vague news
There are three kinds of news, just as there are three kinds of people: good, bad, and indifferent. In any profession, about 15% of people excel, 15% underperform, and 70% are mediocre. While the bad may stand out, mediocrity is harder to spot. We hope to rely on the best professionals – doctors, electricians, teachers – but that doesn’t always work out as planned.
The same goes for the news. Some stories lift our spirits – medical breakthroughs, acts of kindness, peaceful resolutions. Other reports cover wars, disasters, and injustices. Fake news, which is often misleading and negative, also falls into this category, but thankfully, many can spot the lies. Then, there’s vague news: insufficient information that leaves us in the dark. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s incomplete, leading us to believe we’ve in the know when we aren’t.
Gossip is one form of vague news—rumors about celebrities, politicians, or royalty, often unverifiable and irrelevant to our lives. Propaganda also fits here, telling us what to think without offering detailed or balanced information. Manuals or product descriptions, leaving us just as confused after reading them, can give us that same sense of frustration. Even when dealing with institutions, we often encounter vague, unclear communication.
If 70% of the news is vague, where does that leave us? How can we determine if something is true, fake, or indifferent? In this information age, we are bombarded with endless details, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Perhaps the answer lies in leading a life where we’re not glued to screens, consumed by things we cannot influence. It’s not wrong to care or get involved, but we shouldn’t let ourselves be bogged down by information we don’t truly need.
Wishing you a peaceful and unburdened start to the colder months.
Yours,
Susanne G. Seiler
P.S. You’ll find us at the gaiamedia lounge, in the back yard of Hochstrasse 70 (behind Basel’s SBB station, tram stop Peter Merian), every Thursday afternoon from 14 – 18 h. Welcome!