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News Flash


I tend to shy away from the news these days, especially on television. I find it disturbing and sensationalised, but mostly I think a constant stream of misery that we can do nothing about is quite unsettling.  I particularly avoided the terrible story of the soldier being killed in London recently as it sounded so brutal.  I heard people talking about images and video they had seen on the tv and the internet and it struck me as ghoulish to be a deliberate witness to that kind of horror. So it seems ironic that I was greeted by this view in our neighbours front garden on Saturday morning, presumably lifted by the high winds from our local shop. News literally delivered to my doorstep.

 I've long been a fan of the writings of Neil Postman, in fact I've probably quoted him on this blog before. He always has something thoughtful to say on the concerns of modern life. Here are some of his thoughts on news:

“Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death.” 

 “Most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.”

Neil Postman

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