The news is truly a poision

General Discussion
#1

Before I get started, this is a bit of vent/rant. Never in my life did I think that I’d experience this.

So here we go. So it all started when I was asking my parents, “is it actually hotter than last year or did I become so sensitized to heat?”

They were like “yeah its hotter than last year.”
Now here comes the bad part. Dad asks me “why do you not watch the news or follow the news?”

My answer “because they tell lies often and it’s negative like 99% of the time.”

His response “so you’re saying Biden having covid is a lie? You’re saying global warming is a lie? You’re saying XXXX is a lie?”

Kept asking all these questions. I merely told him no, but they definitely do lie and it’s just full of negativity.

He was like “you have truly made me hopeless about you. I bet this is how you feel about other humans as well. That they are bad and you don’t even speak to them. What are you? An alien?”

I’m sorry what? He tells me to have a positive mindset I must so the right thing and have right thinking as well. So watching negativity and knowing about it is giving me a POSITIVE mind???

I’m just at a loss for words. I’m just merely pissed off right now. He even goes on about “I bet this is how you feel about food to. That person cooked badly that one day, they are automatically a bad cook. I bet you think like that. Who am I kidding? I KNOW you think like that.”

But real talk…is it seriously wrong for me to not follow the news? Like come on now. 99% of it is pure negativity. Barely any good stuff. Only good thing I heard about is mega millions jackpot being very high. THATS IT.

I’m just questioning everything now as a whole.
If I don’t reply ASAP, I’m at work now. I’ll get back when I’m in my next break or so.

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#2

It’s not poison per ae, but rather depends on your viewpoint. In my experience, it’s designed to hijack your emotions, so if you are enough zen and have appropriate shields, it won’t affect you.

Since it hijacks emotions, the people watching it become emotionally invested and hence enjoy talking about it, taking sides, defending viewpoints, etc.

Other than that, I’m not looking down on people who watch the news either. It’s really up to you. So if i were you, i wouldn’t blame your parents at all.

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#3

for all we know…

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#4

It seems like an overreaction which makes me wonder what was really driving him to attack that strongly.

“I KNOW you think like that”

He escalated from attacking an opinion you had to attacking your entire way of thinking. But what would motivate someone to feel the need to discount someone’s way of thinking?

Did you happen to point out some flaw he had which he so strongly desires not to even consider having that he labeled your mind as “wrong” rather than examining himself?

Otherwise I think he could go ahead and think about whether he had some flaw or not and simply say “yes” or “no, that’s not me”. But going to the length he did indicates to me an unwillingness to even ask himself the question. It’s something too damaging to his self image to even peek at.

Which would mean… he knows it’s true. He chose to do or think or be something he believed was wrong somewhere along the way in order to get some benefit that he felt was to painful to go without.

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#5

The news is social programming. Anyone can research who controls the media. But some people do not want to. They want to live in Truman Show.

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#6

Want to know what else he said? “You’re detaching yourself from this world. That’s not good.”

Has he ever come to think from my perspective even once? I doubt it come to think of it. The worst part is that he actually believes that I’m going completely in the wrong direction to the point where I won’t have any relation with my other family anymore.

All for what? Some stupid negative news I don’t follow. Give me a break man. I cannot remember the last time I have truly been pissed off like this before. Like I’m ready to burn stuff up that’s how bad it is.

You know it’s funny how you talk about how he needs to examine himself. He tells me that I need to examine MYSELF and not worry about others. Imagine that…

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#7

I learned this mantra from someone else. “I am myself. They are themselves.” To relieve this kind of anger. “I am me. They are them.” You can play with the grammar so it feels right.

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#8

I feel like using cone of power to make him STOP and actually HATE the news once and for all.

#9

I don’t follow the news :woman_shrugging: Haven’t for years… I’m very “detached” as well but for that I live a very peaceful life. We’ve been barraged with Covid for 2 years then all of a sudden Ukraine/Russia… now back to climate talk. Let’s be honest, before Covid the news was almost irrelevant…
If I follow the news too much it hooks me in emotionally.
I’d say dad doesn’t understand your reasoning. Also, being absolute about something isn’t entirely correct either (all news is bad or all news is fake for eg- a bad meal doesn’t equal a bad cook). My folks also watch the news religiously. It was their main source of information for a long time.

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#10

Good way to release this and accept this lol.

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#11

Most people who watch news get stuck in a loop of “negative dopamine”.
They literally get off on consuming negative stuff that makes them angry and rantful about something.
News is a form of anger porn.
It has nothing to do with “staying informed”.
People who have the need to watch news on a daily basis are literally ADDICTS, who will PROTECT their drug and dopamine source (!) and therefore their opinions and views on life are distorted by the brainwashing from these news.
It is also a form of numbing oneself with useless information that does not apply to one’s life in order to stay distracted from one’s own actual life goals – a heavy form of self-sabotage.
People who watch news, almost never can be role models in my opinion.
No true role model wastes their time with this sh*t.
A 50 year old in a suit watching CNN is no better role model than a 15 year old watching shaking asses on TikTok.

@Rogue
And yes you are right, the news is highly toxic:

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The Litany Against Loneliness
#12
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#13

I agree with you 100%
News is full of negativity.
And also youtube

I only check about some facts and thats it

#15

The side of youtube I go to is like for music, sapien channel, and famous overwatch players. Sometimes the occasional how to fix stuff. That’s it.

#16

Want to know something funny? He actually believes I’m mentally sick for giving those 2 reasons of not watching the news or reading about it. Imagine that man.

So who is the mentally sick one now? Talks about religion so much, implying to want to ascend and yet he follows news? Yeah ok…clearly IM THE SICK ONE here

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#18

I’m actually laughing at this part because he talks about peace of mind from time to time. Its like you know him lol.

Talks about peace of mind and yet he watches news. I’m at a loss for words. Here he is HOPELESS for me lol.

Here’s what’s worse. He actually believes I can’t think for myself and just believe what everyone says. All because I said that the news lies often.

Loooool

#19

If your dad is anything like my parents, I am sure he is triple boosted as well. Be kind with your dad, but don’t argue with him as much as you can, it’ll just piss you off. Just ignore everything he says, because his opinion is worthless. Honestly, he probably only has a 2-3 years left to live anyways, so let him indulge in boomer fantasy and projection like they all do. You have to make your peace with it because you will never be able to help him. You have no idea how much time and effort I have spent trying to reason with my own parents, but they are so stuck in their ways and in their own hubris that they will never try to expand their worldview to see more viewpoints than their own. I am here literally trying to save their life and they can’t be bothered to even try to listen. We’ve had such a number done on our families, it really is sick how they trust the boomer tube over their own flesh and blood trying to reason with them. I love my parents, I try to respect and honor them, but I know they will probably suffer for their choices and there is pretty much nothing I can do to help them, because they won’t take the help. I would like to rant all day about it, too, but we have to move on. It just sucks that their stupidity holds literally everyone else back. A generation of no wisdom.

#20

That’s some utter atrocious thing I have read in the whole day.

Some things in life need to be dealt with patience and empathy.

If something doesn’t work, I try to change my approach. Some work, some don’t.

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#21

@Niezdeyhyuke you’re wrong it’s worse. It’s 4. Not 3. Also here is the worst part. He acts like his knowledge is what makes him “more spiritual or above others”. He may not directly say it but his attitude reflects it.

If he truly was high level, he would never call me mentally sick for stuff like this. Like honestly. The other times he made me sad. But this time he made me purely angry. Like straight up. His ego is that of mount everest and he says mine is? (Maybe not in those words but implying it)

Like legit he truly made me feel like the worst son in the world to where I just wish I wasn’t even born to begin with.

#22

It’s the harsh truth. Patience and empathy only go so far, sometimes you have to throw your hands up and say, “I’m sorry, you can’t be helped. Enjoy the time you have left.” Try spending years of your life and getting nowhere because the horse refuses to drink water no matter what. They will only learn through suffering, unfortunately. Maybe then the tune will change. Until then, they have nothing worthwhile to add. If you’ve never dealt with this, then you have no idea.

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