Knowledge isn’t power unless it is applied.
I often hear friends, family, acquaintances, and Americans I don’t even know on TV talking about what’s going on on the other side of the world. The wars between Israel and Palestine and between Russia and Ukraine. They take sides, and there are protests all over the country.
To me, this is almost as dumb as professional sports. Not quite but almost. Not quite because these conflicts actually affect people’s lives. But almost…because there’s nothing we can do about it. Protesting in New York changes nothing in Palestine. They don’t even know you exist.
It’s not that global news doesn’t matter. It’s just that knowing about it benefits no one. If I know what’s happening in Ukraine, no one benefits from my knowledge of this. I don’t benefit. All it does is raises my blood pressure. Ukraine doesn’t benefit. They don’t know I exist. Neither does Russia. Literally nothing gets better due to my knowledge of the conflict…but that’s just an example. The same thing goes with pretty much any global event/news. Now I will occasionally watch local news…or sometimes even national news when it comes time for national elections. In these cases, I can actually do something to make a difference.
But most of the news is crap I can do nothing about…so I’d rather just not know about it. I just don’t see the point. It makes me either sad or angry, and the people on the other end, like I said, don’t know or care that I exist.
I agree with Dale Carnegie’s assessment. Knowledge isn’t power until it’s applied. If my knowledge can’t be put to good use, I’d rather just not know about it.
To me, this is almost as dumb as professional sports. Not quite but almost. Not quite because these conflicts actually affect people’s lives. But almost…because there’s nothing we can do about it. Protesting in New York changes nothing in Palestine. They don’t even know you exist.
It’s not that global news doesn’t matter. It’s just that knowing about it benefits no one. If I know what’s happening in Ukraine, no one benefits from my knowledge of this. I don’t benefit. All it does is raises my blood pressure. Ukraine doesn’t benefit. They don’t know I exist. Neither does Russia. Literally nothing gets better due to my knowledge of the conflict…but that’s just an example. The same thing goes with pretty much any global event/news. Now I will occasionally watch local news…or sometimes even national news when it comes time for national elections. In these cases, I can actually do something to make a difference.
But most of the news is crap I can do nothing about…so I’d rather just not know about it. I just don’t see the point. It makes me either sad or angry, and the people on the other end, like I said, don’t know or care that I exist.
I agree with Dale Carnegie’s assessment. Knowledge isn’t power until it’s applied. If my knowledge can’t be put to good use, I’d rather just not know about it.
31-35, M
