Hacker News Reader

Within my own social network of people I personally know or have met.

  - someone got killed in a horrible car accident (friend)
  - two people died from cancer, leaving much grieving behind (aunt, mother of sister's friend)
  - someone lost all their money in a scam (friend)
  - someone got killed by a never-to-be-found hit-and-run drunk driver (friend)
  - someone will beat a woman (neighbor)
  - someone got be murdered (someone i've met at a bar)
  - my favorite teams lost (three of them, NFL, NBA, NCAA)

All in the last 6 months, and I don't know that many people.

I live in Ireland so while we have all of the above we also have a whole heap of 'economy' bad news. In fact this story has been running for about 5 years now. I don't listen to the news during the morning commute anymore as it kind sets you up in a bad mood for the day. I listen on the way home when I'm in a good mood because I'm going to see the kids etc so I still know what happened, but i'm not being dragged down by it.

I know how you feel. There is no point for the constant reminders. It won't help you protect yourself or others. There is nothing that can be done sadly (on an individual level) unless you are perhaps witnessing an event - but for reading of it as news, no.

What's the list for Hacker News?

  - Someone will think of some shitty startup that has no added value to anyone.
  - Someone will claim that technology xyz is the perfect solution to all of the web's problems
  - Someone will give some wise ass advise stated in the form of 10 things I ... from ...
  - Someone will discuss why he would or would not work at some big company.
  - Someone will pretend to care about some minority, meanwhile insulting them and everybody else.

Most of the things on HN are reasonably relevant to my life. The upvote/downvote system actually is better than editors picking and choosing.

But we have our emotional triggers. I think they are more about our collective fears of missing out on things, or anything that flatters or threatens our identity as smart people.

* New language/practice enabled me to do Y faster/easier

* New technology X will change the Y industry

* Trend X will make you obsolete

* Stupid startup X was bought/funded for $Y dollars

* You might not be as smart as you think you are!! ZOMG OH NO. (and here's the corrective action to take)

* Programmers are great because...

* Programmers are terrible because...

  - Why everybody should learn to code
  - Why everybody should not learn to code

Think about it this way - what if someone is being raped every day in the parking ramp at your office, or murdered on the street you ride your bike to work each morning? If you heard about it on the news, you could change your route to work or ride with a buddy to increase your safety.

That sounds right. So if I hear about these type things on the news daily, then I "change my route" and don't watch it nor read about it.

I could also get hit by a piece of space junk falling on my head.

What is more likely, as the article points out, is that I'll read a lot of reports that distorts the actual risks of various types of events, and change my behaviour in ways that negatively affect me.

Nobody is going to be raped in the parking ramp at your office EVERY DAY. It may happen once but statistically it'll never happen again in that location.

Someone may be murdered on the street you ride your bike to work each morning. And, unless you live in Compton its unlikely to ever happen again. And if you do live in Compton why the hell are you riding your bike to work through a war zone you moron?! :)

But lets just say these things do in fact happen. Likely, you're not going to hear about them from the news. You're going to hear about them from a friend, family member, and/or co-worker long before seeing it on the news.

The point of this article isn't that the news is bad because its news. Its that news is bad because all the media outlets focus on the wrong things (rapes, murders, etc...). Things you actually don't need the news for in order to stay informed.

Where the news can be great is keeping a populace informed of their government. Nixon was taken down by news done well. Unfortunately, in the day of Fox News, being an informed populace is even becoming difficult.

>> Unfortunately, in the day of Fox News, being an informed populace is even becoming difficult.

Equality doesn't just mean that everybody has the same wealth, regardless of how hard they work. This is superficial. It means everyone has to think the same way. That's the only way we'll ever get true equality, and we won't get that until everyone's getting the same information. Conformity, equality, obedience: these must be our core values. Fox News must be stopped.

Over the years I've had hobbies that emphasize the problem in a pretty clear way. The hobbies were video games, skydiving and general aviation, and general tech all of which get some national airplay when there is an incident. You can be sure reporting on any of these is at worst down right incorrect and at best out of context with a few facts thrown in.

When reporting disaster rate of incidents per 100,000 and a break down of the root causes as a percentage isn't as sexy as showing wreckage or other dramatic video.

The 12 year olds have arrived. HN is doomed.