Some friends say that they sample news from both ends of the political spectrum, so that they have a balanced news diet.
But, I am finding, the Left/Right Diet doesn’t have the intended effect. This is true no matter which end of the political spectrum you call home. On either end, your news source is a meal of sugar, sweetly catering to your desire for a confirming treat about those ne’er-do-wells. The other side’s news sources are a spoonful of syrup of ipecac, triggering dyspepsia. Combined into one meal, a diet of sugar and ipecac does not make a balanced diet. It’ll kill you. (And you will disgust everyone around you while you die.)
Friends will challenge this post. Some will say, “But the other side is a conspiracy of #fakenews. #sad.” On the other side, friends will say, “This is a false equivalency. Facts matter. They are just plain lying.”
In the meantime, I’m wondering if the best news diet is infrequent.
Is That Unethical?
Is That Bad Citizenship?
“That’s what the other side wants you to do,” say my friends. “They want you to be so disgusted that you sleep in blissful ignorance while they destroy the world.”
But I’m wondering: how do I live on a steady stream of sugary ipecac daiquiris?
Long ago, I wrote about living without news. Perhaps that was the right way?