If possible at all, of course.
It helps a lot that the assholes are not doing well. The Epstein thing has made it easier to breathe.
Going to protests helps too. The energy of the crowd really feels good and assures me that the people are on my side.
its all about setting your boundaries being able to say thats enough for today. being able to ask yourself if what you are listening to is new facts being relayed to you or is it speculation to fill air and stop listening if it’s the latter.
Activism, contributing to your community, making the world a better place. The crazy-making part is that you know it’s crap, and that you feel like you have no agency to make it better, right? Well, doing something to make the world better makes it feel more tolerable, even if the bit that you’re working on isn’t related to the specific badness that you’re paying attention to on the news right now.
And yeah, there’s always the possibility that what you’re doing backfires, or has no effect, but if you don’t do anything at all, then there’s no possibility of having a good effect. Also, obviously no one normal person can fix everything, you just pick a bit that seems suited for you and work on that.
Second the hell out of this. It can take a lot out of you emotionally, and you need to take breaks, but I feel so much better when I’m among others who are also working to make positive change.
Because there’s always a possible path out of the forest…
Sometimes the path gets dark, sometimes it changes directions.
But there’s always a path thru it.
The news is primarily billionaire propaganda. It does not add value to your life. When it’s important you’ll hear about it, and then you can read up. You don’t have to be the first to know. Nothing bad will happen to you for being less informed.
I ignore the news, because I’m probably dying withing a few years, so I’m just chillin’ and enjoying whatever’s left.
Don’t need to make depression worse, I’m not a politician, I can’t change anything.
I’m not a cis white dude (I’m Chinese-American), its not my fight. Like what am I supposed to do? Protest, get a lot of attention from the government, and then get labeled a “CCP Spy” get set to some gulag. Then they’ll raid Chinatown and pillage everything. Then some of the first-gen inmigrants are gonna go on wechat and blame me for “stirring the pot”. I mean, can you imagine if Thomas Matthew Crooks was a gay black guy? It would’ve been so much worse. So much scapegoating. If I do anything, they’ll just scapegoat everyone that looks like me.
So good luck y’all, my health is deteriorating, don’t have the brain energy to take action, and I’ve already accepted death, literally hurts my brain to think.
I try to read an equal amount of theory and history as I do news. Context is everything. When you read about these bastards doing evil deeds, read too about Mussolini hanging from a bridge. I enjoy learning about coups perpetrated by the CIA last century (there’s 70 of them) and all the horrendous fallout it caused so that I can taunt nationalists with facts about the nature of the empire that they’re only just now recognizing.
News is only a part of the process. Theory, praxis, cadre, in equal parts.
That’s the neat part. I don’t. I’m depressed as fuck.
And how does keeping up with current world events help you in that situation?
If something like 911 happens again you’d find out anyway, just an hour later that you would now.
I’m not being paid to care about all that benign bullshit so I don’t anymore
Because I don’t think sticking my head in the sand is good either. Besides, it’s not just abstract far away things that are bothering me. A lot of what depresses me in my personal life is connected to the broader problems we face as a society. I kind of can’t ignore that if I want to make sense of my own life. That doesn’t stop it from feeling hopeless, but the alternative isn’t really an option even if I didn’t care about others.
I was depressed before I kept up on current and past events.
This is exactly the problem and how we got into this mess in the first place. When we read terrible things are happening, instead of getting mad and doing something we choose to ignore it and pretend it’s not happening. That allows the terrible people to keep doing whatever they want.
Sure, it’s easier to ignore it now for your mental health, but when things get even worse, you’ll be worse off too. It’s worth some stress and pain now to prevent even more in the future.
If you don’t like what you read in the news, organize and take action. Don’t bury your head in the sand. It won’t get better on its own.
I’m not sane I take my meds I only pay attention to non sensational news (Reuters,NPR,AP) I spend time with loved ones I have no interest in associating with conservatives.
It’s tough. Stick to AP, Reuters if you can afford it. The entire news environment is pretty crazy right now though. I think once the US gets through Trump the rest of the world might calm down some and we can all relax a little bit.
Are those who are well adjusted to a unjust world really the sane ones?
