I haven't watched live TV for years, and I try to avoid the mass media as much as possible. The 24/7 "news" cycle does us all a disservice. We are encouraged to forget what was said yesterday, so these "news stories" are little slices of time without context or the long view.
That's why I also stopped reading news web sites. It's just a bunch of negativity that often has little or no meaning.
And as a Medical Marijuana (MMx) advocate, I share your frustration. The pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry and "big alcohol" don't want to see marijuana enter the mainstream. They use their money and aggressive lobbying to keep the conversation on a pedestrian level.
That's why I volunteer with the Marijuana Policy Project: www.mpp.org
I'm torn between a desire to stay away from the negative effects of the mainstream media and wanting to keep up on current events. It's hard knowing where to even begin looking for more unbiased sources.
I'm very much an advocate of the MPP. They were looking to hire people with our skills but we ended up in Canada instead.
The thing is, you're not really getting information, just a little slice of news, in a slice of time, without context or history.
How many times have you read something in the news only to learn later that it was all bullshit or that the story changed over time?
Also, the negativity thing is big for me. Too often the "news" people try to goad an emotional response from the reader / listener - and that response is usually fear or anger, as those are the easiest emotions to evoke.
When you say something like "Discovery of the universe is an act of spirituality - to know the universe is to know the divine" I wanna jump up and cheer. In fact I think I will. Excuse me. (Ed jumps up, cheers, and sits back down again). When someone of your intelligence says this I feel less alone in my endless search for meaning which began to make sense only after I had found Einstein, Hawking, Hubble, and a couple of other flaky scientists who were brave enough to explore our mysterious universe without being weighed down by medieval religious dogma. And as for the marijuana non-debate, I keep thinking of what Shakespeare said: "What fools we mortals be." If he had been less poetic and more vulgar, he might have said, "What assholes we mortals be." I thought the flap over Michael Phelps was a national disgrace, second only to his stupid and disappointing apology.
I think we're all fools to some extent, but we can at least hope to not blunder around too much. If one thing is certain to surprise us at every turn, the universe seems to be it. It's the littlest of things to make life a bit more worth living.
The news is on in my house constantly...that 24 hour news channel, it's ALL my dad watches. I can't fucking STAND it, there's no good news anymore. That's why I know shit about current events, I just learned over time to tune the news out. =P
And I'm not a smart guy, so I don't know all that much about what negative propaganda is being spread about weed these days...but do people actually still think it's a gateway drug and causes mental disorders and physical dependency and all'a that shit? *eyeROLL*
You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for! But yeah, there's a lot of people with a lot of misinformation out there ... problem is, people also flock to what they want to hear, which gives others leeway to tell lies and get support (power) in return. Hrm.
I've given money to www.NORML.org in the past :-) I heard their Executive Director and board member Ann Druyan (Carl Sagan's widow) speak. It was riveting.
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That's why I also stopped reading news web sites. It's just a bunch of negativity that often has little or no meaning.
And as a Medical Marijuana (MMx) advocate, I share your frustration. The pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry and "big alcohol" don't want to see marijuana enter the mainstream. They use their money and aggressive lobbying to keep the conversation on a pedestrian level.
That's why I volunteer with the Marijuana Policy Project: www.mpp.org
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I'm very much an advocate of the MPP. They were looking to hire people with our skills but we ended up in Canada instead.
Reply
How many times have you read something in the news only to learn later that it was all bullshit or that the story changed over time?
Also, the negativity thing is big for me. Too often the "news" people try to goad an emotional response from the reader / listener - and that response is usually fear or anger, as those are the easiest emotions to evoke.
Reply
spirituality - to know the universe is to know the divine" I wanna
jump up and cheer. In fact I think I will. Excuse me. (Ed jumps up, cheers, and sits back down again). When someone of your intelligence says this I feel less alone in my endless search for meaning which
began to make sense only after I had found Einstein, Hawking, Hubble,
and a couple of other flaky scientists who were brave enough to explore our mysterious universe without being weighed down by medieval religious dogma.
And as for the marijuana non-debate, I keep thinking of what Shakespeare said: "What fools we mortals be." If he had been less
poetic and more vulgar, he might have said, "What assholes we mortals be." I thought the flap over Michael Phelps was a national disgrace, second only to his stupid and disappointing apology.
Reply
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And I'm not a smart guy, so I don't know all that much about what negative propaganda is being spread about weed these days...but do people actually still think it's a gateway drug and causes mental disorders and physical dependency and all'a that shit? *eyeROLL*
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