I have gone about three weeks without getting any news/blogs/commentary feeds or listening to talk radio, or even channel surfing for news. The only exceptions you will see is stuff that gets sent my way via social media. I’m not cutting off friends just because they link to political stuff, so I’ll probably still see a few things and pass them on. But it won’t happen as often as it used to.
I’m happier not knowing what the Beast is trying to do to me. The drain caused by learning the latest is not commensurate with my ability to do anything about it. This means that worrying about their destructive work is simply another tax on me: I bear with unnecessary and useless anxiety in addition to all the other burdens imposed by our political masters.
If I had money or time or any other surplus, I wouldn’t mind diving back in. But I don’t have any surplus of anything right now. Survival is pretty much my only concern.
This doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions. I do. Leaving aside the insane global war we are involved in, I think what George Bush, Alan Greenspan, Henry Paulson, and Ben Bernanke have done to the peons (including me) outside of the Wall Street, DC nexus is a whole new level of domestic evil that surpasses anything else heretofore perpetrated on the peoples of the United States. And Obama is doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on all of it.
I hate it all. I don’t want reform. I don’t want the GOP to win (wouldn’t mind if they did next year, but that’s just an immediate visceral thing that will lead to other frustrations). I want the whole regime to go the way of the Great Auk and the Dodo bird. I want the territory between Mexico and Canada (and Hawaii, and Alaska) freed from the Parasite/Predator Class.
But, again, there is nothing I can do about it. And God’s got his own time table and plan. My job is to live a quiet life and work to support my own and anyone else I can help. Caring about politics in a news-following way is just a way to feel angry and waste time. Neither helps.
By the way, I don’t think that civil government is a necessary evil. I just think the civil government that we actually have is an unnecessary evil. But again, God has his reasons and I may not have enough information to have a correct opinion.
Amen, brother.
One of the reasons I stopped listening to talk radio was the condition of getting riled up about all these things that I could do nothing about.
Impervious to debilitating fear: Death has no sting in Christ. God determines when and how (with actions of maturity or immaturity and the Spirit) we each see the King. On the way, the strategies and goals of the financial elite provide wisdom lessons in the ways of evil (not trusting God, rebellion, subtlety, craftiness, idolatry/lust for power, etc) versus victorious good (way, truth, life, Bible, what pleases the Lord, craftiness, boldness, love, etc). Defeat them with discerning words, thoughts, deeds (heart, soul, mind, strength) and generationally planting/gardening/watering/washing more than conquerors — eating with those willing to hear.
Well said, Frank.
This is great!
Funny, I’ve never been quite sure why Calvinism breeds a certain libertarian political ideology. It seems invariably when a devout Christian hates both parties, talks about the government as a machine, or a monster, and is concerned about what’s happening to our liberty, they are Reformed. I was talking to my former OPC pastor about this recently and he noted the same thing – neither of us could quite make the connection.
In any case, I’ve dumped all news outlets (including talk radio, and NPR – two staples I used to use to try to achieve some semblance of balance) and instead I now listen exclusively to Tom Keene’s shows on Bloomberg radio. As strange as it may sound, getting the news obliquely (through an interview show that’s geared toward finance and economics) it seems to come less filtered than otherwise – plus all of the idiosyncratic fluff that accompanies the day-to-day onslaught of the modern media (right, left or center) is reduced to almost zero.
Jim
“This means that worrying about their destructive work is simply another tax on me: I bear with unnecessary and useless anxiety in addition to all the other burdens imposed by our political masters.”
Brilliant insight!
I’ll be more brilliant when I learn to practice the principle! But thanks.
Jim, the only thing I can figure is that some calvinists realize the doctrine of human depravity isn’t helped by concentrating humans with guns in a giant corporate monopoly and asking them to be the final solution to all societal problems.
But I’m not really libertarian. I’m more of a Tolkienist.
I’m an Anarcho-Syndicalist Propertarian, but I still have to reconcile that irritating passage in Romans 13. It is a mystery that God would ordain an institution (the State) that has killed and destroyed more human lives in the course of human history than any other institution. May God help me.
I came to this conclusion a while back. I got the “ignorance is bliss” line from a friend who thinks that keeping one’s finger on the pulse of everything is essential to being properly informed and understanding the times. Well, I think by this time, I understand them pretty well, and what I don’t understand isn’t going to be improved by more details about the situation, which seem to be all of a piece with one another, but by getting a better biblical grasp of what it all means. That depends on knowing and applying the scriptures better, not constantly subjecting myself to the bombard of bad and frustrating news. I’m pretty pessimistic myself about the long-term outlook for our current form of government and society, but since I’m not constantly filling my brain with new outrages to be outraged about, I think I’m actually BETTER able to respond to the ways in which it all touches me directly.
Some news builds up…like a tolerance of iocane powder.
Amen to Pentamom.
I stopped watching the news the day Obama was elected – not because he is especially any more evil than anyone else – but because it seemed like a good stopping point.
But I was going to suggest an alternative – sports. It is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it is like art. You’ll love it. I’ve gotten into baseball and it gives me a. something to talk about with most people, b. something that doesn’t bring me down, c. something to root for.
Anyway, one vote for baseball instead of politics. At least the former is supposed to be a game 🙂