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Comment by morgengold | Hacker News Reader

I am astounded by how many comments recommend completely withdrawing from worldly matters. While I can understand why this may seem like a smart move, it cannot be the right choice ethically (think of Kant’s categorical imperative). Of course, you cannot directly influence world politics. But choosing a small area where you can make something better—anything that positively affects your fellow human beings—seems to me the more appropriate path. In the end, it will likely also lead to less nihilism and more happiness. And more sanity.

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Is it because "the news" has changed beyond what we are designed to handle. It used to be just local gossip, and every now and then you'd hear about the king having a son or something. Eventually things progressed to where you would get newspapers and TV telling you what's happening in your country and maybe some global news, but you would only get that once a day and space was limited. Now it feels like news sites dredge up every bad thing happening everywhere at every minute and give it a big headline, trying to convince you it is important to know.

I saw people trading the macro for the micro, focusing on family and those close to them. That is a small areas where they can make things better. Focusing on giving children a good childhood and teaching them well, will do more than filling them with the anxiety they’d pickup from a news obsessed parent who is too stressed out to play a game. This is the most positive thing most people can do for the world.

Not watching/reading "news" or engaging in mass or social media is not withdrawal.

Rather it is doing that which opens the space in your mind to be able to "choose a small area where you can make something better".

As long as you are on a hamster wheel of "Trump said this" "Trump said that" you can't make anything better in your life, nor be of much service to anyone else.

I'm all in on a healthy information diet. I was more concerned with comments like:

"I am apathetic to everything because there is nothing I can do about any of that. I am a speck of dust on a cog of a machine. There is absolutely no point of worrying about any of this."

I don't know if consuming world news makes you ethically better. That sounds a bit much and yes you can make something better in your society by what ever ... opening a hacker space in your village... I just do not get the relation between scrolling through news and affecting fellow human beings

As a bit of a counterpoint, I'd say focusing on world politics can make you less effective at effecting local change. The amount of anger in my Blue city to the Trump admin has made more of our attention focus on Palestine or ICE and less on traffic safety or local tax revenue. We can save lives right here, right now by focusing on traffic safety. But 100x more people show up to a Gaza rally than a DOT hearing on traffic safety.

Obviously completely throwing your head into the sand is deleterious, and understanding the national political climate is certainly an important part of things like applying for grant funding or understanding how to get Federal dollars to match State and Local dollars. But IMO the nationalization of politics is having a real effect on the effectiveness of local politics.

I understand your point and I would agree. Most likely there is no general right approach. One has to navigate based on skillset, personality, environment and so on. I see the problem only if all the "good" people withdraw, there are always some on the other side who will take advantage thereof.

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