Two years ago, I could have been accurately described as a news addict. For a long time after 2001-09-11, I kept my radio on and tuned in to 880 (a New York station) or 960 (a local Clear Channel station) for fear of missing anything major the minute it happens, like another terrorist attack on the nation. As a result, I knew about the Shuttle Columbia clusterfuck minutes after it blew the fuck up. I would also check Slashdot compulsively. Like, every five minutes, all day (well, night) during my last true summer vacation.

And now, I read Slashdot. Maybe every hour, I refresh the page. Once a night, I check CNN. My radio is no longer tuned in 24/7/365. But what is my reason for being so tuned out? Why would I cut myself off up-to-the-second newsbriefs?

Because it depresses me way too much. Because it sickens me. Because nothing ever really changes in the eyes of the media.

I stopped with the radio because, each and every day, the FOX reporter would come on every fifteen minutes and tell me about the latest suicide bombing in Iraq. There’s no point in keeping up to date if you already know what’s going to be the top story every goddamned day for the next four years.

The Wikipedia has a news section. It’s not updated every three minutes, but you usually see something every day or two. It covers global news. Elections. War crimes in far off countries. Fantastic things that humans have achieved. But alas, CNN will have none of that. Iraq sucks. More at 11!

The reason that I am no longer so keen on Slashdot is not Slashdot’s fault. The editors post stories worthy of being discussed. We discuss them. It’s a simple, clean, and beautiful process that is repeated two dozen (or more) times a day.

I’ve simply slowed because, inevitably, there is a story that makes me want to cry. A story about polititians, usually Senators or the Department of Justice, but sometimes Europeans or UN diplomats seriously considering a new bill at which common sense revolts, or proposing a new treaty, or sleeping with AT&T.

Consider.

The list of incredibly, mind-numbingly stupid claims/bills/actions just goes on and on. There were plenty of idiotic articles during the heat of the neutrality debate, and even months before, when some fucking telco CEO was running his mouth about the idea. There was the NSA spying program. The Sony rootkit. The ongoing SCO vs. IBM & Novell & Jesus H. Christ & His Lordship The Almighty Noodly One, Our Liege and Master, The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I think I may have become just a teensy bit jaded and cynical about, uhm, everything.

Gah. I think I need a cat.