For those days when the news breeds nothing but despair,

[whometense]

I feel enormous gratitude for the existence of Mark Morford:

This is what you must know: Media is a bizarre and harrowing but somehow weirdly delicious mistress. On the one hand, it is mandatory and beneficial in innumerable ways, and the basic rule goes that if you don't watch the news or read at least one major paper or skim through some assortment of news blogs and check in with the world on a semiregular basis, well, it can be argued that you are doing a terrifically lousy job at being an informed human and you have little right to pule and bitch because willful ignorance is just as bad as, well, plain ol' stupidity.

On the other hand, excessive immersion in this swirling blood-drenched hyperbolic world of goofily inflated mayhem will only leave you deeply unsatisfied and angry and potentially alcoholic, not to mention nauseated and mistrustful of all mankind everywhere. Except maybe Tibetans. And the Kurds. Man have they been screwed.

But here's the thing: The wise ones tell us that whatever you focus on, expands. Wherever you direct your attention and wherever you put your energy and your heart and your concern, that thing will suddenly seem bigger and more important and potentially all-consuming. Is your attention excessively on death and corruption at the expense of laughter and perspective? That is your reality. Is it all about perky happy bunnies and tofu sunsets at the expense of harsher realities? This is your choice.

You cannot always choose what sort of slings and arrows the world hurls at your heart, nor should you try to avoid them all in some weeping lament at the state of it all. But no matter the blood and no matter the mayhem and no matter the hyperbole, you can always choose how you'll respond...

[beachmom]

1. Thanks, Whometense -- I love that

That is actually something I have been trying to work on, but have no solution. When I news/blog fast I am happier, but, yes, stupider. That's how most Americans are -- and damnit, I won't let them get away with it, and have told every friend (who are Moms) I've talked to about the Haditha atrocity making it a point that they know that one of the victims was only a 1 year old. Maybe it IS because my husband is German. I saw a WWII documentary and it was Dachau, I think. And the Americans/British MADE the townspeople walk through the concentration camp to SEE what misery had been perpetrated in their name in their own town. These townspeople were horrified and weeping. People didn't understand how they could not have known -- well, it's called willful ignorance. And I don't want to ever be like that. OTOH, how do you let the light in amidst all the darkness? Maybe JK has served us well in that regard. That there is someone in Washington in power just as horrified and frustrated as we are, and his presence there is a comfort.

What do all of you do to balance your lives between politics/world affairs while keeping your spirits up?

[whometense]

4. It's so hard.

We all need our coping mechanisms.

I just have to get away and not pay attention for a while when it threatens to engulf me. The news yesterday (and Monday) was so horrific I just couldn't absorb any more.

I felt the same way a lot of the time we were in Prague. The effects of WWII are still so present there, it was in your face all the time. The funny thing is, I can totally see how someone who was not jewish could could choose not to notice. But as someone who is jewish the duality of the place was strange and sometimes overwhelming. And Terezin - well,...

The part of the tour of Terezin that struck me most powerfully was the route to the death area. We walked to the spot where prisoners were taken to be hanged or shot. The road to that spot went right by the camp swimming pool, built by prisoners for the use of the Nazi soldiers and their families. The guide told us that as prisoners were taking that final horrific walk they passed within feet of where the children and families of their executioners were frolicking in the pool. The day we were there was hot and sunny, exactly the kind of day that would have lured families to the pool. The dissonance of that scene is still powerfully with me.

And yet, you know, life has to be lived, and it does no honor to those people who suffered and died, not to mention those who survived, to curl up in a ball and give up.

[Blaukraut]

2. tough to balance

I suppose we all have days where we just need to step away from the news for a bit. If we immerse ourselves too much, we end up feeling helpless, overwhelmed, and depressed. But if we completely ignore daily events in order to remain calm and happy, we end up ignorant.
Finding that balance is the key.

[ProSense]

3. Wonderful article!

Reminds me of the hyperbole of the MSM in 2004, trying to balance bad news with good about Iraq!

News, good or bad, shouldn't be used to distort reality. People have the option to tune out what they don't want to hear, but it's at the risk of not knowing what's real. Imagine not knowing that there have been a rash of burglaries in your neighborhood!

And sometimes the news is bad and good at the same time: Libby indicted was bad news for Libby, Bush and others. I found comfort and pleasure in reading that!

[ginnyinWI]

5. you gotta have balance

Too much focus on negative stuff is bad, but you want to stay informed too. I do it for two reasons, and whome, I think you've said something similar. I am watching politics because I'm nervous about what this administration is going to do next, and I'm also watching hopefully for signs of relief! Once you are aware of things that go on in the world you have to. But you can't obsess to the point that you can't enjoy any other part of your life. I can't live continually in a Randi Rhodes or Mike Malloy-style toxic rant all of the time.

Each person should do what they can, but realize that if the bad guys win that doesn't mean they are right or that we have wasted our time. Giving up and going into denial is easier, but not the thing to do. That's when they really have won.