‘I Let Everyone Down’: A Blogger Apologizes For Not Posting In A While http://t.co/xbuowr9ylQ pic.twitter.com/geTN7xa8Hg
— ClickHole (@ClickHole) September 12, 2014
So, of course, here I am returning to my blog after a break of, gasp, two days!BTW, if there is nobody to read a blogger's post, then does the blog post make that philosophical noise in the forest? ;)
Anyway, two months ago, I remarked on how much even the attention-paying few realize that yesterday's news becomes quickly forgotten:
We live in a world in which yesterday's news is not merely yesterday's news but feels like something that might have happened back in the Jurassic Age!Apparently, I was not the only one to think along those lines, though it does almost always feel that way in my world. In today's paper, I read this commentary, where the author writes that "even dedicated news junkies are bound to tune things out" because of the sheer volume of events:
A look back at this year shows just how fickle the public’s attention can be. Several stories have peaked in the news, but no two have commanded the same peaks of attention at the same time.Forget the "average" person. What about the experts? No, I am not referring to Thomas Friedman. And, no, by experts I am not pointing to where John McCain drools. I am referring to real experts like, well, me. Hahaha! Ok, seriously, what do the experts think? Here is Dan Drezner, who has now started moonlighting at the Washington Post, opining that nobody knows anything:
Google Trends tracks how often people search for keywords — including those related to major events — all over the world. Back in March, the conflict in Ukraine grabbed the world’s attention, but it was largely forgotten when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared.
It wasn’t that the action in Ukraine or its global importance diminished, as we would see later in the year. Audiences and news organizations simply switched head space and resources to the other story.
Two stories could not claim the same peak of attention at the same time.
Then, in July, the fighting in Gaza ramped up along with its audience. But just as it was heading for a Google Trends peak as high as those of Ukraine and MH370, something else happened: the downing of another Malaysia Airlines jet in Ukraine. With two big stories developing simultaneously — the plane was shot down on the same day Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza — neither managed the heights of attention of Ukraine and MH370 earlier in the year.
Within weeks, however, attention shifted again. An outbreak of ebola in West Africa wiped almost everything else off the map. In August, there was another change. Ebola dropped well off its peak, as the crisis in Ferguson, Mo., began to capture eyes from around the world.
Then, as the Islamic State has advanced farther across Syria and Iraq and has committed horrific crimes, it has pulled readers and viewers away from ebola and other stories. Of course, none of this has any impact on whether the deaths from ebola are mounting (they are) or concern from public health officials is growing (it is).
Let me be blunt: I didn’t expect a lot of this to go down in this fashion. After all, I’ve been relatively upbeat about global economic governance, and I was hopeful that as the developed economies recovered, so would their ability to tamp down geopolitical tensions. Oops.It has been one awful year. Just when it seemed like we were all settling into more peaceful and friendly ways, kaboom!
Drezner ends it with an important piece of advice:
when the world seems like an uncertain place and you’re looking for some guru to help explain what the world will look like in 2015, please remember: Nobody. Knows. Anything.If that is the case, then is it even worth following the news?
YES, DAMMIT! Don't ever take your eyes off the world news. Otherwise, the McCains and the Friedmans of the world will screw us even more than they have.
Ok, I exaggerated. Ignore the world news. Ignore the Onion. READ THIS BLOG! ;)
