When a political cartoonist from a major US newspaper was asked what she would do to address one of the latest problems being caused by Trump, she responded:
“It’s not my job to fix the country’s problems”.
She went on to explain that she was not qualified to answer the question and that her goal as a cartoonist was to bring attention to issues and stories that her paper was covering.
It’s been several days since I heard this quote which keeps circling in my head.
Lately I’ve felt my mood go down a dark, negative path. I’m feeling more cynical, fatalistic, nihilistic and angry. The constant bombardment of news coverage of Trump, the Israel/Palestine & Ukraine/Russia Wars, dire economic forecasts for the US and predictions of an AI-driven dystopian future are getting to me. Added to this are the usual reports of various murders, natural disasters, inevitable climate change catastrophes, mass shootings and human tragedies. Then came the school shooting of children in the church.
No wonder my mood has darkened.
I’m oversaturated with bad news.
Today, I was listening to Mr. Money Mustache on a podcast. He drives a Tesla and was asked if he feels guilty and how he deals with other people’s disapproval given the drop in Elon Musk’s approval rating over the past year.
His response was perfect.
He said,
“I drive a Tesla because it is a fantastic car. It’s engineered and built to a standard that surpasses any other vehicle I ever driven. It meets my needs and fits my budget. I don’t pay attention to what other people think of me driving a Tesla. And, for that matter, I have not had a single person ever even say anything to me about this as an issue.”
Then he capped it off with the closing line,
“Besides, I don’t pay any attention to what Elon Musk says or does and neither should you unless you have a personal relationship with him.”
MMM recommended the Low Information Diet in a blog post before. I discovered this approach years before but find that I need to reset my consumption of news every so often, because it creeps up on me.
Lately, I’ve been listening to too many podcasts that discuss news and politics. Hearing MMM point out the obvious was exactly what I needed.
I deleted at least 10 podcasts from my feed this morning and listened to music instead.
It’s no surprise that I felt better.