This essay is terrific in its criticism of social media! I actually just started listening to Postman's book on Spotify , but will borrow the paper version from the library as he's very convincing and writes bloody well 😂
By the way Alan, would you not recommend Spiked.com as a reliable news source?
I identify as very much left wing/"socialist" , but am wanting to expand my worldview even if I don't agree with the other perspectives.
I try limit news consumption(Al Jazeera, NYT etc.) in general anyway, as it damages my focus and is less useful to me than reading good nonfiction, but I'm always glad to know if there's any sources worth avoiding altogether due to bias.
Thanks Ben, and my apologies for the tardy response, it's been a hectic few weeks.
Re: Spiked, I find them to be more appeal-to-emotion and populist, and hyper-focus on "culture war" topics, e.g., there was a while where they were just obsessed with Meghan Markle...I couldn't care less lads. This is to the detriment of what clearly are several good writers on their books.
But it also tends to compromise on analytical rigour, in my opinion. E.g., if someone wants to take a stance that lockdowns for Covid were unnecessary, that's fine, but don't go platforming opinion as "science" (the Great Barrington Declaration was a particular Spiked darling).
Similarly with climate change...I've no issue with having a robust discourse about efficacy/effectiveness of policy proposals, but we can do that without recourse to downplaying or denying the evidence itself.
None of this is necessarily unique to Spiked, it does seem to be a common slippery intellectual slope of taking a more populist angle.
I'm similar to you now insofar as I limit news outlets, even ones that may broadly align with my views. I get far more mileage out of reading books on the topic of interest, and I enjoy a select group of writers here on Substack.
This essay is terrific in its criticism of social media! I actually just started listening to Postman's book on Spotify , but will borrow the paper version from the library as he's very convincing and writes bloody well 😂
By the way Alan, would you not recommend Spiked.com as a reliable news source?
I identify as very much left wing/"socialist" , but am wanting to expand my worldview even if I don't agree with the other perspectives.
I try limit news consumption(Al Jazeera, NYT etc.) in general anyway, as it damages my focus and is less useful to me than reading good nonfiction, but I'm always glad to know if there's any sources worth avoiding altogether due to bias.
Thanks
Thanks
Thanks Ben, and my apologies for the tardy response, it's been a hectic few weeks.
Re: Spiked, I find them to be more appeal-to-emotion and populist, and hyper-focus on "culture war" topics, e.g., there was a while where they were just obsessed with Meghan Markle...I couldn't care less lads. This is to the detriment of what clearly are several good writers on their books.
But it also tends to compromise on analytical rigour, in my opinion. E.g., if someone wants to take a stance that lockdowns for Covid were unnecessary, that's fine, but don't go platforming opinion as "science" (the Great Barrington Declaration was a particular Spiked darling).
Similarly with climate change...I've no issue with having a robust discourse about efficacy/effectiveness of policy proposals, but we can do that without recourse to downplaying or denying the evidence itself.
None of this is necessarily unique to Spiked, it does seem to be a common slippery intellectual slope of taking a more populist angle.
I'm similar to you now insofar as I limit news outlets, even ones that may broadly align with my views. I get far more mileage out of reading books on the topic of interest, and I enjoy a select group of writers here on Substack.