I've gradually developed an alternative lifestyle in which I avoid listening to the news, and subjecting myself to Official Lies about the world in which we have to live. There are still a few handy escape hatches - I've always been a big football fan, for example.
Well, not so fast. Having just about survived the dodgiest World Cup in history, I find the escape hatches are getting a little blurred. That nice Mr Infantino's Great New Idea to open up control of football competitions to the highest-bidding influencer seems to have hit the buffers for the moment, thank goodness, but there was a spectacular windfall lined up for the Kushner family (who must know at least as much about football as they do about international diplomacy and crypto), so I expect the US Supreme Court to be involved in an appeal any minute now.
On balance, I think I should play it safe and avoid sports news too. My life is getting quieter, that's for sure - I found I suddenly had a lot of spare time after the World Cup ended. I have a couple of bottles of Schloss Schadenfreude stored away, waiting for some exciting new changes - I even put a bottle of decent Prosecco in the fridge recently, in hopes that the Orange Lard Barrel may self-destruct in the near future, but I guess I won't hear about it now. Not to worry - it seems likely that the OLB will insist on taking us all down with him. Keep me posted, if you will - if I don't hear anything in 6 months I'll just drink it anyway.
In moments when I forget to concentrate on nothingness, I wonder what can possibly be wrong with these people? Ignorant nihilists who worry about who has the biggest wedge - I obviously missed something along the way.
Never mind. All the best, chaps.
I have to confess no interest in football (or any sport for that matter) - it's all bread & circuses IMHO. I'm sure there were some who thought the gladiators and chariot drivers were overpaid self- important primadonnas whose talents were unworthy of the fame and praise they received.......compared to the physicians and cooks..
ReplyDeleteMy unhealthy obsession of telly shouting is closer to home. Only today I was compelled to let forth in a volley of foul language at being subjected to the BBC giving airtime to a frog faced phoney and fraudster who (should the world take leave of it's senses and is granted power) promising to unleash the Royal Navy (such as it is) on the "invasion" of unarmed civilians in rubber dinghies.....
So far all this has achieved is to upset the French...
Not one of the journos confronted the idiot that it was his lies and falsehoods that had created the mess, just a tame question on whether this was all just a distraction from the very dodgy financial dealings.....not even a question that this would be just what the Russians would like, it being an open secret that's where the dodgy cash was coming from? Not even the cojones to point out he was a nobody, having resigned his seat and thus not in a position to say anything?
Phew! That feels better.
It's hard living in an idiotocracy where the terminally stupid elect even less worthy examples of humanity into power. At least the stupid have the excuse they really don't know any better.....
Neil
Since I don't pay attention to the news I have little idea what you are on about, Neil, but it's good to let off steam.
DeleteIt's sad that you despise sport - a lot of people take a lot of pleasure from it - think what you may have missed over the years. Where else can you get bread and circuses nowadays? Just saying.
Anyway it's all nothing to do with me now, so it's definitely not my fault. Well, it's maybe not entirely my fault, though opinions do seem to differ. It did occur to me that the Royal Marines confronting a lilo containing 1 refugee would have a bad look. Optics - you know how it is. Hatred and greed will always win out - I'll be in the attic if anyone needs anything.
A neurosurgeon once observed that voting for the parties older people vote for might be a sign of neurodegeneration. If one can't avoid the self-serving twaddle, then I think annoyance is a pretty natural and healthy response. I am not sure we are obliged to keep closely abreast of this, other than to think carefully when we are called upon to vote.
DeleteAll my life I have been a news junkie, but increasingly of late, I have just had enough. It has been enough just for me to pop onto the BBC News site and snatch catch-headlines, but even the interest in doing that has wained. I have not seen or heard any news over the past 3 days for example.
ReplyDeleteI have always been shocked that my two (adult) children have never watched the news, have no idea about political matters and don't use their vote, but from what I can see, it hasn't caused them any disadvantage.
Some time ago I checked out the BBC News items, there were 11. one was something to smile about, one was a no-story and I'm not even sure why it was there and nine were just miserable. I recall wondering why I was even looking at stuff that was just depressing and over which I had no control over, yet I look out of my window, check with my circle of friends and family and actually the world is fine. I don't particularly need the news to give me an altered perspective on that.
Head down and keep going!
Thank you Norm - sound fellow. The BBC eventually has been a big disappointment to me - there seem to be plenty of job opportunities there - I understand that, once football had failed to come home yet again, Radio 5 still had a crew in the USA, but a big part of their job now consisted of interviewing English fans to get them to express their disappointment in at least 3 of their own words - one (or more) of which had to be "gutted". The editorial stance seems gradually to have evolved into the Daily Express - I recall that at the height of the pandemic, Good Old Auntie Beeb showed no signs of furlough, no reduction in the number of journos employed full time on spreading bad news. In the absence of Covid, much attention has shifted to endless tragic stories of people with painful diseases, folk with wrecked holidays, victims of scams. The policy of the World News department puzzles me - at some point in the past, there must have come a time when the BBC gave up on impartiality towards Hitler - I'm wondering what the tipping point was. It must be an algorithm, I guess.
DeleteI can only commiserate, in a nodding sagely kind of way! I have a bottle of Sauternes with a similar end-usage envisioned!
ReplyDeleteExcellent - we are probably both saddos, but keeping these ideas alive somehow gives me a little hope. I'm hoping I can still remember that the Prosecco is there - and why - when it is needed.
DeleteWhile I only have a passing interest in football, even my usual summer sporting joy of the Tour e France has fallen prey to commercial vulturism as C4 lost the broadcast rights. I'm afraid I've always been very interested in politics, but these days it is quite enough to raise ones blood pressure considerably.
ReplyDeleteAh yes - I miss the Tour - I used to follow the sport myself. Being a tight-fisted beggar, I have never had a pay-TV channel account - originally this was because I didn't have enough free time to watch it, but also because I refused on principle to put money into the Murdoch family's coffers for any reason at all. These days I have plenty of time, I find, but tight-fistedness is still alive and well. [Yes, I realise that the UK TV licence is sort of the same thing, but it is less personal somehow - like Income Tax]
DeleteSo I am stuck with the BBC - during the summer, I spend endless weekends with the radio, failing to listen to mystifying limited-overs cricket competitions, played by teams in inappropriate clothing to rules I don't even understand. As a schoolboy I played cricket to a moderate standard, but that was something people did rather than watched. I think no-one has the attention span to follow old-fashioned First Class cricket now - maybe that is progress, after all. Anyway - a lot of people enjoy what is on offer now, and a lot of people make money out of it, so jolly good.
I dumped my TV and licence back in 1998 after a concert with the great Alan Price wherein he asked us “Why are you paying a poll tax for the privilege of having a sewer in your front room?”. Also not interested in sport since Rugby League got Packerised.
ReplyDeleteCorrective action. Digression, I saw the Animals, with AP and all the originals, in 1963 at the Cavern, Mathew Street, Liverpool. Very good - high-energy show - repertoire was a bit different, lots of proper blues and Ray Charles.
DeleteAhem, my Mother might very well have been there…
DeleteDid she play harmonica?
Delete