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[GeekyDad]

Disclaimer: This thread isn't about politics; it's about news coverage.

It's just silliness -- much ado about nothing. Look at these headlines for today:

McConnell calls Senate Democrats 'distasteful' for tying Jan. 6 to voting rights push

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on his caucus to do whatever it takes to pass voting and election laws to "save our democracy."

www.yahoo.com

'We want schools to be open,' White House says as Chicago cancels classes

The challenge of reopening schools for in-person instruction amid a coronavirus surge fueled by the Omicron variant deepened on Wednesday, with Chicago teachers refusing to return to the classroom after a union vote Tuesday night.

www.yahoo.com

(From the Yahoo home page the headline reads "White House unhappy with Chicago over canceled classes.")

"Distasteful"? "Unhappy"?

This is news? Seriously? Will tomorrow's headlines be: "Elon Musk takes a dump, and experiences mild discomfort"?

 

[EviLore]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

 

[Biff]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

Real talk.

On a related note, do you think there's a path to re-allowing politics-related threads on GAF anytime soon. Forget the sub-forum, that became a clusterfuck.

But there are huge political events that we just don't talk about. Like... the largest infrastructure package ever in the history of the US at $1.75Trn just spectacularly blew up last month because of politics. It was hugely relevant news to a massive chunk of the userbase. Is there really no middle ground where we can discuss these events without lighting the forum on fire?

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Real talk.

On a related note, do you think there's a path to re-allowing politics-related threads on GAF anytime soon. Forget the sub-forum, that became a clusterfuck.

But there are huge political events that we just don't talk about. Like... the largest infrastructure package ever in the history of the US at $1.75Trn just spectacularly blew up last month because of politics. It was hugely relevant news to a massive chunk of the userbase. Is there really no middle ground where we can discuss these events without lighting the forum on fire?

why do you find the need to discuss politics on a gaming forum?

edit: I’m not trying to be an ass either. it seems like it’s a struggle to get people to be civil when discussing plastic boxes that play video games. politics here seems like a nightmare.

 

[EviLore]

Real talk.

On a related note, do you think there's a path to re-allowing politics-related threads on GAF anytime soon. Forget the sub-forum, that became a clusterfuck.

But there are huge political events that we just don't talk about. Like... the largest infrastructure package ever in the history of the US at $1.75Trn just spectacularly blew up last month because of politics. It was hugely relevant news to a massive chunk of the userbase. Is there really no middle ground where we can discuss these events without lighting the forum on fire?

Politics draws the wrong type of people to the site. There isn’t enough time in the day to police politics threads for all the emotionally incontinent activist incels and zero-IQ racist conspiracy theorists who inevitably flock to those discussions from the dark recesses of the internet.

It’s better that we keep things centered on areas where we can share common interests and make friends rather than be at each other’s throats.

 

[Biff]

Politics draws the wrong type of people to the site. There isn’t enough time in the day to police politics threads for all the emotionally incontinent activist incels and zero-IQ racist conspiracy theorists who inevitably flock to those discussions from the dark recesses of the internet.

It’s better that we keep things centered on areas where we can share common interests and make friends rather than be at each other’s throats.

Fair enough! Figured it can't hurt to push back a little once in a while. But you have a clear direction for the forum and I respect that.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

Yup.

I dont know when it happened, but headline writers on the net started skewing away from boring newspaper kinds of thread titles like "Aruba is a great resort destination" to clickbaity "You'll never guess which exotic location is vacation heaven!"

I flip back and forth between CNN and Foxnews for my US news (and Yahoo Finance for random stock articles). There's probably better choices but I just go with what I know is popular. And you'd think giant corporations supposedly trustworthy brand names for news would have more mature headlines and objective material like a Reuters article. But it's a dumping ground for dopey one liner headers hoping they can get enough clicks from people who support that side, and from pissed off people against that side.

No doubt, not your mom and pop's 6 o' clock news or afternoon newspaper from 1988.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

Can fucking confirm. Good god.

 

[TrueLegend]

If Neogaf allows politics I will request my ban. European lawmakers already said that algorithm god is now dictating politics. It's attuned to create wildfire for attention. Attention at any cost is the prime principle of algorithm. And human misery is the fodder driving it. Anger and firefight come next because all of it is devoid of context.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Can fucking confirm. Good god.

Yup.

I dont even keep up with Ontario covid policies most of the time. If there's something important changing sometimes I just text my brother for clarification if I got wind of something. Or a family email goes around where someone tells everything whats going on. Or coworkers tell me the latest policy change.

Thats enough for me.

Last thing I'm doing is reading the endless covid articles and daily recap of positive cases and death counts and whatever headlines see to mention Fauci or red vs blue views on vaccines.

On CP24, I just make a beeline for the weather tab, and enjoy sifting GAF, ESPN, TSN and business articles (including real estate articles and sites trying value my home). But I do like reading CNN or Foxnews for the latest shooting spree articles.

Got a Linkedin for careers and a FB for friends and fam. That's it. Only time I check out Twitter is if there's some important gaming news someone posted here in a tweet or some gaming employee is tweeting something stupid worth looking at as they cry for attention. I cant even read many tweets or pics anymore as they seem to have mandated an account. Who cares. I'll skip it then.

 

[Nobody_Important]

I used to follow politics day in and day out every day. I wake up I watched CNN/MSNBC/CBS/CSPAN etc etc. And every fucking day it was the end of the world. Trump did this or Pelosi did that and by fucking god it was the end of democracy as we knew it. It was trending. It was important. i stressed the fuck out about it all day and argued about it on here with the other people who fell into this trap. Then the section was banned and I made a concerted effort to move past the section and EviLore very graciously offered me that chance despite me shitting on him and directly attacking him on more than one occasion. I was a belligerent spiteful shit. It was more than I deserved.


And after I had taken the steps away from it all I realized that I had fallen into a hole and it had basically made me the left wing version of the right wing shills that I had originally lampooned at every chance. I took several dozen steps back and realized it was mostly all shit. The stuff I was following was relatively important, but the world was not gonna end. Democracy is not gonna die because of Trump and Pelosi is not the liberal devil. There are levels to this shit, but the modern media tries to make you feel like it is do or die every single day of your life. And that is just not a way to live your life. Some days you just gotta not give a fuck what the government is doing today. Some days it doesn't matter what the governor of your state did. It doesn't matter what they tweeted or what their assistants mother's best friend said.


Some days you just gotta worry about what you are doing and what is going on in your life. The rest of the world can wait. These things while important on some level or another is not worth driving yourself nuts over. You can fall into a perpetual spiral of misery and stress if you let yourself.





TL;DR: Just step back. It's not worth it. Flip the world the bird if you have stuff going on and handle your own shit. The world is not going to end just because you didn't check Twitter or watch the news today. The U.S. government is not gonna do a Nazi Germany if you just take a break from everything and bury yourself in your games or your books for a few days.


Do you. The world will be fine.

 

[TDiddyLive]

It’s better that we keep things centered on areas where we can share common interests and make friends rather than be at each other’s throats.

This is all well and good reasoning, and if followed this way, why is the Covid thread still a thing. Popping in for look from time to time it seems like a topic of people at each other’s throats.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I used to follow politics day in and day out every day. I wake up I watched CNN/MSNBC/CBS/CSPAN etc etc. And every fucking day it was the end of the world. Trump did this or Pelosi did that and by fucking god it was the end of democracy as we knew it. It was trending. It was important. i stressed the fuck out about it all day and argued about it on here with the other people who fell into this trap. Then the section was banned and I made a concerted effort to move past the section and EviLore very graciously offered me that chance despite me shitting on him and directly attacking him on more than one occasion. I was a belligerent spiteful shit. It was more than I deserved.


And after I had taken the steps away from it all I realized that I had fallen into a hole and it had basically made me the left wing version of the right wing shills that I had originally lampooned at every chance. I took several dozen steps back and realized it was mostly all shit. The stuff I was following was relatively important, but the world was not gonna end. Democracy is not gonna die because of Trump and Pelosi is not the liberal devil. There are levels to this shit, but the modern media tries to make you feel like it is do or die every single day of your life. And that is just not a way to live your life. Some days you just gotta not give a fuck what the government is doing today. Some days it doesn't matter what the governor of your state did. It doesn't matter what they tweeted or what their assistants mother's best friend said.


Some days you just gotta worry about what you are doing and what is going on in your life. The rest of the world can wait. These things while important on some level or another is not worth driving yourself nuts over. You can fall into a perpetual spiral of misery and stress if you let yourself.





TL;DR: Just step back. It's not worth it. Flip the world the bird if you have stuff going on and handle your own shit. The world is not going to end just because you didn't check Twitter or watch the news today. The U.S. government is not gonna do a Nazi Germany if you just take a break from everything and bury yourself in your games or yoru books for a few days.


Do you. The world will be fine.

The thing about politics is that unless that newly elected leader actually succeeds pushing through giant policies that affect you, most of the time it makes little difference who is even in charge.

Maybe for military people being tug of warred between fighting and coming home have a big worry who is in charge, but as invisible Justin Trudeau is the past 5 years, it wouldnt make much of a difference if another leader was there or if it was vacant.

US and Canada is similar that the past 20-30 years have mostly 8 year swings of red or blue. I don't know about you, but my life hasnt done 180s every time a new party takes over for 8 years. My taxes adjust a bit one way or the other (almost always bad no matter who is in charge) but thats basically it.

Also, I think a lot of people arent even true red or blue to begin with, but force themselves to pick one of them because they know they are the biggest parties and you got to pick one that has a chance of winning. If all parties were equal in size, I'd pick some middle of the road party that has a best of both views. And I think many people would do the same. But in US/Canadian politics there's only a few teams that have a chance of winning, so everyone has to pick red or blue even though some of the views in that party go against what they believe in.

 

[GeekyDad]

This is all well and good reasoning, and if followed this way, why is the Covid thread still a thing. Popping in for look from time to time it seems like a topic of people at each other’s throats.

The thing about politics is that unless that newly elected leader actually succeeds pushing through giant policies that affect you, most of the time it makes little difference who is even in charge.

Maybe for military people being tug of warred between fighting and coming home have a big worry who is in charge, but as invisible Justin Trudeau is the past 5 years, it wouldnt make much of a difference if another leader was there or if it was vacant.

US and Canada is similar that the past 20-30 years have mostly 8 year swings of red or blue. I don't know about you, but my life hasnt done 180s every time a new party takes over for 8 years. My taxes adjust a bit one way or the other (almost always bad no matter who is in charge) but thats basically it.

Just to reiterate...

"Disclaimer: This thread isn't about politics; it's about news coverage."

But you're making the point for me.

 

[lifa-cobex]

Politics draws the wrong type of people to the site. There isn’t enough time in the day to police politics threads for all the emotionally incontinent activist incels and zero-IQ racist conspiracy theorists who inevitably flock to those discussions from the dark recesses of the internet.

It’s better that we keep things centered on areas where we can share common interests and make friends rather than be at each other’s throats.

It's become more and more difficult to find news/politics on forums these days that isn't heavily leaned to one side or the other.
Shame to throw the baby out with the bath water but I get it.

 

[Halo is Back]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Yea, this is why I have abandoned politics altogether. I firmly believe that the people who actively engage and poke the honest's nest on social media are directly contributing to the downfall of this country.

I would rather spend my time trying to bring people together rather than tear them apart. Some old habits die hard admittedly but it's a change I'm committed to making.

 

[bender]

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

CNN and Fox News anchors going all Bloods and Crips towards one another doesn't make you happy?

 

[Schattenjäger]

To the OPs point… why isn’t there a media forum that simply states the facts and nothing else? I miss that type of representation of news as I think many folks do. There clearly is a market for it but it seems no company is there to fill the gap.
Oh how I wish I could watch the news like it was presented in the 80s and early 90s (I don’t even remember when all this shit got so editorialized and sensationalized)

 

[Dirk Benedict]

I think it was the right call. I was way too invested in the politics forum. I read it more than the other ones and all it did was get me heated. EviLore is so on point why that forum or discourse was obliterated from this fine site. People became unhinged and I saw the end result in some of my favorite posters, banned.

Fuck politics.

 

[nush]

To the OPs point… why isn’t there a media forum that simply states the facts and nothing else?

because of funding and the inevitability of them being attacked by both sides sadly.

 

[GeekyDad]

To the OPs point… why isn’t there a media forum that simply states the facts and nothing else? I miss that type of representation of news as I think many folks do. There clearly is a market for it but it seems no company is there to fill the gap.
Oh how I wish I could watch the news like it was presented in the 80s and early 90s (I don’t even remember when all this shit got so editorialized and sensationalized)

Some of the facts, though...it's ridiculous that there are headlines about them. Our news is like our food. It seems like mostly junk that's bad for you.

 

[gamescoltsfan]

I feel like my wings are clipped.

 

[Scotty W]

GeekyDad what you need is Reliable Sources.

 

[Chittagong]

Not gonna lie, I despised the axing of the politics section, Clown World and Era threads, but in hindsight it was the right call. All that shit was meaningless dopamine hits and a massive time sink at that.

I need to still get myself away from the meaningless covid news though. It is tangentially relevant to my life as I am travelling today (?) across the globe to French Polynesia, but once there, it’s irrelevant until mid April for me.

Speaking of dopamine hits, it seems Era/GAF are reaching an endemic stage. GAF seems to have settled into a good amount of activity while Era seems to have hidden stats.

 

[Dream-Knife]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

Not only the media, foreigners are trolling us too.

Russia organized 2 sides of a Texas protest and encouraged 'both sides to battle in the streets'

Russian trolls organized a protest and a counterprotest in the same place at the same time in May 2016, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday.

www.businessinsider.com

Deleting social media and not paying much attention to the news has been great for my mental health.

 

[thefool]

You have users making moral judgements over hiring cleaners in one thread on gaf lol.
There is very little point in discoursing about anything online especially contentious subjects like politics (even more so in an....online gaming community).

 

[AgatonSax]

I recently signed on and although interested in political stories, the absence of a politics forum was a bonus.

That said ‘Off Topic’ could use some livening up; always seems like the same threads.

 

[Doom85]

There is very little point in discoursing about anything online especially contentious subjects like politics (even more so in an....online gaming community).

Indeed.

“There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” - Linus

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Yes the new media is actively harming the population and that goes for every body, not just the overtly partisan outlets. And not just on political topics either. Social media isn't helping either.

There's a great line from the Simon & Garfunkel song The Only Living Boy in New York: "I get the news I need on the weather report". I recommend it everyone try that for a while.

 

[Coolwhhip]

Arguing about gender, race and whether you are in the red or blue tribe in the US is completely pointless. A waste of time, solely for extremely miserable people with empty lives. And you can do that on Twitter all day anyway.

 

[///PATRIOT]

I miss the politics forum, now I have to play video games.

 

[Jsisto]

Nowadays that’s what their in the business of doing. Without having to rely on print anymore, they can churn out bs with ease to fit the narrative of the day with little quality control. I am 100 percent confident even our actual politicians would also be more inclined to work together towards real solutions if the media wasn’t so dead set on the good vs evil narrative. There’s obviously other factors like money in politics, but they also are sucked into this game and It directly contributes to our dysfunctional institutions When everything they do or say is blasted all over the news to their constituents.

I vote for the issues I care about, but I’m mostly done closely following politics. I consider myself a progressive, but even some of the alternative media progressives I can’t stand anymore, because they use the exact same clickbait tactics because frankly, that’s what most people want to see and are addicted to. There are some beacons of light out there though, in my opinion. Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti‘s show Breaking Points is spectacular because they focus on issues that should unify everyone. Very refreshing.

 

[IDKFA]

I agree the political forum on here was a nightmare. This is a gaming forum, so it doesn't need a separate political forum.

However, I don't agree that people should disconnect from politics all together. Unless of course you have no intention of ever voting, then by all means step away from politics.

 

[Tams]

This is all well and good reasoning, and if followed this way, why is the Covid thread still a thing. Popping in for look from time to time it seems like a topic of people at each other’s throats.

Because it can't be fully contained. People want to talk about politics and stuff like it. Political and especially social stuff seeps into other threads here too (as it will as it is part of human society). The Covid thread keeps it relatively contained, but isn't an entire space to let it thrive/fester.

But a specific sub-forum, though an attempt to contain it, is just like a beacon or a light for a moth. And it doesn't remain contained as by them you've attracted all those people to the site.

It seems to be working.

 

[Punished Miku]

All you guys had to do was just be normal.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

All you guys had to do was just be normal.

 

[Ailynn]

 

[The Cockatrice]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

I am apolitical but just like ignorance which both of these are sorta in the same idea, the huge downside is, we get fucked by the loud voices. When ppl say go outside and protest in many countries all over the world it's not a good idea to disconnect. In my country we rallied and took down communism in '88 when I was born and it was for the better. People who live day by day or are having poorer conditions are very much dependable on the political aspects of the country and what decision they make, who they vote, etc. They, me included, can't really afford to just let things be, even though I personally do. People always tell me go vote and whatever, and the same ppl who voted for our current gov are now, shockingly, dissapointed, because nothing changed. I told them, no matter who ends up, the situation here is just too fucked, too in debt, too controlled by corporations that it wont matter what name runs the country. Still, as I said, you never know until you try, and being disconnected won;t make you happy, unless ofc you have a great income a good life, etc.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

It was a welcome change while I was on my GAF paternal leave, almost 1 year ago! I do miss some of the less crazy guys that left shortly thereafter, but it seemed like the change brought out the true colors of some others…big yikes and a woof, fam.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

It was a welcome change while I was on my GAF paternal leave, almost 1 year ago! I do miss some of the less crazy guys that left shortly thereafter, but it seemed like the change brought out the true colors of some others…big yikes and a woof, fam.

Yeah it is a shame but looking at the poli forum they set-up it’s for the best. It reads like a feed from senile geriatrics on Facebook. I think the more sane ones would be welcome back if they didn’t go out guns blazing.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Yeah it is a shame but looking at the poli forum they set-up it’s for the best. It reads like a feed from senile geriatrics on Facebook. I think the more sane ones would be welcome back if they didn’t go out guns blazing.

Wait…I had no idea they made their own forum

 

[Maiden Voyage]

edit: nvm not worth it

 

[poppabk]

It wasn't fluff news pieces that killed the politics discussion it was the crazies, mainly on the right but some on the left also. It was a bad look for the site, and spilled over into everything else. I miss the forum, but get why it is gone.

 

[InterMusketeer]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed."
– Mark Twain

"The effect of the mass media is not to elicit belief but to maintain the apparatus of addiction."
– Christopher Lasch

I stopped following the news late last year and it's been a positive change for me.

 

[AJUMP23]

I like Politics, I am conservative, but I came to Gaf to talk video games and life, and not get wrapped around the axle debating politics. I know my worldview influences my post, but our worldviews influence us all. I never went to the politics thread because it is what created divides in other boards I use to frequent. I am glad it is gone.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed."
– Mark Twain

"The effect of the mass media is not to elicit belief but to maintain the apparatus of addiction."
– Christopher Lasch

I stopped following the news late last year and it's been a positive change for me.

The word "news" has a holistic meaning of truth and facts. At least to me it does. Problem is corporations all claim they are reporting news when it might be total BS. And even when they do report factual news bites, the opinion/editorial part of the article is not fact, but opinion. Opinion is not news. But hey, maybe in 1950 the media was a lot more factual and neutral.

Go to National Enquirer's site and even they call themselves news.

If every site reported Microsoft earnings of $10 billion profit, that's fact as it comes right from Microsoft's earnings release to the public.

But what you'll then get is person A saying it's fantastic. Person B says it's not as great as it looks. Then person C says it's so-so. Then multiply that by all the analysts, Motley Fool basement freelancers and it can be a mess as they all are trying to get attention for your click because "news" at it's core isnt even something required in everyday life. And it's much less interesting without commentary, opinions and accusations. That's why 99% of the stuff you read is just time filler and entertainment and you wont even remember what you read yesterday.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Politics draws the wrong type of people to the site. There isn’t enough time in the day to police politics threads for all the emotionally incontinent activist incels and zero-IQ racist conspiracy theorists who inevitably flock to those discussions from the dark recesses of the internet.

I think the greatest loss was in the opportunity to see a news story being presented with a lot of bias, and then learn the truth was something much less extreme. I witnessed that many times after alarmist reporting from the left and right alike. That was a loss, and so was having a place where all viewpoints were welcome but racists were not. I'm sure that's a difficult balance, and I felt GAF did a good job with it. If there's another political forum on the internet that is also able to manage that balance, I don't know of it.

But yes, the news and major political parties have a financial incentive in making you hate and fear your neighbor. Until more people wake up to that fact, demand better, and turn to better sources, things are going to stay that way. It's a sad situation. I just want respectful conversation that deescalates while it informs, but that's hard to find these days.

 

[Tschumi]

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

One day this must be my tag

 

[StreetsofBeige]

But yes, the news and major political parties have a financial incentive in making you hate and fear your neighbor. Until more people wake up to that fact, demand better, and turn to better sources, things are going to stay that way. It's a sad situation. I just want respectful conversation that deescalates while it informs, but that's hard to find these days.

Totally. It draws the most viewers. Howard Stern even said it himself one time where he said the biggest and best bits are when guests are fighting and he sits back and lets viewers laugh listening to people yell at each other. At least he admits it.

Media sites have resorted to sensationalism because they know that people want faster news (social media), so they've resorted to clickbait content. All those cable tv news sites have had their ratings drop like rock because people dont really care. So it shows news at its core isn't even that important to most people. They got other things to do on the net, or would rather follow a random tweet as good enough "I got the gist of it", than wait for a corporation to release official vetted news about it.

 

[wvnative]

It’s all a series of mutually exclusive competing narratives designed to make each respective in-group angry, thereby increasing engagement, and to direct that anger toward their partisan counterparts.

Society has become increasingly strained by these dynamics over the past decade. Social media algorithms are increasingly effective at amplifying the negative outcomes for a few percent more ad revenue.

Disconnect from it and you’ll be happier, guaranteed.

No better way to phrase it