{"id":1505369,"date":"2024-12-01T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1505369"},"modified":"2024-12-01T14:20:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:20:00","slug":"the-political-sound-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/the-political-sound-of-silence\/1505369\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Political) Sound Of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The (Political) Sound Of Silence<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re now almost a month since Donald Trump won the 2024 election in a landslide. While there are still daily headlines crossing the wire about his policy plans and appointees, the fever pitch of political rhetoric from both sides of the aisle that existed just one month ago has inconspicuously vanished for the most part.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0called\u00a0\u201cThe Great Trump Exhale\u201d<\/em>\u00a0where I talked about how I could finally sit back in my desk chair and worry less about the state of the nation. It wasn\u2019t just about who won, it was about the fact that the election, and its associated volatility, had passed. I wrote about feeling a palpable relaxation and how rolling back many of the \u201cnew\u201d Democrat policies of the last 4 years\u2014many, in my view, akin to suffocation of liberty via a massive Orwellian government\u2014had made much of the nation feel like it could breathe again.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to this feeling about the election results, part of me also feels pleasantly catatonic as it relates to the media, on both sides of the aisle. For example,\u00a0I had a discussion with Matt Taibbi last weekend<\/a>\u00a0about why mainstream media has lost the trust of the American public. Oddly, it no longer felt like a moment to be outraged\u2014and I wasn\u2019t. Instead, it felt like we were 11 year olds who had just beaten the final boss in a video game we\u2019ve been playing for the last 4 years, and now we were collectively watching the end credits.<\/p>\n

Over the last three weeks, I\u2019ve taken a lot of time off social media, which has felt refreshing. Even though no headline or political analysis was going to single-handedly tip off who would win the election leading into November, I, like many other Americans, got caught up in an incessant, relentless, panicked news cycle of rhetoric and analysis. Like any other addiction, it affected my sleep cycles, dopamine levels, and mood more than I care to admit. Heading into election day, not only was I scrolling through social media during all waking hours, but I was also spending endless nights watching political analysis on cable news.<\/p>\n

And on my almost-daily walk home from the laundromat today, I was listening to a podcast that unexpectedly drifted into political territory. While the guest on the podcast held stark ideological and political differences from me, I had no mental or physiological response at all to what they were saying. Weeks ago, prior to the election, I probably would have written an entire blog about it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure part of this apathy comes from being at ease with how the election results turned out, but to be frank, I think I would feel similarly had Kamala Harris won the election. After all, I\u2019m not just ignoring MSNBC or CNN these days\u2014I\u2019m also ignoring Fox News and all my usual right-wing touchpoints.<\/p>\n

At the risk of sounding like a presidential concession speech writer, I think if Harris had won, I would have already resigned myself to the fact that the next four years are all but predetermined in their outcome. And, as corny as it sounds, we have to try to continue coming together as a nation to forge a path forward.<\/p>\n

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Rather than attributing my newfound peace of mind to my preferred candidate winning, I actually credit a self-fulfilling prophecy that began when I turned off the media and social media for the week after election day. Without the media or social media, there are fewer things held directly in front of my face that I\u2019m told are causes for worry. With less to worry about, I don\u2019t feel the need to get lost in thought or surrender the sovereignty of my mind to social media or mainstream media. And without surrendering my mind to these outlets, I have less to worry about \u2014 the pattern continues and time moves forward.<\/p>\n

A couple of days ago, someone sent me a clip of Joy Reid talking on MSNBC about Thanksgiving\u2014a clip\u00a0I noted\u00a0<\/a>during my post on Thanksgiving morning. Normally, the clip would have infuriated me, perhaps because Reid would be viewed as one of the chief architects in forcing the country down an ideological path I don\u2019t agree with (and\u00a0<\/em>an airhead, to boot). But when I watched the video on Thanksgiving morning, only the first 15 seconds \u201cgot in\u201d to my head. The rest very quickly started to sound like the teacher from\u00a0Charlie Brown<\/em>: I could see her lips moving and hear words coming out of her mouth, but nothing registered and I couldn\u2019t have cared less about what she was saying. Similarly, I felt the same when I flipped on Fox News a week after the election.<\/p>\n

While I can\u2019t say for sure where this newfound disconnection from the main nerve center of U.S. politics came from, what I can say is that I\u2019m loving it. A couple of days ago, I listened to a podcast about bass fishing. I would have never done this a month ago. Hell, I don\u2019t even like fishing! It just felt as though my mind was starving for input in any depository of my brain other than the one dedicated to political discourse\u2014which at this point feels like Kobayashi\u2019s stomach after the Nathan\u2019s Hot Dog Eating Contest.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Turning off the media and social media has given me clarity to see just how much of the political noise was (and is) unnecessary clutter. Right now, everything political feels like little more than white noise\u2014a constant hum that no longer demands my attention or energy. And, to be honest, I hope it stays that way for a while. By stepping away, I\u2019ve rediscovered the peace of mind that comes from focusing on what truly matters and allowing myself to engage with the world on my own terms, free from the relentless bombardment of outrage \u2014 from both sides of the aisle.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

QTR\u2019s Disclaimer<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong>\u00a0Please read my full legal disclaimer\u00a0on my About page here<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0This post represents my opinions only.<\/em>\u00a0In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a\u00a0Creative Commons license<\/a>\u00a0with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade\/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I\u2019m bullish without owning things, sometimes I\u2019m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I\u2019m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won\u2019t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can\u2019t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I\u2019m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it\u2019s that important.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 12\/01\/2024 – 09:20<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/political-sound-silence<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The (Political) Sound Of Silence Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance We\u2019re now almost a month since Donald Trump won the 2024 election in a landslide….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}