What is News Revulsion?

News revulsion.  The idea is simple and straightforward.  As of today I am going on a strict or starvation news diet.  I am trying to permit myself no direct intake of news information that’s been packaged by newspaper, radio or television for as long as I can manage.  Today – the day after Election Day -- was my first day of living news free.

There are a whole host of reasons why I’ve decided to live this way, not least of which is that I feel like I have been so ill used by the news media for the last 15 or 16 months.  Enough is enough.  But it is also a defensive reaction.  The revulsion came first, no doubt as a result of a heavy news overdose the last few months.

Apparently this is a pretty common feeling in America these days.  It probably goes a long way to explain, in part, the outcome of yesterday’s election.  After all, somewhat astoundingly almost every single newspaper in the country endorsed Hillary Clinton.  So news revulsion is as good a reason as any to explain the last minute tsunami of support for Donald Trump.

Does that mean – by voluntarily adopting a news-revulsion lifestyle – I’m a Trump supporter too?  It’s a fair enough question to ask.  Not at all, I assure you.  In fact, part of the reason that I’ve opted to avoid all news media is simply because I don’t want to watch or hear about Trump for fear of being overcome by another paralyzing attack.  I experienced my first acute break down on Election Night around 9 pm, just as the vote count in Florida approached the 90% mark.  It was then that I felt myself overcome by a powerful wave of revulsion and on the verge of collapse.  I discovered I could only regain my composure by moving out of range of the TV.  

Now today I am struggling to understand what it all means, and trying to better adapt myself on this -- my first full day of living a news-free lifestyle.   So far it has gone pretty smoothly.  I never watched the Apprentice and  I see no reason to start watching Trump's TV schtick now.   The fact that he has effectively rebranded all of present reality under his own signature trademark, well that's precisely why news revulsion has become an entirely logical and necessary choice for me today.

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