When we last talked, I said I was going to be doing some weeding. Let me tell you what that looks like.
First, I’m once again deleting X from my devices. I think for me the final straw was Phony Stark saying “For anyone, whether in America or other countries, who finds this result shocking, they should reconsider where they get their information. This trend was obvious on 𝕏 for months, but almost all the legacy mainstream media pushed a completely false reality. They lied to you.” Well, I don’t buy that for one second. At the very least, I don’t buy that X of all places has the market on objective journalism, or reality for that matter. I feel the same way about MSNBC/CNN/FNC/NewsNation/NewsMax/Insert Right Wing Propaganda Streamer here. Frankly, the whole system of news gathering and dissemination is broken. It’s been that way for a long time, and the reason is simple: straight news on TV sucks, and no one wants to watch it except for a few freaks of nature. Like me
I remember CNN at the very beginning, pre-Desert Storm. June 1st, 1980. It was a very different animal. Lou Dobbs’ still seemed like a reasonable human being, for example. It’s evolved into something else, and at long last it’s just not watchable. The cable news networks have a bias just like Elon Musk has a bias. I’m not ready or stupid enough to call it ‘woke mind virus’, because anyone who uses that stupid term has a hard enough time defining what woke is beyond trying not to be a dick to other people. So, I’ve deleted X. I’ve removed any news or opinion based podcasts from my feed. I’m swearing off tv news. What do I trust? Well, I trust NPR to some extent, and I trust the AP. Even then, I’m not going to seek out news any more. I just can’t with this crowd. We’ll never get back to Uncle Walter telling us the way it is, but I wish we could. I feel very strongly about Shepard Smith being able to pull it off, but I don’t hold out hope that he’ll ever make a comeback. He certainly knew where we were headed.
Now, I realize that I’m in a position where I can ignore all of this and curate what I want to consume. I also know others can’t, because it affects them directly. However, I do know this much: Important news finds us, we don’t find it. I will put my trust in that knowledge, and stay off the goddamn news platforms. I don’t need it.
I was reminded this week that Tunnel Of Love by Bruce Springsteen hit number one on the charts this week in 1987. I know, you wouldn’t think I’m a fan of Bruce, but I am. ToL is one of his best, and in some way I think it’s better than Born in the USA. it’s a deeply personal album, based on what was going on with him at the time. If you’ve never had the opportunity, I recommend giving it a listen.
I’ve started S3 of Yellowstone. It tickles the part of me that watched Dallas/Knots Landing/Dynasty/Falcon Crest back in the day. True to the formula, there has to be one character in the series you can’t ignore, and on Yellowstone, that’s Beth. Some of you already know this, but…man. Just…wow. If you don’t know, may I suggest looking for her on YouTube, there are several shorts that cover her character very well. That’s what caused me to go find the show in the first place.
Provided I have the time, I’m going to start working on what a Roley podcast looks like in this day and age, and how we might accomplish it. It’s time to remove the AC units from the windows around here, and while the day time temps will be livable, it’s going to be in the 40’s at night by the end of next week.
Monday, as ever, is a coin flip. See you then, possibly.