Do you feel frustrated about an issue after reading the news and feel you want to do something?

[Care]

Often after reading the news I feel empathetic with something bad that has happened to other people (e.g. earthquake) or just something that really frustrates me (e.g. how the government has dealt with a situation) or something I really want to happen (e.g. all the nations at the Paris Climate Conference to take bold action against climate change). However, news media often just serve you the bad news and there is no option to take an action and change the situation.

After you do some research you can perhaps find a climate march to join in or a way to donate money to the people affected by the earthquake. However most of the time we are left with this bitter feeling from the bad news and we either do not do the effort to find a way to take action (perhaps because we think there is nothing we can do) or we research online but cannot find any way to take action.

Have you experienced the same kind of empathy/ frustration/ desire to make a change after reading the news? Have you had the same need to channel that feeling somehow and take action about an issue? Have you had the problem of not being able to find a way to take action?

 

[StoneRoad]

So, Care , what would you suggest ?
I know how I respond - by making an effort with the things I can deal with in any small way that is appropriate to "the cause" to which I am responding.
Such as a donation to a disaster appeal, being greener, recycling more, wasting less ...

 

[moon]

Unfortunately this is how the news industry operates and thrives, generating fear and frustration that compels the 'general public' to consume more and more 'news' as there is no other outlet for processing the information offered.
You can of course stop consuming 'news' and gather info about the world by actually talking to people...

 

[Doctor Carrot]

Might I suggest sticking around here? You learn a lot here. Personally I'm rubbish at going on demos and the like. I guess my own contribution to 'the cause' StoneRoad is talking about is reading threads on here and then taking what I learn into my every day life. It's not like I'm going around with a soap box but if someone starts talking about whatever they read in the news and starts just repeating tabloid news verbatim I'm able to challenge it, again I don't do it in a preachy way, or try not to anyway, but I've at least got people to look at things in a different way on a host of different topics.

If you keep in mind that virtually all problems are related to the economic system we operate under it's less frustrating than seeing each problem in isolation.

 

[butchersapron]

Unfortunately this is how the news industry operates and thrives, generating fear and frustration that compels the 'general public' to consume more and more 'news' as there is no other outlet for processing the information offered.
You can of course stop consuming 'news' and gather info about the world by actually talking to people...

Where do you get your information from when you run out of handy experienced experts who you happen to know personally?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

 

[moon]

London is full of people from all over the world who have first hand experience of the issues reported about in the news.

 

[butchersapron]

London is full of people from all over the world who have first hand experience of the issues reported about in the news.

I don't live in london. Lots of other people don't as well. Shocking but true. And i suspect that you don't really know 5 million people.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

 

[moon]

Chatting to people is always a good idea, wherever you live.

 

[butchersapron]

When you talk to people and only people what sort of prior knowledge do you bring along in order to be able to judge the worth/value/truth/etc of what they say and where did you get this prior info from?

 

[butchersapron]

Chatting to people is always a good idea, wherever you live.

Of course it is, don't confuse that with research or getting to the root of a matter or issue though - it's a tool. The same way that THE NEWS INDUSTRY is.

 

[moon]

You keep an open mind

 

[Care]

So, Care , what would you suggest ?
I know how I respond - by making an effort with the things I can deal with in any small way that is appropriate to "the cause" to which I am responding.
Such as a donation to a disaster appeal, being greener, recycling more, wasting less ...

There are many websites such as Avaaz, change.org, 38degrees and also charities and NGOs that have different campaign. Perhaps searching on their websites could help you find ways to take action on different issues you read about in the news. Although this could take more time.

 

[butchersapron]

You keep an open mind

Keeping a critical mind is more useful.

 

[moon]

Of course it is, don't confuse that with research or getting to the root of a matter or issue though - it's a tool. The same way that THE NEWS INDUSTRY is.

I'm not confused.. Thanks

 

[LDC]

There are many websites such as Avaaz, change.org, 38degrees and also charities and NGOs that have different campaign. Perhaps searching on their websites could help you find ways to take action on different issues you read about in the news. Although this could take more time.

Must. Resist. Commenting.

 

[butchersapron]

I'm not confused.. Thanks

So, these people that you talk to, how do you evaluate what they tell you?

 

[Orang Utan]

There are many websites such as Avaaz, change.org, 38degrees and also charities and NGOs that have different campaign. Perhaps searching on their websites could help you find ways to take action on different issues you read about in the news. Although this could take more time.

You have only 14 hours to save the Guyanese Barking Shrew! Only your signature on this petition will do it!

 

[Pickman's model]

You have only 14 hours to save the Guyanese Barking Shrew! Only your signature on this petition will do it!

in 15 hours it will be the venezuelan barking shrew

 

[LDC]

in 15 hours it will be the venezuelan barking shrew

That's quite possibly the most obscure inter-thread in-joke I've ever seen, congratulations.

 

[Orang Utan]

That's quite possibly the most obscure inter-thread in-joke I've ever seen, congratulations.

Not really. It's a direct reference to the kind of emails Avaaz and 38 Degrees send out every fucking week.

 

[Pickman's model]

Not really. It's a direct reference to the kind of emails Avaaz and 38 Degrees send out every fucking week.

no, it is a reference to the border dispute between guyana and venezuela i posted a thread about yesterday

 

[StoneRoad]

Sometimes, just sometimes, signing an online petition is about the only way one can contribute to something. For other matters, more direct action is available ...

And you can always press "delete" if you are not interested in that particular subject, or "un-subscribe" if too many are 'annoying' you.

 

[LDC]

And you can always press "delete" if you are not interested in that particular subject, or "un-subscribe" if too many are 'annoying' you.

It's OK thanks, I like being annoyed.

 

[Care]

Depending on the occasions different methods of intervention are suitable. Petitions could work as there are numerous examples of that being true (do not know what percentage of all campaigns had an impact though).

There is another approach I am interested in: using decentralized network of people to complete a distributed task, which otherwise is hard or impossible to do. For example, imagine there is an earthquake and an organizations makes new satellite images of the area and opens them to the public. Then the public can mark roads blocked by torn buildings, flood areas, and other ways that the infrastructure has been affected, so that the rescue teams could have better data on the ground and rescue people more efficiently. This is very similar to approach used in the gps navigation app, Waze.

 

[story]

Depending on the occasions different methods of intervention are suitable. Petitions could work as there are numerous examples of that being true (do not know what percentage of all campaigns had an impact though).

There is another approach I am interested in: using decentralized network of people to complete a distributed task, which otherwise is hard or impossible to do. For example, imagine there is an earthquake and an organizations makes new satellite images of the area and opens them to the public. Then the public can mark roads blocked by torn buildings, flood areas, and other ways that the infrastructure has been affected, so that the rescue teams could have better data on the ground and rescue people more efficiently. This is very similar to approach used in the gps navigation app, Waze.

Tomnod already does that.

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[Care]

Great! One more way to take action

 

[seventh bullet]

London is full of people from all over the world who have first hand experience of the issues reported about in the news.

I think you could teach me a lot about what is going on in the world and how to navigate all this confusing info, and end my compulsion to mindlessly consume stuff I watch on the telly and read on news sites and that. But make it bitesize at first though. If you blow my mind I might get frustrated and give up on trying to understand shit.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

Depending on the occasions different methods of intervention are suitable. Petitions could work as there are numerous examples of that being true (do not know what percentage of all campaigns had an impact though).

There is another approach I am interested in: using decentralized network of people to complete a distributed task, which otherwise is hard or impossible to do. For example, imagine there is an earthquake and an organizations makes new satellite images of the area and opens them to the public. Then the public can mark roads blocked by torn buildings, flood areas, and other ways that the infrastructure has been affected, so that the rescue teams could have better data on the ground and rescue people more efficiently. This is very similar to approach.

Can you point to any examples of online petitions doing something other than filling up inboxes of people who don't wanna sign them?