i am so so glad that rolf dobelli said all the things i was very scared to tell my ma.
because i don’t have a tv, or buy a newspaper — ma and her gang clicked a clothespin on their collective noses and decided to have nothing to do with me.
and when this piece appeared in ma’s beloved guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli
i knew i was frenchkissed by providence
i spammed ma … with this
Click to access Avoid_News_Part1_TEXT.pdf
and not content with my goliath-sized victory, i advised her to follow dobelli on twitter – dobelli follows no one, he says in an interview.
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i am on a news diet. ma calls it ‘cocooned, passive and isolated’. but i prefer the epithet ‘news diet’ .
yes, i do read the newspaper, only not at my home — the in-laws place, at a store, at the music class… i dont seek the paper out. we were once a home of four newspapers and three magazines … btw.
now, my neighbourhood paper that pops in once a week is good enough for me… it tells me about the scholastic book sale, a spot where i can get lovely plants, who’s singing at the nearby sabha, and that my friend i lost in touch with 15 years ago has opened a boutique 10 minutes away — enough news , i say.
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i tried to assess a la rolf dobelli, what i have gained by not reading the paper everyday… or by not listening to the booming tones of the likes of rajdeep sardesai
i cant.
i dont have the distance vision to judge.
i dont know what i have gained. in fact … i may have not gained anything.
but, ma, i dont think i missed anything, either.