How to read the news
Everything you need to know, in five minutes or less.
These are tumultuous times, and things are happening daily. While the category “things” might seem broad, those who are enveloped in contemporary media know what this seemingly general blanket statement signifies. One day one thing happens, the next day another thing, the day after that yet another. These things have no overall unifying theme other than that they are things and that they are happening. And every day there are more things, happening.
This state of things happening, one after another, is not just a phenomenological description of the experience of following the news. It also describes the only available methodological approach most citizens have at their disposal in their attempt to make sense of it all: to confront the news as disconnected things that are only unified by chronology. Which is to say that each news story is understood on its own as an independently developing storyline, which only incidentally and indirectly interacts with other storylines. One day, president Trump does this thing, which has these implications on these institutions; the next day, he does this other thing, which have another set of implications on a completely different set of institutions. Every day is a struggle to make sense of what is going on and of what all these things are.
As a civics lesson, this is phenomenal. Not only do you, as a citizen, get to find out what all the different parts of your government are — you also get to find out about the various checks and balances that are put in place to ensure that these governmental institutions behave in a civilized manner. Every day the Trump presidency finds some new thing to do, and every day features a new lesson as to why the most powerful man on earth is not supposed to be an impulsive, immature child dressed up in a fancy suit. If you keep following the news, you will learn just about everything there is to know about constitutional malfunctions, and you will have the added benefit of learning it in real time. With live commentary.
There are two drawbacks to this, however. The first is that the approach to take things apart in order to find out how they work is better suited to technical appliances than to the apparatus of state — the old wisdom that it is easier to take things apart than to reassemble them still applies. Once all is said and done, there is a very real chance that there might not be much left of the old constitutional order to reassemble. The hamburger cannot be reverse-engineered into a cow, as it were.
The second drawback is that living in a state of constant attention to every brand new thing that does not mesh with any other new thing that’s going on — is exhausting. Not only in terms of learning the names of all those involved (such as the Office of Government Ethics) and what they are supposed to do. But also in terms of the particular news stories as they unfold, and who said what to who where and when. Those in learning mode are supposed to speedrun the entire history of these institutions and apply it to the current news story as it unfolds. Until the next thing crops up, and new names are brought into the limelight. Every day a new thing.
For those of us with a limited amount of available hours in a day, keeping up this learning process for extended periods of time is out of the question. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Or energy, for that matter. Everything is up in the air.
Fortunately, you do not have to keep up with every new news story that crops up and how it develops along its particular storyline. Particularly not if you intend to mount any kind of resistance to the creative destruction managed from the White House. You too can become grounded.
Being grounded means knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it. Your point of view is based in your actual, everyday practice, and thus you can react to the situation as a whole rather than to each particular thing as it comes along. At its most general, this means that you are not overly emotionally engaged as the presidency does yet another unprecedented thing; you already know that this is what it is going to do. More specifically, being grounded means you are already acting as if you already know this, and are actively taking the steps required of you as a concerned citizen. You know who you are and what you do, and you are doing it.
Desperately trying to follow each new news story will not bring you to this state of being. As each news story is its own episodic thing, which does not relate to any other story other than by accidents chronology, you are back to square one each time something new happens. And if all you are doing is trying to keep up with the news, you are not doing much of anything else. Despite being exhausted by the effort.
The best way to become grounded is by participating. Participation in communal efforts breeds solidarity with those whose burdens you are sharing. It also breeds a shared understanding of the current state of things and what is supposed to be done about it. It’s no longer just you trying to figure out what the latest thing means — it’s you and your community who together take a principled stand as to whether you have to change anything about the good work you are already doing. Your frame of reference is not the fragmentary and sporadic news reporting of the thing that happened today; your frame of reference is here and now. Grounded.
The key, then, is to find the others and join their efforts. Whatever these efforts might be. Feeding the homeless, calling your senators, starting a union, protesting, organizing your local community, writing practical how-to resources, coordinating global social media efforts — whatever it is, find the others and join them. Use the skills you have and apply them to the best of your ability.
These are tumultuous times, and things are happening daily. The things that are in the news are of relative importance, and can often be safely ignored. The things that you and your peers do, however. Those are the things that make a difference. Whether they make the news or not.
[Shameless self-promotion: you can find most of my writings listed here.]
