Comments

2
God. The NYT is desperate. The “Paper of Record” my ass. Here they market to me every day as some champion of fact based journalism and then serve out garbage like thIs or their Nazi apologia bullshit. I swear they couldn’t field a story with out Whataboutisms if they tried.

“Please, liberal readership, come back to us!”

Yeah? Go fuck yourselves.
3
If the NYT is desperate what does that make the Stranger? They blog about them.

Miss Havisham got burned in the end. The rest of us will get burned too.
4
The article took pains to point out those exact criticisms. Yes, he is privileged. 100%. All agreed here.

I still think it's interesting. Can we just set privilege aside for one moment and contemplate his actions on a wider scale. The nature of information, or technology, or solitude, on modern life, for example. Is he worse or better off for his enforced ignorance, and how? What's his life going to be like now when a bunch of readers inevitably make it their business to break his blockade and tell him just how privileged he is. What will their responses be if he's like "Yes. And?"
5
Where to even start? Mudede criticizing someone else's writing should be enough, but the summary has to be an example of Mudede treating Slog as "his personal tickle machine," right?

Hagerman the liberal is as monstrous as Trump, for the simple fact that his blockade also blocks what is essential to his humanity. Make me equal to you, to all others.

Jesus Christ.
6
"as monstrous as Trump"? Wow, that's.... extreme.
7
Oh gosh. It would be nice to be able to ignore the rest of the world. But when you need to look over your shoulder because your government wants to make it really easy for others to screw you over such a luxury is not possible. Perhaps someone should tell this guy that Trump is starting a war with North Korea, the draft is coming back and his age group is included. That would be mildly amusing to see how quickly he changes his tune about not paying attention.
8
when I go on vacation, I lose track of the news, and it's a nice break for a weekend or a week. frankly, the news is fucking awful most of the time, but so much of it is hot air - a tale told by an idiot (president), signifying nothing.

I guess I'm a mini-monster?

Hagerman's lucky he won't find out how many people hate him now. he's the Rachel Dolezal of 2018.
9
@5 @6

See Reagan and AIDS.

(Yeah, I know, this guy is not president.)
10
@8: It's expected that people will briefly escape "the world" when they're on vacation. And, yes, there's privilege in that (just being able to take a vacation is a privilege), but it's a sort of temporary privilege one takes because one is very much intentionally trying to escape, if only for a few days.

This guy permanently isolating himself from the world for his own comfort without obvious consequence is flexing a kind of privilege most people can't even imagine. Of course, what we're supposed to do with this information isn't clear.
11
@9: Why are you comparing some retired tech bro's choice to live as a Luddite to a sitting president's choice to ignore a healthcare crisis, if we're supposed to immediately discard the comparison? If you're trying to make a point, it needs a bit more explanation.
12
The news in our KKKountry is toxic for our mental health, no question. I wish the article had stated whether he intends to continue voting. As long as he votes, what difference does it make if he reads the news.

I've fantasized about a news blockade many times. I'd probably be happier, since a huge part of what's so misery-inducing about the news is the sense of futility and frustration that you can't do anything about 99.9% of it.
14
I have a better idea. Let's just ignore Mudede.
15
''No news is good news.''
And mosta the shit that passes for it
is either propaganda
or adverts.
Or death, and dying.
Who fucking needs it?
17
Trumpzilla sucks dogshit 8 ways to Mar a Lago.
The sooner that pigfucker rots in Hell the better.
18
Trumpzilla sucks shit 8 ways o Mar a Lago.
The sooner that pigfucker rots in hell the better.
19
And let's shave off that atrocious rug and mail it to Vladamir Putin: To Russia With Love.
The KGB bought that pigfucker. The Russkies can can have it.
20
And let's shave off that atrocious rug and ship it to Vladimir Putin: To Russia With Love.
They paid for it.
21
I'm fucking comfortably numb. So @#$%ing WHAT?
22
Nothing new here, except Hagerman is just one liberal.

Liberals en masse ignored the news in 2011 as Obama's regime-change program (at the urging of his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton) reduced Libya to a blood-soaked, jihadist-overrun hellhole, killing thousands of innocent Libyans and creating a refugee tsunami that deluged Europe. They ignored news of Obama's record deportations of undocumented immigrants. They ignored news of Obama's undermining habeas corpus protections with the 2012 NDAA. They ignored news of his record number of prosecutions of whistleblowers.

So give Hagerman a break. He is simply being consistent.
23
The reason Mudede is so mad about this guy's existence is because it makes him realize that despite his telling himself his attention to the news makes him a better person, Mudede knows deep down that Hagerman are doing exactly as much good in the world as he is.

Despite Mudede's patting himself on the back for being engaged, it doesn't actually matter at all, which enrages him.

Hermits have always had the right to hermit up. Good for Hagerman for living the life he wants to live, and for telling everyone else to fuck off.
24
Let's take two people.

The first one doesn't watch the news, really, he isn't EXTREMELY ONLINE, and couldn't tell you the latest dumb thing that Trump said or who Stormy Daniels is. However, he gives $20 a month to Planned Parenthood and $30 a month to the ACLU.

The second person is all about the news. He is red,mad, and nude online, has up to the minute knowledge of who Trump has insulted, and what every single person in his administration is doing. However, he is so busy being upset that he can't do anything else other than constantly be in a messy meltdown over the state of the nation.

Which ones of those people is actually helping other people? Which one is helping to provide access to women's health care or fund the lawsuits against Trump that can actually hamper him? Which one is courting clinical depression?

So, my advice to Hagerman(for what it's worth)? Set aside a bit of cash to donate to some worthy causes and keep on doing what you are doing. You'll be doing more than most to fight Trump and his agenda AND you'll keep your mental health.
25
Wait, we're shaming a guy for not caring about politics? I should be ashamed for taking my screaming kids on a white privileged vacation? This guy is only ok if we guilt him into supporting planned parenthood? Must be 2018 up in here!
26
Anyone see the irony in having the NY Times profile you when your'e in a self-blockade in rural OHIO? People at the coffee shop are gonna belike - "hey I read that you're a tech zillionaire turned sculptor in the NYTimes."
27
Telling someone else what they should or shouldnt pay attention to and care about is the real privilege.

The balls on this guy.
28
dang, so let me get this straight, if i choose not to pay attention to every one of trumps antics, that makes me as bad as trump. get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.
29
Wait a minute....TRUMP is President? DONALD Trump?!? What happened to the skinny black guy??!
30
Charles, seriously ... How in the hell is this guy "as monstrous as Trump"? How can you make a statement like that and expect anyone to take you seriously? Even your editor finds this comparison ridiculous. People seem to like to bash you here on Slog. Why give them such rich fodder to do so?
31
@11

Yes, it's a loose comparison, but I'm basing it on the Good Samaritan principle. If you're in a world where there's shit going down, you have an obligation to at least be engaged with that world.
32
@22: I didn't ignore Libya, and you're mischaracterizing what occurred because it suits your politics.
33
Oh please. At least half of the citizens of the USA do not read a newspaper or watch the news or have any earthly clue of what is going on in politics. That is how the dumbass orange slime got elected in the first place. An individual has NO impact on the country's politics. So an individual may as well simply avoid poisoning their mind with the media's swill until we manage to get rid of the disgusting trash in the white house. Case in point, this ridiculous column. Being a rich white man does not give this guy any advantages the rest of us can't attain by simply avoiding the media.
34
Love the almost plagiaristic line-by-line narration from Sunset Boulevard. Sooooo lame and unoriginal.
JOE: “A neglected house gets an unhappy look. This one had it in spades. It was like that old woman in Great Expectations—that Miss Havisham in her rotting wedding dress and her torn veil, taking it out on the world because she'd been given the go-by”. Sunset Boulevard 1950
35
Dude is looking real good for a rural man in his 50s. He might could be on to something.

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