This question has been on my mind a lot lately. When I say "simple life", I mostly mean not following things like politics and current events, both at home and internationally, and in general just doing your own thing. This idea has been seeming more and more appealing to me as time goes on.
Of course there are different extents to this idea. You could go as far as completely living off the grid by living out in the wilderness, generating your own power, getting your own food, not paying any taxes or bills, etc. Or you could go with a lesser extent and still have a job someplace, have a house or apartment, pay taxes and bills, etc.
There are two main reasons this idea seems appealing to me:
1) There is [B]a lot[/B] of stuff that goes on in the world, and a fuckton of information that has to be taken in (in order to come to informed conclusions that is). Not only that, but in many cases you can't even trust the information you are given, so that makes it even harder to come to any informed conclusions.
2) This one is pretty cliche but i think is still a valid reason, and it is that keeping up with politics and current events can be very stressful and sometimes just downright depressing. Seeing all of the bullshit that happens in the world can really take a toll on you (if you let it).
So in a nutshell I think the biggest reason I wouldn't want to keep up with the happenings of the world is the amount of stress it can cause, and personally I don't want to live a life that's stressful and, in the worst case, depressing. Another reason is that I honestly don't even trust my analytical and reasoning skills, but that's a whole 'nother story.
I accidentally voted the wrong thing. Woops.
I don't see the problem with living a "simple life". One doesn't HAVE to keep up to date with every event. In fact, I find myself often not knowing about a happening / event / well-known memory. Or politics. Fuck that.
even if you read the news you can hardly change anything at all unless you put in a lot of effort.
Well the news certainly are boring. After a while it's all the same news
They're only news because they happened today, but ffs it's just like what happened last week
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;48655236]even if you read the news you can hardly change anything at all unless you put in a lot of effort.[/QUOTE]
Pretty valid point, but I kinda start to feel like a pretty irresponsible citizen when I remain ignorant of things, like the current presidential race for instance.
If you have too much stress in your life, you'll learn that your long and short term goal is to just live
Woah.. I thought more would have gone yes.
I can't stand not being up to date on most pressing issues.
I voted no, but I would like to point out I believe you should be free to do your own thing out of principle. No one has to respect your decision about not following up on current events or whatever, but if that is truly your wish you shouldn't give two fucks about what people think anyway.
Also you shouldn't expect people to give your opinions as much weight as people who do follow current events or try to make informed decisions on subjects.
I really wish my girlfriend would understand this. She's always trying to push me into having a political opinion or take a stance on a controversial topic or important piece of news, and I just don't see the point. It has nothing to do with my personal life or the lives of people I know, and all it does is cause stress, heartache, and sometimes arguments. It's almost as if she wants me to be miserable like everyone else.
I barely keep up or pay attention to modern trends and politics, so I guess I live a semi-simple life.
No. I think it's fine for you to be as uninformed as you like. Just don't expect me to take your opinions on those topics seriously.
[editline]11th September 2015[/editline]
well that came off as mean, which was not my intention at all.
I do recognise why you would want to be uninformed about politics and current events, real life tends to be pretty grim.
I live kind of in the mid-point of simple and not-simple.
For example I don't know the latest gossip with useless-finnish-celebrity #1356 which causes distress in some people.
But I do know a lot about all the immigration-stuff going on, for example.
A simple life isn't wrong, however compromising your values or being lazy and using "simple life" as an excuse is
if you don't want to keep up, that is totally cool, i myself feel like dropping out of the loop sometimes just to keep sane, just don't espouse your opinions on those sorts of things unless you want to be a jackass
While it's your right not to, a lot of the problems caused in democracy are down to the fact that most people really aren't educated enough on how the world works to vote but vote any way
Of course it isn't wrong, but willful ignorance of anything is generally not ideal. Having more information about your environment means you have a greater chance of making good decisions.
That said, I'm pretty terrible about keeping up with things like politics in particular. I understand where the OP is coming from, but I don't think being informed about current events should necessarily make you stressed or depressed. There is a lot of bad in the world, but there is a lot of good out there too. It just may take more work to find the good.
I think it's important to be informed to a reasonable degree, but it's a bit foolish to get too over-invested in things unless you intend on becoming an activist or advocate for a cause. For the everyday person it just makes sense to have enough information to make informed decisions as a citizen.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;48661308]While it's your right not to, a lot of the problems caused in democracy are down to the fact that most people really aren't educated enough on how the world works to vote but vote any way[/QUOTE]
The ancient Greeks used to say that you are not a citizen if you don't take part in politics or if you don't know shit about it. I voted no by the way because what I learned is just to do my own thing. If something big happens I will let luck put me into it as it happened in the past.
I don't think I could go more than a week without shitposting and embarrassing myself in sensationalist headlines, I have an idea that's worth fighting for....
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
