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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

(www.scientificamerican.com)
757 points headalgorithm | 1 comments | 05 Feb 25 14:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source
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Glyptodon ◴[05 Feb 25 20:30 UTC] No.42954673[source]▶
I don't have outrage fatigue. Outrages are outrages and they are what they are. Are there many exaggerations and fake outrages? Sure. But things like the USA's current constitutional crisis are real.

What I struggle with isn't fatigue at outrage, it's knowing what to do about it.

I think violence is going to become more common, but I don't particularly think it will be effective.

So less so than outrage, it's the feeling that we're trapped in a real life doom loop with no clear off ramp that I struggle with.

I would like to do something... But what?

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LeoPanthera ◴[05 Feb 25 20:54 UTC] No.42954975[source]▶
I decided that other people are far more organized than I am and can respond more effectively, so I'm outsourcing political action in the form of donations. I've earmarked 3% of my income every month for a list of selected charities that currently includes the ACLU, the HRC, and a short list of smaller ones.

I encourage you to do the same!

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palmotea ◴[05 Feb 25 22:36 UTC] No.42956344[source]▶
> I've earmarked 3% of my income every month for a list of selected charities that currently includes the ACLU, the HRC, and a short list of smaller ones.

I don't think that's a good investment, considering how badly those organizations failed in order to bring us to today.

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andy_ppp ◴[05 Feb 25 22:43 UTC] No.42956414[source]▶
How did these organisations make people vote for Donald Trump?
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1. palmotea ◴[06 Feb 25 05:08 UTC] No.42959289[source]▶
> How did these organisations make people vote for Donald Trump?

It's not so much that they made people vote for Trump, but that they utterly failed to rise to the occasion, despite screaming how the stakes were so high.

I really think a lot of the so-called opposition saw Trump as a wedge to selfishly drive support towards their little ideological or personal priorities.

I think the way forward is probably to ditch finger-wagging liberal technocracy and go for a more competent, law-abiding populism, which seeks to strike a compromise that can comfortably get super-majority support (i.e. 60%+ rather than 50%+1) and speak effectively to many of the anxieties Trump harnesses. You're not going to get that by giving to special interest activist organizations.