On 1/23/2013 1:54 AM, Kenneth wrote:
> =?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg_=27Yadgar=27_Bleimann?= <yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:
>> Fear, fear, fear - that has been my life during the last
>> 40 years! And only now I try to take some measures against this
>> obsession...
>
> That shows real courage! Just by realizing it, and wanting to change. That's a
> positive step.
>
> It's difficult (probably THE most difficult thing) to break away from an
> ingrained mind-set. You're certainly not alone in that regard. I have an
> acquaintance (not really a 'friend', as our philosophies just differ too much)
> who spends countless hours on the internet, going from site to site to
> essentially 'reinforce' her irrational and negative views of the world. Why she
> CHOOSES to do so is a mystery to me, as this behavior is really unhealthy for
> her. (Some of those internet sites are *so* strange, extreme and paranoid that
> it boggles my mind.) We've had discussions about this; but the bottom line is
> that she refuses to acknowledge that there might be a problem, and likewise
> refuses to seek any help for it. So your own realization (even if late in
> coming) is a great positive step!
>
> Internet addiction is indeed a problem, and a growing one. I'm an older guy;
> when I was growing up, we had *limited* interaction with the wider outside
> world: three TV channels(!) plus newspapers, that was about it. Information came
> from trusted, rational sources. And it was essentially a 'one-way
> street'--opinions about the news and the world were generally shared only within
> the family, or among close friends. With the modern internet, though, it's a
> free-for-all: *Anyone* with an extreme viewpoint and/or an ax to grind can
> 'broadcast' to the world--and can easily connect with a group of like-minded
> people, which only serves to *reinforce* the group's skewed opinions. It leads
> to more extremism, in all forms. (That's one reason why I don't visit Facebook
> very often: too many 'fringe' opinions about things.)
>
> So getting away from the internet (if only temporarily) is highly recommended!
> ;-)
>
>
Yeah, it was so much better when the only way "fringe" could be 
broadcast was in the endless list of articles in fashion magazines, 
purporting miracle aging cures, or the latest "threat" to your diet. lol

Seriously though. Yeah, the internet doesn't exactly "filter" for decent 
information. Sadly, neither do some things that should, like medicine. 
Someone suggested a while back that we need to reclassify those things 
not as medicine/alternative, but as: Proven, unproven, and comfort 
measures. Because damn near everything thing in the so called 
"alternative" category, if not total bullshit, is either placebo (i.e., 
comfort measures), or unproven. Yet, the fact that they are not divided 
in such a clear way, allows insurance companies to offer up things like 
chiropractic (which is half comfort measures, and half dangerous 
bullshit), or acupuncture (which all evidence places in the "comfort 
measure" category), as valid options. And, those are just the semi-safe 
things, which *usually* don't get offered up to critically ill people, 
or those with dangerous, but treatable, conditions, if the doctor 
bothers to properly diagnose them, instead of handing them some herbal 
BS, and the like (which has happened a few times after some clown that 
should know better "diagnosed" a real condition as, "lack of energy", 
instead of figuring out why they had a lack of energy in the first place).

And, of course, as you say, this is just the "mild" stuff out there. 
Sadly, a lot of the non-mild stuff is also parroted on radio, or even 
Fox News, so.. turning off the internet, at least in the US, won't get 
you any place either.

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