There was a time when I absolutely paid no attention to the news. I started losing interest in early 2000 when my dad passed away and I was exhausted from the Clinton years' witch hunt. Whatever I knew, I heard from people who would tell me what they read or saw on television. I still gleaned enough information from them to realize that this country was in big trouble, I had enough on my plate to deal with (taking care of my sick mom) and therefore, I wouldn't spend much time caring about it anymore because as far as I was concerned, we were all gonna die anyway.
I simply gave up caring altogether right after the stolen 2000 election. My mom told me about John Ashcroft one morning in early 2001 while we were having breakfast at a coffee shop and why she liked him. My head nearly exploded. I asked her to please not regurgitate what she saw on CNN every day. I begged her to watch nature shows on cable. She died a few months later and I was too busy to follow the news after that. I had an estate to settle, a house to unload and I was back in the music business (to take my mind off being an orphan).
I jumped back into the news on 9/11. Even people I knew were shocked that I had the television on that morning when I saw the story unfold from the get-go and started making phone calls to everyone to tell them to get the hell out of the city or turn on their tv's. That was the first time in months that I actually had it on tuned to a morning news show. It was my son's first day of junior year of high school, so maybe that's why I had it on in the kitchen. He came home from school that day telling me how many of his schoolmate's parents worked in the WTC and what a horrific day it was. I later found out that 60 people in my mom's village were killed in the WTC- some of whom I knew from town. My friends managed to get out of the buildings before they collapsed and one of my oldest friends had taken the day off. Thank god.
The thing that really caught my attention was the Newsweek cover the day after 9/11 when I went to my mother's house to pick up the mail. Newsweek's issue that week was about how Bush stole the 2000 election. "Ah finally", I thought. Well too bad, 9/11 happened and this would be brushed under the rug. How convenient. Convenient indeed.
I have spent the past 6 years closely reading practically all the news that came over the wire. I tried to talk to people and wake them up, but they just spewed back whatever stories the television media were picking up or they just told me they were merely trying to survive and didn't have time to watch tv (good answer). A lot of people believe that the bushistas will keep them safe. Perhaps they are in denial too and don't want to think otherwise. I don't believe that the bush administration will keep us safe-- maybe from terrorists, maybe not, but definitely not from a dictatorship.
If the Fourth Reich is still in power after this November's elections, I will surely go back to not paying any attention to the news. I think it's a defense mechanism I have. I am expecting my deliberate ignorance to kick back in gear unless some miracle happens between now and then. With a corporate media informing us and rigged elections, what hope can I have?
I am reaching the end of my rope. How about you? Are you optimistic about the midterm elections? The reasons I believe are that we don't have a strong independent media and that the elections are rigged. We are turning fascist faster than I had expected. I feel utterly helpless.
On the other hand, thank god for Jon Stewart. He will keep me going for the next 2 months.
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