Information Overload? Ways Rekindle Your Quest for
Truth
9th September 2015
By
Gaye Levy
Contributing Writer for
Wake Up World
In recent months I have found myself
shrugging in disgust as I browse the web and read the latest news
headlines. I mumble the words I used to say in the old days, “par for
the course”¯, as I find myself actually becoming complacent while
reading the latest stories of government excess, corporate shenanigans,
sneaky banksters and Wall Street crooks.
Sometimes I feel as though I am sitting
on a deck chair of the Titanic, slowing watching the ship go down. Our
elected leaders are out of control and it can feel like, any day now,
our society is going to go to heck in a hand basket. I exaggerate a bit
but not by much. My perception is that much of what I read is the same
news I was reading three years ago. The only difference is that it has
been repackaged, rehashed and refreshed. The cast of characters may have
changed a bit but the same tactics of oppression and submission have
not.
And the point is…?
Lest you think this is another of one
Gaye’s rambles, let me get to the point. It is human nature to gloss
over the familiar in our search for something new. And if something new
is not forthcoming, after a while many of us lose focus, drop what we
are doing and move on. And that, in my opinion, is what I see happening
not only to myself but to many of my peers.
Stated more simply, we are becoming
immune to the quest for truth.
So what do we do? To ignore the plethora
of information is not acceptable. To remove ourselves from the search
for truth, the end of tyranny and the end of predatory economic policies
would mean defeat.
Over and over I ponder this because as
much as
I write about preparedness, being prepared for a natural disaster is
not enough. We must also prepare for an economic collapse, civil unrest
and the potential breakdown of our society. Emails and comments on Wake
Up World and my
website Backdoor Survival lead me to believe that others feel the
same as I do.
I am not a wacko or extremist and
neither are my readers. We are ordinary folks of all ages who are
worried about losing control of our lives to tyranny. Rather than let
the bad guys win – and we all know who the bad guys are – we preppers
are taking back control,
overcoming our fears, storing up food for when the shelves are
empty, learning skills and knowledge that will allow us to live a decent
if not comfortable life when the lights go out, and establishing
relationships with like-minded friends, relatives and neighbors that
will help us form sustainable communities and networks if and when the
SHTF.
In my own quest to stay focused, I have
looked long and hard at my own practices and have come up with a few
solutions that, in the short term, have revitalized and re-energized my
own pursuit of answers to the questions this 21st century reality asks
of us. Perhaps they will be helpful to you, too.
Rekindle Your Quest for Truth
Subscribe to an RSS feed and use
an RSS reader to screen for relevant topics.
This has changed my life and given
me back hours of time daily. By subscribing to the feeds associated
with sites I enjoy, I can quickly scan the titles of articles that
interest me and jump directly to them without worrying about the
rest. The RSS reader becomes my treasure map making reading – and
learning – easy.
The Google reader is gone. I have
adopted Feedly.com and am happy with it but there are tons of other
RSS readers out there for you to chose from. It takes a while to get
the hang of how they work but a couple hours of your time will pay
off down the road in terms of efficiency and, as a bonus,
portability between devices.
Cut back on email subscriptions
or subscribe to weekly or bi-weekly (instead of daily) updates.
As tough as it may be to cut back,
that is what I decided to do and it has helped immensely. Reading
email is a rat hole for time. I normally get over 100 emails a day
in addition to newsletter subscriptions so cutting back on the 50 or
so newsletter emails I was getting every day was a dramatic step. I
now subscribe to a dozen newsletters that I consider the best of the
best.
Many newsletters,
including my own, provide an option for weekly instead of daily
updates. Consider making the switch and see how it works out for
you. You still get the news you want, only less frequently and in a
digest format.
Find a maximum of three news
hubs and follow them religiously.
Being a news junkie is all fine and
good but to be honest, even the most ardent of news junkies will
burn themselves out. After a while, you are going to realize that
the same information is appearing in multiple locations and that you
are spinning your wheels going from one place to another then back
again.
Everyone has their own tastes and
their own style. Find a maximum of three news hubs you trust, and
follow them religiously.
Limit your time on forums to 30
minutes a day.
Face it. Spending time on forums is
fun. You make a lot of virtual friends and share thoughts and ideas
with like-minded people (or otherwise). As fun as it is, however,
you begin to have a virtual life separate for the here and now.
Limiting the time you spend on forums will bring you back in to
real-world reality and give you some precious time to step outdoors,
work in the garden, walk the dog or simply enjoy a sunset.
Maximize your time online by
looking for the facts behind the headlines.
Select a website or two that will
allow you to look at the facts behind the headlines. My favorites
include
the Economic Collapse Blog,
the End of the American Dream, and
the Truth Wins. What I like about these sites is that they are
well documented with links to the underlying story or report.
Of course I would be remiss if I did
not also mention my friend, George Ure’s
Urban Survival site. What can I say? It is news in a wrapper of
wit and wry humor. And the
‘coping’ section is often a hoot in itself.
Step back from your prepping
activities for a week or two and re-assess what it is you are preparing
for.
Do you remember why you started to
prepare? Why not take a week or two and re-assess why you are
prepping. Re-evaluate the risks of a natural disaster in your own
geographical area and ask yourself if you’re prepared for those
risks.
After doing that, make your own
personal assessment of how you feel about the realistic possibility
and probability of an economic collapse or man-made disaster, such
as a nuclear accident, pandemic or other emergent crisis.
Remember, businesses and insurance
companies use the term risk management to describe “the
identification, analysis, assessment, control, and avoidance,
minimization, or elimination of unacceptable risks”¯. The same
applies to preparedness. It only makes sense to prepare for those
things that are most likely to happen to you and your family.
Be discerning as you read. Is
this credible? Who wrote it? Was the goal to generate fear so that you
will buy stuff?
Anyone can post anything to the
internet – and they do. Always consider the source of the article
and come to a reasonable judgment relative to its credibility. Is
the author named or was the article created by an anonymous
off-shore article factory? Does the article incite feelings of
extreme fear and hopelessness with the intent of scaring you into
making a purchase?
Of all of these tips, this may be
the most difficult. There is nothing wrong with a website or blog
trying to sell you something. That is how they are able to keep the
lights on and offer information to you that is free for the taking.
Just be careful with your wallet when it comes to making purchases
based on fear-mongering. There are plenty of high-quality products
available to you from websites that do not resort to that time of
strong-arm tactic.
The Final Word
Is there a cure for news burnout? I
believe there is. Just realize that it takes a bit of work and a bit of
pro-activity as you muster up the motivation to keep the activist fire
burning.
How about you? Do you have some other
ideas that help you stay focused and interested in the quest for truth?
Please share them in the comments section so that we all can learn from
you.
Enjoy your next adventure
through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
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