> I'm beginning to feel like everyone else but me seems to consider this the most newsworthy event of the year
Probably just your filter bubble. Things like the Pakistan Floods[0] were truly horrific and barely graced the front pages. Like, really horrible, devastating things happen[1] in the world and because it's not tech-news, us geeks don't notice. By all means, continue to read Slashdot, Hackernews, but pay attention to world news. My personal go-tos are Associated Press, Reuters, BBC World News, and a local news site for my area.