Opus 2026-357: Past the Peak

I’m noticing a serious deterioration in some of the new sources that I have been reading and feeling like I could interpret.  I’m getting more and more of what turns out to be Clickbait for what they call a Promoted Post.  A promoted post is simply an advertisement that they try to get you to watch to sell you something.  They sandwich them within the other articles.

Another scam that goes on is they will link you to a news article in a source that requires you to register if you want to read it.  Sometimes in their nefarious plotting, they actually let you read down past the first page so you think you are getting somewhere and suddenly it fades out, and you are given the opportunity to subscribe.  If I wanted to subscribe, I would have subscribed already.  The reason I come to these aggregate sites is to find news that I would want to listen to and be able to digest.

Another way this manifest itself is on the radio.  I don’t generally listen to the radio, but on our cross-country trip, my wife, when she doesn’t insist on talking, insist on looking for something on the radio.  I find myself listening to many things that I would not normally pay attention to.  What gets me is I will be listening as they move along discussing something and suddenly without any change in the tone of voice or the pace they start on a commercial.  Usually, it only takes a couple sentence for me to realize where they are going and tune them out, but it is very frustrating when people take the trust that they have built with the listener and use it to get them to listen to something they would normally not paying attention to.

Every day it gets harder to get a feel for what is going on in our world.

homo unius libri