BrokenArts on 4/8/2012 at 16:15
I get sick of hearing so much negativity all the time, it is a personal choice yeah. So for me, I've been paying more attention to Change.org, or Care2 Action, signing petitions to get things changed. Does it help, to some degree I'm sure it does.
Yakoob on 5/8/2012 at 03:19
See I always liked the smart thing all the anit-SOPA / internet policies protest have done - make a form that auto-emails your congressman (based on IP) in your name. Just as easy, but far more effective than some BS e-petitions.
june gloom on 5/8/2012 at 03:38
I dunno, change.org does seem to have an impact based on my observations.
scumble on 6/8/2012 at 08:38
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
I've heard this pov from many people. I just don't get outraged.
That is a good point. I think my tendency is more to avoid letting my brain get tied up with things that I can't do anything with. At least if you avoid sitting in front of television news you can quickly filter out irrelevant stuff that seems more like shadenfreude entertainment.
I come across as fairly negative, but change.org looks interesting. I think I am more interested in hearing about people doing things to improve the world. It at least counters the tendency to think everything is falling apart.
Quote Posted by BrokenArts
I bet too, its a case of being desensitized, so much negative news, we turn the other way. Rather sucks.
Perhaps related to the "no news is good news" phrase, hence an explanation for deliberately avoiding news...
demagogue on 6/8/2012 at 08:48
I think doing international law, I watch news probably like a doctor looks at x-rays, or some massive head wound on an operating table. I need to know what's going on and have a strong stomach for it. And then I'll look at it cold, clinically & technically, without getting emotions involved, and filter out all the noise to just get the signal, then make my own judgments about it.
faetal on 6/8/2012 at 11:05
I can understand a certain degree of defeatism.
Change.org and others like it (38 degrees here in the UK) are so dwarfed by the other influence structures which manipulate government. The US and its recent abolition of campaign donation limits has well and truly screwed the pooch in terms of democracy over there. It isn't a great deal better in the UK mind. If political donations are considered free speech, the US has just come out with it and said that the rich can have more democracy than the poor.
DDL on 6/8/2012 at 11:09
Freedom isn't free, damnit!
(but it is tax-deductible)
Jason Moyer on 6/8/2012 at 11:25
It costs $1.05.
demagogue on 6/8/2012 at 11:37
If you heard some of the horror stories my Burmese students are telling about their government, the problems of US & UK democracy don't sound so bad.
faetal on 6/8/2012 at 13:43
If you've read about the massacres in Rwanda, the Burmese don't have it so bad. There is always someone worse off and it doesn't excuse injustice, even if you frame it to sound like luxury injustice.
