Be Proof Through the Night.
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© 2007, World
Peace One
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Right now you need
to make a decision that you will feel good about.
We think that to be a perfectly informed citizen, you'd need
to spend at least a half hour a day taking in news. But if you don’t currently spend any time on news, or if your
life is too busy, this may be too big a commitment. Before we offer
some new sources of information, we should talk about four “mental
blocks” that some people may have regarding the news.
Read the list of four problems below. If
any of these apply to you, read about it. Otherwise hit the “jump
over” link to jump further down this page. Problem:
You avoid the news because it’s mostly bad news and makes you
feel bad. Problem: You avoid political news because all the complexity is
overwhelming. Problem: You avoid the news because you feel that you can’t do anything
about it.
If you pick up the
newspaper, you usually read about mostly bad news. If you watch TV, you
are often treated to images of bad situations, from wars to
environmental destruction to evidence of crimes committed. Some news
makes you angry. Other news is depressing. What could possibly
make it easier to endure all this misery? First, it helps to
realize that, on average, things are not as bad they seem.
There is a bias in the news toward negative things. Think about
this: In nature, most things grow and then decay. When
things are being built up, the process is slow. But when things fall apart, the process is faster. Imagine
a forest: When the trees are growing, it is silent and
slow. But when a tree falls down, it makes a strong impression and a
loud noise. The same is true for
human events: growth and building are slower processes.
They don’t make the headlines. A second reason for bias toward the negative is that when things
are working as planned it’s not news. Things are expected to work. But
when they stop working, it becomes news. This reality is very clear in
families. When people do
what’s expected, we often don’t notice or don’t talk about it.
But when people misbehave, then
it becomes an event.
There are some
basic rules for handling complexity that we will remind you of: One
basic rule is to prioritize issues and focus on the most important.
Division of labor is another rule. We can
explain other shortcuts, too. There is too
much lying and too much deception in the news. First, you have to
accept that almost everyone slants the truth in their favor.
(You probably do, too!) Secondly,
we can show you how to get news with less spin. Thirdly, we can explain how you can do a little “detective
work” so that you can be more certain that you are getting more of the
real story.
A problem with most
TV and newspaper news is that you are usually learning about a situation
after
it’s too late for you to have an impact. For instance, in the paper
you might read that Congress
already voted against an environmental bill. Or you read that so many
thousand children died
last year from hunger. Two
weeks ago you could have helped the environmental bill pass. A year ago you could have donated money to an organization to
save a child’s life. But now it's
too late. However... And, by the way,
you can usually read an action alert and write an email or letter in fifteen
minutes or less with practice. A second way to
make news easier to take is to accept that you have real power. Our
statement that “raindrops make rivers and rivers move (or wear down)
mountains” can be seen as inspirational, but we prefer to see it as a
statement about reality, about the way things are.
You, along with others, can really make a significant contribution. It
often looks like your contribution is a drop in the ocean, and yet the
whole ocean
is made of droplets, isn't it? Citizens need five
kinds of news and information to be effective
Now
let’s learn so
we can increase our political power! Step One:
Think about how you will build a regular habit of news intake. (If you already take in news, you may want to add or change your
news sources.) Like most things in
life,
if taking in news is not rewarding for you, you won’t keep doing it. In the next section, you'll be exploring a variety of news
sources. But right now, we
want you to think about how it will fit into your daily or weekly
pattern. Here are some questions:
d.
How could you fit news in your routine? You can pick more than one:
e.
Decide on some reminder that will help get you into the habit.
Here are some ideas: __ Send
yourself an email daily. Or
ask your Buddy for a daily reminder for 14 days.
a.
A good source of local news.
b.
A good source of state, national and international news. c.
Two sources of news analysis. Having sources from different
political viewpoints, gives you perspective on issues. d.
Timely information on upcoming bills (so that you can do advocacy, thus having an impact.)
Below are links for
the above four areas. Investigate links of interest, and make a decision about
which news sources you will use. This will probably be the longest
task on this page. Give yourself one or two hours to explore the
links for better news and news analysis. We believe that even people who
regularly take in news can find higher quality news sources that are
free. a.
Local news. - Neighborhood
newspapers (print and
online) -Website of your local government (which you can find through this page: http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/Local_Government/Cities.shtml.) b.
State, National and International news.
- Your city or town
newspaper (print or online) -
BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/default.stm\
(News from England) - Google News
http://news.google.com/ -
Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/
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