to see what we can do to help or offer companionship. We also regularly look for local opportunities to connect with marginalized communities in our area, volunteer, and generally make a show of our support.

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