I have never really watched the news. I felt empowered in this decision when I first read Walden by Henry David Thoreau:
"After a night's sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. 'Pray tell me any thing new that has happened to a man any where on this globe,' -- and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River; never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself."
"To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea."
"What news! how much more important to know what that is which was never old!"
Then of course I felt anyone who had any doubts about the veracity of the news should have seen what the news was good for (=nothing) during the Trump campaign. News is made to sell, whether it is for clicks online or for screen time on TV. It's for entertainment. It appeals to your most base desires.
However, now with this coronavrirus crisis, I even more so disdain the news. I not only feel a need to protect my children from seeing and hearing this panic-provoking "news", as I feel like I need to protect myself.
I was going to name this post "don't watch the news", but I decided against it because my vocation is not in a cloistered convent (for some it is and I thank them for praying for us) and I do like learning about politics a current events… from sources I trust.
I like podcasts. I just found out Lila Rose has a podcast and she has a great episode about this crisis.
"News" like that really, really gives me energy like I've drunk a thousand redbulls. I ❤ Lila Rose!
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