News stories

I have an email account on Yahoo.  Usually when I'm done using it, I just close the browser.  But for some reason, occasionally I log out of the email account without closing the browser.  When that happens, I end up on Yahoo's home page.  They have news stories on that page.  News stories from a culture that disgusts me.  Lots of celebrity gossip. 

That is not my culture.  People say that is American culture but I am American and that is not my culture. 

I get most of my news by listening to NPR in the morning before work.  Usually they have a lot of interesting stuff.  Today, they had several stories that I did not care about: 1) a famous athlete confesses to using performance enhancing drugs, 2) another famous athlete said his girlfriend had died, but this girlfriend actually never existed, and 3) when TV shows reference some other TV show, a book, a movie, or a celebrity, people are less likely to get the reference now because our culture is more diverse than in the past. 

I don't want this garbage polluting my brain.  I want to learn.  NPR does have many stories that I do find to be valuable, such as:

• Cold Weather Punishes Syrians in Refugee Camps - this is a sad story, and I can't solve all the world's problems, but I think it's important to remember that not everyone is as privileged as I am, and to try to find ways to do what I can to help others.
• Understanding Climate Change, With Help from Thoreau - again, the world's problems are more than I can solve, but I think we should have some awareness of what is going on.
• Stand Your Ground Linked to Increase in Homicides - we make policies based on what impact we think they will have, but we need to look at research to see what impact they actually have.
• More Young People Are Moving Away From Religion, But Why? - maybe this article is not as socially useful as the other three, but it is interesting to me.  What seems strange to me is the way that people think they have to make a choice between either belief in a sentient, omnipotent deity, or a cold, empty life. Why don't they just become pantheists?

One good thing about the internet is that it gives us choices.  If we don't like the news that Yahoo brings us, we can look to NPR.

But humans do not seem to always make wise choices.  It seems that many people choose news sources that foster ignorance, narrowmindedness, and lack of compassion for others.